MBTA’s austerity measures the right route to take

A dearth of passengers and a surfeit of red ink has forced the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to propose some unpopular, but understandable financial decisions.

In a ridership-reality check, the MBTA unveiled a suite of temporary measures, including curtailing commuter-rail schedules, shutting down subways early, eliminating bus routes and halting ferry service entirely to help the cash-hemorrhaging agency weather a devastating decrease in business due to the pandemic.

“COVID-19 has had a significant impact on ridership and the MBTA is releasing these proposed changes to adjust to the realities created by COVID-19, while protecting service for those who depend on it most,” said General Manager Steve Poftak Monday at a meeting of the T’s Fiscal and Management Control Board.

MBTA ridership has dropped 75% year-over-year from September of 2019 — when people took 1.26 million daily trips — to this past September, when riders took around 330,000 daily trips. The T expects to face a budget shortfall of $577 million by fiscal year 2022 unless it receives additional federal aid. The MBTA indicated its proposed slate of service cuts would save $142 million by summer 2022.

Poftak indicated these reductions would likely result in job losses, though to what extent was not clear. The MBTA doesn’t expect to raise fares.

“Using limited resources to operate nearly empty trains, ferries and buses is not a responsible use of the funding provided to the MBTA by riders, communities and taxpayers, and does not help us meet transportation needs of our region,” Transportation Secretary and CEO Stephanie Pollack said.

As expected, reaction was swift and negative in some circles, as riders and some public officials decried the cuts, which they viewed as roadblocks to the state’s economic recovery.

Public-transportation advocates warned these cuts could lead the T into a “death spiral,” though it would seem that’s exactly what the T is trying to avoid by instituting these costcutting measures.

Changes include ending service on the Red, Orange, Blue and Green lines at midnight on weekdays and Saturdays. Sunday service would run from 6 a.m. to midnight. Train frequency would be reduced 20%.

Twenty-five bus routes would be cut. Service on remaining lines would stop at midnight. Sixty routes will see reduced frequency and 10 routes will be consolidated, according to the plan.

However, the most significant change for area residents involves train service to and from Boston.

Commuter rail has seen usage plummet 87% amid the pandemic; as a result, riders would see reduced train frequency, no service after 9 p.m. and weekend schedules eliminated.

Some commuter rail service changes could go into effect as early as January.

The MBTA’s plan will go out for public comment over the next month, before the agency’s oversight board votes in December.

It’s important that those expressing negative, knee-jerk reactions to the T’s austerity plan understand the degree of services that will be maintained.

Overall, the MBTA would still operate about 85% of normal bus service, 70% of subway service and 65% of commuter-rail service.

Instead of being ridiculed, the MBTA should be at least grudgingly praised for the responsible route it’s taken in the face of this COVID-driven ridership crisis.

Any additional state or federal aid could change this equation, but at present, the T must deal with the facts, not what-ifs.