Saving the MBTA

The MBTA has some serious financial problems. One of the ways to try and deal with that is cracking down on “cheats” who are avoiding paying the fare to get on board.

The debt-ridden T is taking a hard line against cheats like never before by more than doubling fare-evasion tickets and forcing scofflaws to fork over fines before renewing their driver’s licenses, the Herald has learned.

“We’ve been cracking down harder than ever on fare evaders,” said MBTA General Manager Daniel A. Grabauskas, whose officers wrote 603 citations this year, more than double the 277 given during the same time last year, and more than quadruple the amount during the same time in 2007.

As the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority weighs fare hikes and struggles with a ballooning budget gap, an estimated $13 million a year in T rides, or about 3 percent of fare revenue, is lost each year to fare cheats, officials estimate.

It’s a start…but they have to stop making it so easy for people to walk on to the train without paying the fare. Let’s be honest, if you are about to get on a T street car and you have the choice of going in the door by the driver and pay the fare, or the door that mysteriously opens that has no CharlieCard terminal, which one are you walking in to? Yeah, that’s what I thought. I’ll give them a little credit, the last time I was on the C line I saw a MBTA employee standing by that door without the CharlieCard terminal with a handheld card reader.

In addition to cracking down on cheats, there’s always a good old fashioned bake sale to keep the MBTA alive.

A commuter advocacy group has given the MBTA’s board of directors a check for $199.35 in a symbolic effort to highlight their work to avoid proposed service cuts and fare hikes.

Taisha O’Brien of the T Riders Union said Monday the proceeds from a March bake sale outside the Statehouse underscore the importance of public transportation for lower-income riders in particular.

Transportation Secretary James Aloisi says there has been no settlement of cuts, despite recent reporting about a plan to eliminate night and weekend transit service. He says T leaders “really do have to keep faith” with their riders.

Talk of the cutbacks and price hikes comes as the T tries to address a $160 million budget deficit and $2.2 billion in longterm debt.

With the $199.35 check given to the MBTA, the $160,000,000 budget deficit dropped to $159,999,800.65. Way to go!

Aaron Margolis is a life long resident of the Bay State, and works at an architectural firm north of Boston. Aaron has a Master of Architecture Degree from Boston Architectural College and is currently in the process of becoming of a Registered Architect.

2 Responses to “Saving the MBTA”

1. pmichael73 says:

   April 20, 2009 at 7:13 am

   The trouble with the MBTA is that it exists to provide jobs, not carry passengers. Someone worked out (decades ago) that it would be cheaper to run the MBTA if it didn’t charge fares. That way thousands of people could be made available for other work, from turnstyle repairmen to senior managers.

   Reply
2. Can the MBTA Avert #mbtafail? « Safe Digression says:

   August 11, 2009 at 8:28 am

   [...] large and small, not the least of which is a $160 million FY10 budget shortfall and $2.2 billion in long-term debt? (Note: Nearly one-tenth of this year’s shortfall is the amount the T has lost each year to [...]

   Reply