(The following article by Mac Daniel was posted on the Boston Globe website on November 10.)
BOSTON — The MBTA board, saying it had no other way to balance its budget, voted unanimously yesterday to approve the T’s second set of fare hikes in three years over the objections of top elected officials and the protests of riders, who booed the final vote.
The nine-member board of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority did not debate the fare increase plan, which on Jan. 1 raises the price of subway and trolley tickets from $1.25 to $1.70, bus fares from 90 cents to $1.25, and commuter rail passes between 22 percent and 28 percent.
The plan, which puts the T’s prices in the middle of the pack among transit systems nationally, includes the first-ever free transfers between bus and subway.
Commuters who don’t use new automated fare CharlieCards will pay even more: $2 to ride subways and trolleys and $1.50 to ride buses. Some riders at the board meeting and some board members said they worry that the CharlieCards, a credit card-like pass that T officials say will be available across the system by year’s end, will not be easily accessible to low-income riders, forcing them to pay higher fares.
“I think we need to continue to look at this and do something about it,” said Janice Loux , the only board member to speak before the vote.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino said higher fares will hurt those who can least afford it: hospital workers, restaurant employees, and students who rely on public transportation.
“Who is going to take the T? It’s not going to be the executives from some of our biggest companies,” Menino said in an interview. “It’s our working people.”
They are people like Brittany Ryan , 20, who just entered a 10-month program at a cosmetology school downtown and has no other way to get there from her home in Back Bay.
“This is my transportation,” she said yesterday while waiting for the Number 43 bus. “I have no car. I’m not going to walk. I have to get here somehow.”
Darrell Roberts , 29, of Dorchester gets a free monthly bus pass as an employee at Boston Medical Center, but after doing some mental math, he said he will still have to cut corners to afford regular bus trips after hours.
“I’m pretty nonchalant about things, I try not to count my pennies, but it does add up,” he said. “That could add up to $600 in increases in a year.”
Governor-elect Deval L. Patrick also opposes the fare increase, saying it doesn’t make sense when the T’s ridership is falling, though he said he recognizes the T’s financial troubles.
“It is clear that the MBTA revenue system needs a good long look and significant reform, but raising the fares is the wrong answer,” he said in a statement.
Representatives of the T Riders Union, a passenger advocacy group, read the comments of city leaders and Patrick to the board.
After the vote, they marched with petitions with 3,000 signatures to the State House, calling on members of the Legislature and Patrick to revamp the way the T is funded by the state.
The fare hikes are projected to bring in an additional $71 million per year, offsetting a projected $70 million shortfall in the fiscal year that ends in 2007.
T officials said they understand the problems with raising fares, which they project will drive away 16.5 million passengers a year. The MBTA carries about 1.1 million passengers on an average workday.
The T’s troubles could get worse as state sales tax revenue, which funds a large portion of its budget, continues to decrease.
If the lower sales tax receipts continue, that could create a $22 million shortfall, even with the fare increase.