WALSH: NOT SO FAST, MBTA
Says T should earn fare hike, trust
Mayor Martin Walsh is calling on the MBTA to hear what “customers have to say,” as it weighs a “tough” proposed fare hike on people who are already frustrated with the service they receive.
“I think it can be a very difficult increase,” Walsh told the Herald on Sunday. “People need to know that the service is getting better. I think the MBTA owes a little bit to the customers about what’s coming in the future here.”
As the Herald reported in Janu- ary, the T is considering hiking fares by 6.3 percent despite pushback from fiscal watchdogs. Steve Poftak, the general manager of the T, justified the move as “an important part of the MBTA’s funding system,” and said it was “working hard to show customers the MBTA is improving.”
Walsh said investing in the T is a crucial part to solving the growing traffic problems in the city, listed as the most congested in the country by the traffic data firm INRIX earlier this month. But a rate hike, he said, must ensure improved service.
“I think that you could look at it two ways,” Walsh said. “One is, obviously the T needs revenue and secondly, the people feel that they’re not getting the value of what they pay today. I think you really have to take into account what the customers are going to be saying.”
City Councilor Michelle Wu is opposing the hikes. The at-large councilor has begun collecting signatures urging the T to abandon rate hikes. She’s even calling on the T to push toward becoming free for everyone. The petition reads: “The proposed 6 (percent) fare hike would place an undue burden on residents already struggling to meet transportation-related costs, totaling an unaffordable 41 (percent) increase in MBTA fares since 2012.”
“The fare hike proposal goes against any goal set by the city and state when it comes to congestion and greenhouse gases,” Wu said. “If you ask people they’ll tell you it’s harder to get around.”
Wu says gravitating toward free rides is a “big conversation that our levels of government will have to consider,” and that it should be treated with the “urgency that everyone deserves.”
Walsh said he sees the benefits, but is questioning its practicality.
“Everyone would love to see something like that,” Walsh said. “Obviously the thought process is that we would increase ridership and more people would take the T. If we have more ridership, obviously that’s what we want to accomplish here as far as traffic congestion. … So, I think the idea of having a free MBTA is great, the problem is that they have a $2 billion budget and they get about $600 million from fares, so where does that money come from?”