Fast Lane discount has new booster

Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen plans today to ask the board of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority to extend Fast Lane discounts through June while seeking cost savings and legislative help to fund the program permanently.

Cohen, who is on the Turnpike Authority board and will become chairman in July, said the state has identified an extra $3.5 million for operations and maintenance that can be used to keep the discount through June.

The discount, which without any action would end by April 1, saves thousands of commuters 25 cents off the $1 toll at the Allston-Brighton booths and 50 cents off the $3 tolls at the Sumner and Ted Williams tunnels.

The Turnpike Authority had come under fire from legislators from the western suburbs and others for not committing to the discount, which they say the authority has no power to end but which the Legislature did not fund. The authority board has voted three times to extend the discount one month.

The discount, which costs about $12 million a year, has been paid for largely through the $75 million sale of turnpike land in Allston to Harvard University in 2003. But officials have not figured out a permanent funding source.

"First of all, there are no easy fixes here," Cohen said in a telephone interview yesterday. "Coming up with $12 million of ongoing funding to keep the discount going for the future is not easy."

He said the three-month extension will allow the Turnpike Authority to review its overall financial condition, identify potential savings, and seek help from the Legislature, "as well as to work with the Metrowest delegation to seek legislative relief."

"The legislation that mandated the continuation of the discount didn't come with any funding, so we're going to need partners here in terms of a solution," he said.

Legislators who represent Boston's western suburbs say the discount was created to benefit commuters in their districts , who they say have paid an "inequitable burden" for the $14.6 billion Big Dig project through turnpike tolls.

Governor Deval Patrick, who quashed a proposal to end all turnpike tolls west of Route 128, has also indicated he would support making the discount permanent.

While suburban legislators and other leaders on Beacon Hill have said the Turnpike Authority can't touch the discount, Cohen said the authority's counsel continues to examine whether it is legally bound to continue the program.

Representative David Linsky, Democrat of Natick, said he had not been told by Cohen about the request for legislative relief, though he supported the idea.

"I'm happy to work with the executive branch to make sure . . . the Fast Lane discount program is able to be maintained," Linsky said last night. "Quite frankly, my preference would be to drop any discussion of eliminating it."

Mac Daniel can be reached at mdaniel@globe.com.