Big mess at the T
LECHMERE - These should be glory days for the MBTA.
Astronomical gas prices finally have done what longtime public transportation evangelists like Mike Dukakis couldn't: Legions of motorists are ditching their cars and riding the T.
Record ridership should be spawning seriously upgraded services across the system, so that all of those gas refugees get hooked on a gorgeous, reliable system and hang around, even if prices at the pump drop. That would ease traffic on the roads, reduce pollution, and transform this state.
But if the revolution is afoot, the T isn't ready. In fact, the MBTA is so not ready that chief Dan Grabauskas is talking about a "hefty," rider-repelling, fare hike come 2010, cuts to services, and delayed upgrades.
This is because the T's finances, which Grabauskas inherited, are a gargantuan mess. One quarter of its $1.5 billion annual budget goes to servicing its $8.1 billion debt, the largest carried by any transportation agency in the country.
Its workers have extraordinary and ridiculously expensive deals: lifetime pensions after 23 years of service, no matter their age. And, for some, free healthcare until they hit 65.
Since 2000, the Legislature has funded the T from sales tax revenues, which have fallen far short of even the most conservative projections. And from its meager funds, the T must pay for daily operating expenses like fuel and drivers, and for major projects, some - like the Greenbush Line - the result of Big Dig agreements it wasn't even party to.
Current fares don't even come close to keeping the T alive, let alone funding improvements and extra services.
So, instead of a world class system, we are left with the prospect of one with major problems - crowding, crumbling infrastructure, and too much debt to fix inevitable problems.
"People ask me if I feel vindicated" by all of the new riders, former governor and Riverside line regular Dukakis said yesterday. "No! I feel frustrated."
A hefty fare hike would make our public transportation system one of the most expensive in the country, but it would make little difference to the agency's bottom line.
The MBTA needs a major bailout. Only the state hasn't got the money to do it.
If not for this loony situation, Grabauskas might stand a chance of hanging onto Renée Farster.
The Lynn resident and her partner recently sold one of their cars. They've been awaiting a new Prius, so Farster, who owns a spa in Inman Square, has been taking the commuter rail to the North End, then the Green Line to the number 69 bus to Inman each day.
"I have a love/hate relationship with the T," she said, as she waited for her bus at Lechmere yesterday morning. "It's somewhat affordable, but it's not reliable. The other morning, they canceled the train with no explanation, and I was pushed up against the exit door the whole ride into North Station 'cause it was so crowded."
Farster wants more, and cleaner, trains. She wants to be able to take her bike on board during rush hour. And she doesn't understand why she should have to pay more than $170 a month to get these things.
"I already feel like I pay a little too much for what I get," she said.
When her Prius arrives, Farster will be ditching the T. Everybody, including Grabauskas, concedes that if the state doesn't find a solution to the MBTA's problems, she won't be the only one.
"The last thing in the world we need at this point in time is a fare increase," Dukakis said. "All it will do is drive people away from the system at a time when we want more people, and not fewer, riding it."
Or, in the words of a woman in the red tank top and jeans boarding a crammed E train at the sweltering Park Street station yesterday morning:
"No, no, no! They're crazy! They're out of their mind! And it's not fair!"
