RAILING AGAINST PAT PLACE PILOT
Kraft lands OK for Foxboro T service
The MBTA-approved pilot program to run daily commuter trains to Foxboro’s Gillette Stadium has sparked outrage from lawmakers and transit advocates, who say the $1.2 million plan is a sweetheart deal for project sponsor Robert Kraft at the expense of taxpayers and urban riders.
“They are all-star, hall-of-fame caliber when it comes to screwing things up,” state Rep. Shawn Dooley (R-Norfolk) said of the MBTA. “The fact that they’re willing to sacrifice more taxpayer dollars to make their argument (for this pilot) possibly work is beyond me. It just shows a total disregard for the public trust.
“This is the Fiscal & Management Control Board, first word being fiscal,” Dooley said of the T board that yesterday approved the project on a 4-1 vote. “That should be their priority. Their priority was Bob Kraft.”
The one-year expansion pilot, which is slated to start in spring 2019 and cost the T $524,000, has been pitched by the Baker administration as an economic development engine and, thanks to 500 parking spots at Gillette, a fix for a dearth of commuter parking in the area.
The Kraft Group, headed by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, is contributing $217,000 toward the project, and board officials included a provision that the project’s sponsors share in any unforeseen cost overruns.
But the pilot has drawn widespread criticism from public advocates as well, who say the area is already well-served by other rail stations. They also fear riders on the Boston-based Fairmount line will be crowded out by new suburban commuters who’ll board the train on the route first.
“That means the folks riding from Foxboro will be sitting and the folks getting on board on the Fairmount Line will be standing,” said Rafael Mares of the Conservation Law Foundation. “And if you know the demographics, that means that most white people coming from Foxboro will be sitting while black people will be standing, which is a terrible image.”
A Kraft Group spokesman declined to address specific questions, but said in a statement that the pilot has the potential to spur new development and thousands of jobs.
“There is tremendous opportunity and widespread support for establishing weekday commuter rail service to Foxboro,” the statement said.
T officials say the plan to extend eight Fairmount trains, as well as one Franklin Line train, to Foxboro “would not alter or compromise” existing service on the line, pointing to data that none of the trains fills up more than 38 percent of its available seats.
But they acknowledge the data dates to 2012, and advocates say the Fairmount Line is building popularity.
Mela Miles of the Fairmount/Indigo Transit Coalition slammed the plan as another example of the T’s “broken commitment to the communities along the Fairmount Line.”
“It’s disgusting,” Miles said. “(This line) is a lifeline to our community and we use it to get around where we need to go within the line itself.”
Stephanie Pollack, the state’s transportation secretary, defended the project as a “good pilot,” saying it will allow the T to test demand, particularly for workers looking for a reverse commute from Boston to businesses in Foxboro, who she said have called for more transit options to attract talent.
But Pollack acknowledged that the T doesn’t have any data to measure how many riders would use it for a reverse commute. T officials also say limited space at South Station doesn’t allow them to add more peak trains, if necessary.
Monica Tibbits-Nutt, the lone board member to vote against the pilot, said she doesn’t want it to be a “detriment” to the panel’s longheld mandate to improve existing services.
“I just don’t think this project makes a lot of sense,” she said.