By Scott Ryder, News Correspondent
Two new proposals released by the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) last week have sparked anger, confusion and even empathy from Northeastern students and residents.
The MBTA is facing a projected deficit of $185 million for Fiscal Year 2013 and has proposed two plans to address this deficit, according to a Jan. 3 press release. Both options would not only raise fares, but also eliminate Green Line E service on weekends. If implemented, this would be the T’s first fare hike in five years.
Until the start of Fiscal Year 2001, the state reimbursed the MBTA for any outstanding expenses in order to balance its budget. But according to a 2009 study released by Brian Kane of the MBTA Advisory Board, $3.3 billion in debt from the Big Dig was passed onto the MBTA by the state to coincide with the start of forward funding. Since then, the only consistent funding the MBTA has received from the state is 20 percent of the five percent state sales tax and revenue based on assessments of served cities and towns. Despite increasing revenues from fares and advertising, the T has been unable to balance its budget for the past decade.
“The MBTA has offered a variety of proposals designed to close a projected $161 million deficit in the next fiscal year’s budget,” MBTA spokesman Joseph Pesaturo wrote in an email to The News. He did not respond to specific questions about E Line service. “The Board of Directors has made it very clear that our customers’ comments and suggestions will play a significant role in the final outcome. The MBTA looks forward to hearing its customers’ comments on the proposals.”
Both of the MBTA’s proposed scenarios would reduce operating costs for the 2013 fiscal year by striking weekend E Line service, weekend commuter rail service, and completely cutting ferry service and several bus routes. The differences include the amount of the proposed fare increases and the number of bus routes to be eliminated.
For residents living near the E Line, either option would be a disappointment. Some Northeastern students said the service on weekends would jeopardize safety and convenience.
Matt Quinn, a middler music industry major who lives in Mission Hill, is one of them.
“That would be a serious mistake given the importance of the E Line to thousands of college students,” he said. “A lot of people use that line to get home safely, especially on the weekends when Northeastern students are traveling between Brigham Circle and Symphony stops. If people’s safety is first on their agenda then removing the E Line on weekends isn’t an option.”
Diana Hoang, a junior nursing major who lives on campus, rides the E Line to get to and from her co-op at Children’s Hospital Boston where she also sometimes works weekends. While the Route 39 bus runs almost parallel to the E Line, Hoang said she doesn’t like to take it and said it will take longer for her to get to work under either of the new proposals.
“I don’t take the 39 bus or any other bus. I find them too crowded and much slower than the T,” she said. “The Longwood Medical stop as well as Brigham Circle is used a lot on the weekends by all health care professionals.”
Zachary Tucker, a freshman stage and production management major at Emerson College, has his own proposal as founder of Students Against T Cuts, a group of Metro-Boston college students against the two proposed scenarios. He said the MBTA is in a financial crisis and he has sympathy for the agency, saying the Commonwealth itself is largely to blame due to forward funding.
“It’s unfair to the T and to riders and the city that because they’re so handicapped by a law and by debt, they just simply cannot afford running the way they are,” he said.
Tucker said he believes the T should concentrate on raising fares rather than reducing services, especially those frequently used by college students, who contribute to the city’s economy.
He said he also believes raising awareness of the T’s financial structure, and holding the state accountable for the massive debt, could help prevent service cuts.
“Although Bostonians love to criticize the T for everything from a child crying too loudly next to them, to the smell of urine on the train … in this case it’s really not their fault; they just can’t go on,” Tucker said.
But before any changes to fares or services can occur, several public meetings will be held in cities and towns affected by these proposed changes.
“At least one of them in some form is going to happen,” said Stuart Spina, a member of the T Riders’ Union (TRU) for the past four years. “We need to talk about sustainable funding mechanisms. Each generation has said ‘well, we’ll let the next group take care of that,’ passing the buck along. This culture of cutting [services] has to stop.”
A list of public hearings are listed on MBTA.com, and an optimistic Tucker is urging students to attend. “We can vote and determine who’s sitting on Beacon Hill,” Tucker said. “We can stand up and fight for what our interests are.”
