Anyone who's used mass transit in Boston knows what a REAL transit system
looks like--frequent service and economical, or very much unlike our
MadMet, which runs infrequently for extremely high fares, although the UW
and MATC arrangements make it affordable for many people even though it
doesn't make the service any more frequent/viable, particularly if you need
to transfer. (To put it into perspective, consider that the $1.50 MadMet
cash fare is the same as the basic fare in CHICAGO, which not only has a
more expensive cost of living for everything else and offers a lot more
transit options than Madison, so people actually get something for their
$1.50)
[I think the last time I rode the T the fare at the time had recently(?)
gone up from 60 to 85 cents; Madison's fare had already been a buck for at
least a few years at the time. Now it appears that they have a two-tiered
fare system, with subway fares costing more than buses; who knows, maybe
they had for a long time but perhaps I just didn't notice it because it had
been a while since I'd used a bus or trolleybus instead of a train there,
considering that my brother lived near a station so didn't need a bus.]
But it looks like MBTA is getting ready to pursue the losing strategy of
trying to make up for declining usage by raising fares, which seems just as
likely to result in still lower revenues as they drive (sorry) even more
riders off the system. The idea of not accepting passes for night service
also strikes me as bizarre. (Of course, we don't have late night service
here at all; what sense does it make, for example, to stop service long
before bars close if we're serious about giving people alternatives to
driving after having a few? Noooo, instead politicians try to score points
among the prohibitionists by trying to tell businesses that they can't
reduce their prices.)
Article follows.
Now go have a beer,
Bob Paolino
"Something like this makes you think, 'Oh yeah.
This _IS_ rocket science.' "
--Kristen Fortson, NASA payload specialist
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To balance budget, MBTA raising fares
New rates scheduled to begin in January
By Mac Daniel, Globe Staff, 3/14/2003
Fares on the MBTA are going up, beginning in January, to help make up for
steadily declining use of the sprawling transit system.
MBTA officials say the
fare increases on subways,
buses, trains, and boats are
necessary to balance the
budget with an extra $25
million in revenue.
For subway users, the fare
hike means an extra 25
cents one way. Under the
plan, riders now paying $1
will pay $1.25 in January.
Bus service also will go up,
from the current 75-cent
fare to $1.
The cost of riding commuter trains now ranges from $2.50 to $4.25 one way. The
new range will be $3.25 to $5.50.
The commuter boat from Hingham and Quincy to Boston will increase from $5 to
$6, and the boat from Hull to Boston will increase from $4 to $6.
Monthly T passes will jump as well: from $25 to
$31 for a bus pass; $35 to $44 for a subway
pass; $57 to $71 for a combo pass; $63 to $79
for a Combo Plus pass; and monthly commuter
rail passes, from a $85-$169 range to a
$106-$211 range.
The financially draining Nite Owl late night bus
service, which was recently scaled back, will see
fares increase from a range of 75 cents to $2, to a
range of $1.50 to $4. The MBTA also plans to
no longer accept monthly T passes on the Night
Owl.
MBTA General Manager Michael H. Mulhern
said the fare increases are projected to make up
for a loss in riders, which he pegged at 5 percent
in the last 12 months.
In addition to declining revenues, the T expects to
receive about $7 million less in state sales tax
revenue this year.
News of the fare increase comes four months
after the T announced the layoffs of 36 workers
and a plan to phase out about 40 more jobs
through attrition or retirement by the end of June.
The T also announced parking fee increases at T
garages and lots in January.
The T is dealing with one of the highest debt
burdens of any transit agency in the nation - $4.2
billion, with $350 million in interest and principal
due in fiscal 2004 alone. In all, debt payments at
the T now account for 30 percent of the T's
operating budget.
''The increase in debt service costs could prohibit
future service in 2004 and beyond,'' said T chief
financial director Jonathan Davis.
The fare increase was announced yesterday as
part of a $1.18 billion budget proposal for next
year. The agency's b oard of d irectors approved
the fare increase, but must vote on the package
again, after public hearings, for the increase to go
into effect.
The MBTA will hold a series of public hearings
on the fare increases in the fall.
The T last raised fares in September 2000, which
at the time was the first fare increase in a decade.
Subway fares went from 85 cents to $1; bus fares
went from 60 cents to 75 cents.
That proposal was met with heavy resistance from
riders, but was approved after the T promised
improvements in the system's operation, including
the use of automated fare collection, a system not expected to be running
until
2005.
An automated fare collection system will not be in place by the time the
increase
becomes reality, but T officials point to other improvements, including
replacing 60
percent of the T's bus fleet this summer, the bus rapid transit Silver Line
in Boston,
and the upcoming new contractor hired to run T commuter rail lines.
T riders reacted with a mixture of annoyance and resgination.
''That's unfortunate,'' said Boston University student Pam Wilner, 20, from
Santa
Barbara, Calif. ''I have to watch everything that I buy, and this doesn't
help.''
Others were more resigned. ''It's like a postage stamp. You just kind of
accept it,''
said Andy Pevarnek, 28, an electrician from Weymouth who is working on the T's
Silver Line tunnel below South Station. ''If it's still under $2, a little
increase here
and there won't hurt. And you can't get much for a buck-twenty-five nowadays
anyway.''
Even if the hike is approved, the T remains among the nation's cheapest
transit
rides, with New York raising fares recently to $2 for a one-way ride on the
subway. Philadelphia's SEPTA is proposing a 25-cent increase, which could make
it the most expensive transit ride in the nation at $2.25.
But for those who depend solely on the T to get around, news of the pending
fare
hike didn't sit well. Hanan Said, 31, of Cambridge, depends daily on the T
to take
her to her job as a food court cashier at South Station. ''Everybody sometimes
does not have money,'' she said. ''This is no good. This will hurt me.''
This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 3/14/2003.
� Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
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