Christine Murphy watched a report last night on that State House bake sale/protest for the MBTA and she got mad - although not the way the organizers would hope. Murphy explains how she wants to ride the T, but can't, because the Orange Line is just too unreliable and that increases in the gas tax should be going to fix the state's potholed roads:
... What the gas tax hike needs to be paying for is stuff like fixing all of the damned potholes. You can't drive anywhere around here without hitting one. The pothole problem has gotten even worse this year, due to more cold and snow than usual this winter. So if we drivers must be taxed, use the money for that ... why tax us to pay for [the T] that we won't use, and then make us pay for new tires because we hit potholes that had not been fixed in years? It just isn't right.
Even if the gas tax hike passes, and the T gets its six cents on the gallon, don't look for any improvements any time soon. The service will still suck, they will still be doing the never-ending work between Wellington and Oak Grove, the buses and trains will still be dirty and skeevy, and won't run on time. ...
The Outraged Liberal, though, thinks the MBTA Riders Union was onto something with its baked goods:
[T]he timing got me to thinking -- particularly after I rode an MBTA bus so dirty that it was impossible to see out the window.
Maybe we are going about this all wrong. Maybe we can all chip and help the T hold a bus wash -- proceeds going to knock down the fare increases being threatened unless the Legislature does something, anything to deal with the transportation infrastructure nightmare this state faces.
Or maybe we can go out to the barn and put on a show. It would still be more than lawmakers have accomplished. Other than running their mouths on why the don't like Patrick's proposal.
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Comments
encouraging T ridership
By david_yamada
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 8:10am
After reading the post, I was ready to take issue with Christine Murphy about the Orange Line, but then I clicked to her blog post and saw that she's on the Oak Grove end of the line.
Absolutely, she's right. Those of us who ride the O Line to and fro the Forest Hills end have not had to deal with the repeated hassles of switch repair/track repair/whatever that bedevil riders at the other end. If you've ever been loaded onto one of those bus connections, you know what I mean: Tack on another half hour to your journey, not to mentioned the fun being sardined in the bus with a lot of other less than happy travelers.
If we want to encourage T ridership, that experience should be a rare one.
The Orange line has been way
By ruthling
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 8:33am
The Orange line has been way more reliable than the Red lately and I have had no complaints yet this winter. I go from Sullivan, though, and don't know how well the northernmost end works.
The pothole argument is
By cscott
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 8:23am
The pothole argument is silly, is she talking about state roads exclusively? My understanding is that in Boston the city banks all the money utility companies pay for digging up the roads and then saves up to redo entire streets at a time rather than fixing the holes on a case by case basis.
.19
By Anonymous
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 8:29am
so now we know
.04 for big dig
.06 for MBTA deficit
so that leaves .09 for what purpose?
Any chance it will be spent on roads and bridges? By right, it should be allocated to transportation purposes statewide.
Drivers...
By Matt L
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 8:33am
Pay taxes to fix trains they don't use, but T riders pay taxes to fix roads they don't use. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but drivers who make the argument that they shouldn't have to pay for something they don't use better be careful what they wish for.
So because her end of the
By anon
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 9:04am
So because her end of the Orange Line is under construction, there should be no increased public transit subsidies? This is the epitome of how not to make public policy.
Car travel is the most subsidied mode of travel in the nation. And still the drivers whine. Guess what? Raise the taxes, and there will still be potholes and traffic still will never run "on time" in Boston. So we shouldn't give further subsidies, right?
There was not "more cold and snow than usual this winter." This is not a metric; it is a hyperbole. Another example of someone whose thinking does not merit much consideration.
Her argument is that public transit is not great, so it should not be funded and thus becomes worse. Then more people will drive and make more potholes for her. Brilliant.
I think she's on to something
By HenryAlan
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 9:49am
Clearly, the pothole solution is less funding for roads.
The T is already subsidized
By pahkcah02
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 11:31am
The T is already subsidized by the taxpayers of Massachusetts. Asking drivers to pay an extra 6c a gallon to bail out the MBTA is lunacy. If the PVTA out in western Mass (or BAT, or other regional transportation authorities) were in debt this issue wouldn't even be up for debate. Asking drivers who don't use the MBTA but already subsidize it to pay even more is absurd.
Let the T declare bankruptcy and restructure. They can start by getting rid of Gabrauskas and Aloisi. The next step is to ratify union contracts that allow for an able bodied 45 year old to collect a pension for the rest of their life. Taxpayers should not be punished to make up for the administrative inadequacies of the MBTA.
Lastly, T riders need to refocus their anger. If you don't want your fares to be raised then take your aggression out on Beacon Hill, not on drivers. This shouldn't even be an issue of raising fares vs higher gas taxes - it should be an issue of forcing our hack government to reform itself. Raising the gas tax only buys time until the next inevitable T fare increase.
Special Circumstances Apply in this case
By HenryAlan
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 11:47am
Rather than delve into the philosophical debate, I'll simply note that the MBTA was handed responsibility for a portion of the [url=http://www.masspirg.org/newsletters/winter08/publi... Dig debt[/url]. This debt takes 27 cents on every dollar in the T's budget. Transit is subsidizing roads in this case.