In Newton, T opens public dialogue on fare increase
The chilly room, with a heavy draft in the back, felt like a Green Line train on a dreary winter evening. One man sat with his legs crossed; another had a cane next to him. Two women sat quietly knitting. Cellphones rang.
And through the course of the two-hour session at Newton City Hall, people trickled in and out as if the train had reached their stop.
MBTA officials this week began a series of workshops on a proposal to raise subway and trolley fares from $1.25 to $1.70, bus fares from 90 cents to $1.25, and most commuter rail by 22 percent.
The proposal, which was announced last month, would eliminate free outbound trips at Green Line surface stations. Right now, riders instead are charged double on inbound trips.
Parking rates also would increase, to $3.50 at Chestnut Hill, Eliot, and Waban and to $3.75 at Riverside.
The fares ''keep going up and up and up," said David Pekarsky, a freshman at the University of Massachusetts at Boston who lives in Newton Corner and whose monthly tab would go from $71 to $89 under the new system. ''Are we going to be back here again next year?"
Several T passengers complained not about the fare increases, but about current services -- buses running late, broken escalators, and lack of night buses.
''All of the buses in Newton are deplorable," said Jean H. Leventhal, a Newton resident for 31 years. ''If you're going to raise the fares, you have to think seriously about the services you are currently providing."
Daniel A. Grabauskas, the T's general manager, has said that the public could influence the final figures, as it did in 2003, when the last fare increase was proposed. The T is holding 11 workshops this month and five hearings, which will be more formal, next month.
The T fielded nearly 20 employees Monday night, at least one for every citizen who showed up. Two people provided sign language translation (they switched off halfway through the session). A Russian language interpreter stood by, but her skills were not needed (though she did ask a question about how the new transit cards would work).
A transit police officer was also at the meeting, not to quell unruly audience members but to answer questions about security (there weren't any).
The fare increase, slated for January, would bring in $70 million a year -- money that would go toward improving the public address system, replacing faulty elevators and escalators, and lowering $8.1 billion in debt.
''If the fare increase isn't passed, we are going to have to reduce our services dramatically," Ross J. Rodino, assistant general manager for intergovernmental and public affairs, said at the meeting.
Riders will have two new ways to pay, a paper CharlieTicket, which is inserted into a machine, and a plastic CharlieCard, which is tapped against a digital reader. The CharlieCard offers discounts, including discounted transfers between bus and subway.
T officials say they are considering adding fare readers to back doors to make boarding faster at outdoor stations.
The card could be used as a monthly pass, a daily pass, or an a la carte system; passengers would add more money to it at T stations or online.
One of the biggest complaints Monday night was the location of the hearing itself: Newton City Hall. Robert H. Krevy, who lives in Waltham, said he had to borrow a car to get to the event.
The T did offer shuttle bus service from Newton Highlands. At the end of the meeting, the bus was back at City Hall. No one got on it, and the T workers piled into station wagons, sports utility vehicles, and Toyotas.
The Newton session was the only workshop being held in the western suburbs. A more formal public hearing will take place on June 6, 6:30-8:30 p.m., at Framingham Town Hall. Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com. 
