A road to ruin for Massachusetts transit
LATE LAST month, the Transportation Finance Commission, a group created to assess Massachusetts' long-term transportation needs and make recommendations about how to finance them, announced that the Commonwealth's roads, bridges, and the MBTA face a $15 billion to $19 billion funding shortfall over the next 20 years. Worse yet, the jaw-dropping number s assume not a single new road or transit line will be built during that time beyond what is already in service or under construction.
Those who shook their heads and asked how this shortfall could happen didn't have to wait long for an answer. Less than two weeks after release of the commission's report, Governor Deval Patrick unveiled plans to build a long-talked-about commuter rail line from Boston to New Bedford and Fall River. Essentially acknowledging the project has no funding source, Patrick claims that tax revenue from the creation of at least 15,000 new jobs will cover the $1.4 billion in construction costs.
Going forward with projects we lack the money to build -- let alone operate -- is exactly how we got into this mess in the first place.
Even if the Commonwealth picks up the tab for construction, operating the New Bedford/Fall River commuter line will cost another $26 million annually, further straining the T's already devastated finances. As a result of 20 years in which the MBTA expanded far faster than any other major transit agency in the nation (even as greater Boston was among the slowest-growing metropolitan areas), it owes more than $8 billion and has a $2 billion maintenance backlog.
How debilitating is the MBTA's debt? The agency paid more in debt service last year than it collected in fares. When debt service is included, fares cover just over a quarter of the T's costs.
More than a million of us ride the MBTA each workday, and for us the agency's bleak financial picture is more than just an academic exercise. Fares have gone up three times since 2000, and the siphoning of funds from maintenance to build and operate new lines has crippled the quality of service. As a result, ridership is declining despite the rapid expansion, which makes the financial picture even worse. The New Bedford/Fall River commuter rail line will only accelerate this deterioration.
The state government is in an only slightly better position to fund construction of the new line. In addition to the nearly $20 billion transportation shortfall, it faces a $13.3 billion liability for retired employee benefits such as healthcare, a $13 billion unfunded pension liability, and seemingly endless capital needs. And the current $1.4 billion price tag to build the new rail line is hardly set in stone, particularly given that the estimate has doubled since 2003.
Supporters claim that the line's economic development benefits will outweigh its costs. But I wonder why no one estimates the economic benefits of re investing in maintenance of the existing system. The recent combination of rapid expansion and declining ridership again reminds us that improving service quality is the surest way to attract riders, and maintenance is what improves service.
But paying for maintenance isn't in the DNA of elected executives; the lure of cutting ribbons just seems too great. Perhaps Massachusetts could learn something from Missouri, where maintenance spending is mandated by a constitutional provision. The Legislature could also put in place minimum standards that force public managers to address maintenance needs.
I'm not arguing that no new transit lines should ever be built. But after a 20-year transit expansion binge, a "catch-up" period of even five years in which expansion spending is off the table would allow the T to focus on its maintenance backlog and help reverse the downward spiral in its ridership and finances.
The legislative leaders who created the Transportation Finance Commission hoped it would give elected officials cover to make the hard decisions needed to solve our transportation funding crisis. Instead, Governor Patrick's proposal to move ahead with a $1.4 billion New Bedford/Fall River commuter rail line with no clear source of capital or operating funds makes the situation even worse.
Charles D. Chieppo is the principal of Chieppo Strategies, a public policy advocacy firm and was a member of the MBTA Blue Ribbon Committee on Forward Funding. 