“It is great to see more and more people using public transportation, but it is also concerning that we have to talk about service reductions at a time when we’re seeing increased ridership,’’ said Jonathan R. Davis, acting general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
Davis attributed the T’s popularity to a rise in commuters - the preliminary unemployment rate for December dipped to 6.8 percent, the lowest in three years - and gas prices remaining well above $3 a gallon. Ridership in December also benefited from improved weather over last year, among other factors, he said.
Davis has attended almost every hearing - nine down, at least 15 to go - that the T has scheduled about the fare and service proposals, receiving a clear message: “Not only are people not wanting to see any service reductions, because they rely on it to get where they’re going, but also they [want] to have more service.’’
Facing a $161 million deficit next year, the T has proposed raising prices on passes and fares 35 to 43 percent while cutting bus routes, eliminating ferries as well as late-night and weekend commuter rail, and substantially raising discounted fares for students, seniors, and the disabled. Planners predict the changes would drive away 9 to 17 percent of riders.
T leaders have said the plans will evolve through public input - possibly with higher prices at certain hours, or leaning more heavily on fare increases than service cuts - before adoption by the MBTA board in April, to take effect July 1.
Rising ridership has been a financial boon, but not nearly enough to keep up with soaring costs such as fuel, electricity, health insurance, and federally mandated door-to-door service for the disabled. The agency also faces principal and interest payments on more than $5 billion in debt. Much of that stems from politically popular expansion projects approved by Beacon Hill with no funding plan other than assigning it to the T.
Riders, environmental advocates, and business leaders have called for more state assistance to the T, but that appears unlikely, with pressure across the state budget and limited appetite for new taxes.
