Luxury Lanes a Soviet specialty

Anybody commuting into the city of Boston knows that things have gotten worse, year after year. Gridlock is the name of the game on 93 North and South, where a commute of just a few miles can last an hour or more.

This week, as the Herald’s Mary Markos reported, a MassDOT report on the matter featured a few fixes. One is the socalled “managed lane.” The proposal calls for building additional tolled lanes along major routes, with “floating pricing” depending on the volume of traffic — with higher rates during rush hour, for an estimated minimum of $20-$30 a week. Buses would have free access.

The man in the Corner Office is a fan.

“I believe it’s the fairest and most doable option with respect to congestion pricing models,” Gov. Charlie Baker said.

However, what should have been a comprehensive analysis of the traffic congestion problem around the City of Boston appears to be more of a “Cashing in on Misery” handbook, in which the immediate, reflexive conclusion is to soak the taxpayer and hope for the best.

These solutions give little regard to the people suffering — the commuters — but instead emphasize fixes that will allow for a tiny elite to enjoy some relief.

The ordinary commuter inching along in the “Golden”-lane era will get to view the free flow of luxury cars zooming past him, having paid for their traffic freedom at a premium, but nonetheless free.

“Not everybody can afford that,” said Arqui Velez, who leaves his home in Central Falls, R.I., at 4:30 a.m. to get to Dorchester by 7 a.m. “So while most people have to sit in traffic, people who have money just skip it. It’s inconsiderate.”

If commuters like Arqui are forced through necessity to pay for the “golden lane,” will companies subsidize their workers for the cost or will getting to work essentially result in a pay cut for them?

Greg Sullivan of the Pioneer Institute said, “The knock against the idea of tolled lanes is that it creates two classes of drivers — the rich and the poor.”

We beg your pardon, Greg. Not just two classes, there is a third. In similar lanes created in the Soviet Union and still in existence today, you find the Politburo types — the political elite. The kind of apparatchik who waits in no line and answers to no member of the lowly proletariat.

Which brings us to the question:

Will members of the Legislature be issued special lane access? Will that nicety be among the gift bag full of perks on everything they receive for their “public service”? Does anybody think House Speaker Robert DeLeo will sit in gridlock like the rest of us when he can cruise down the VIP lane eating Chinese takeout?

We’ve seen this movie before.

Enough.

Many in leadership are numb to the plight of normal people as they’re driven around in gasguzzling SUVs, often by cops, never worrying about traffic or parking. But, leaders on Beacon Hill should do the hard thing before sticking it to taxpaying commuters.

There should be outreach to companies and collaborative ideas around options for employees to work from home or remote locations.

The MBTA should be fixed now, not in three years, and not after a study of an audit of a review of an evaluation. Now.

Stop hack construction projects that tie up traffic for miles so that crews can do things like replace lightbulbs.

Once again, they must do the hard things they were elected to do.