Details of drastic MBTA cuts

Well this just wonderful...if you work the night shift in town or don't drive you will be unable to get home after 7 pm. All those who see the Red Sox or Patriots will have to hoof it home or hire a private bus. Also some towns stations will be closed. I hope those towns cut the amount of money they give the MBTA. Not good planning.

I think all MBTA upper management should spend a month taking the different lines to see how their decisions will effect people. Chances are most don't even take a train or bus to work.

They cut corners on things that need to be met like work on the lines, electrical matters and proper heat/air on all trains and buses. What next are they going to take away the parking lots or stop paying for the lights at track crossings....

This is not good! I live in Attleboro and I commute to work everyday. And some days at least 5 times a month i do not get out of work until 6:45pm. How would I get home? The weekend Commuter trains should not be eliminated. There are people who work on the weekends and still need access to the commuter rail. There has got to be a better way to save some money then to cut services.
Also I don't understand when the T rideship has been at it's highest

The idea of killing commuter rail service is idiocy. No one that works in Boston will ever be able to work overtime or stay after 5 if there is an emergency. No one will be shopping or dining in the city in the evening or on weekends because they can't get home.
What is with the scare tactics. How did the suburbs take the majority of the hits? What is the plan for the extra 250,000 cars driving to the city every day?
Has the T lost its mind? The governor better step to the plate and squelch this idea.

Didn't notice anything about cutting salaries. Seems like it's the riders that suffer. Why not use vans instead of busses in low rider-ship areas? It'll save money on gas and be more cost effieient. While I don't want to see anyone loose their job, it does seem that people who rely on public transportation are being penalized for the T's inability to run a business in a more cost effective manner.

We cannot allow this to happen! Too many people rely on public transportation, even at night and on weekends, for getting to work. The ripple effect that these cuts would have would be huge. As someone who used to work for the DOT, I find it hard to believe that the MBTA really has to make these specific cuts in service rather than just cleaning themselves up and getting more efficient.

What is up with this all or nothing tactic? Are they going to shut down service on holidays too? I bet that would save a bunch of money.
I am a user of the commuter rail and I have already seen a doubling of the parking price this year. Now if I work late and don't make it to the North station by 7 pm I am screwed??? What if I go to a Red Sox game? I thought there was a push towards greener traveling? Eliminating weekend rail service doesn't make much sense either. i could see reducing the running times but killing the service makes no sense at all. Is the MBTA investing in parking garages?

On the upside, it looks like they will be able to cut additional jobs--like the people who handle that pesky tax revenue--when shoppers and diners who used to take the commuter rail can no longer get into the city on the weekends... or go out after work (lest they not board the commuter rail before the street lights come on and service halts).

Good job T, put more cars on the road, inconvenience over a million riders, most of whom probably can't afford a car and use, nee NEED the T to get around.

where's the cuts in the front offices? No look at management staffing? How about pensions and perks?

No wonder people drink and drive....

So now its "afford $50 round-trip cab rides" or walk.

2nd rate city

Bus
- Reduce weekday evening bus service by 50 percent after 8 p.m.
- Reduce weekend bus service by 50 percent

So instead of waiting 30 mins for a 57 bus, now it'll be a hour.
Great!!

What about those taking the commuter rail to Boston to see a game or a concert during the week? Hockey games don't even start until around 7 p.m. Not a good move. I've seen how packed North Station is at those times.

Eliminate ALL night and weekend commuter rail service? WOW...

What do you mean "eliminate E branch on weekends"

What about the thousands of students who go to Northeastern, Wentworth, Mass Art, etc. Will they have to walk or bus everywhere they go on the weekends?

This is way too strict a service cut and will not go over well with all the T and bus riders who depend on it everyday, myself included.

Wonderful. I bet this will hit 75% of the major employers with a need to alter work schedules or add transportation services. While the T saves money, everyone else picks up the slack.
Hope someone is looking at the TOTAL COST of doing this.

not only would you lose MILLIONS of riders, but you add cars and parking problems to the city. the parking and driving infrastructure in this city cannot handle these kinds of cuts... people would NEED a car now in order to make up for their losses in public transportation. Think of people who take the commuter rail on saturday and sunday for red sox games, how much more traffic would be added? Think of all the people in the suburbs who use the bus or commuter rail instead of a car? THOUSANDS of people would need cars AND parking now.

The various unions in the MBTA have some of the most egregious benefits anywhere in the entire country. What is being done to reign them in? How many unnecessary middle and top management positions are being eliminated? What is the pension reform? What salary reform is being considered? Many postions such as toll takers, janitors, etc that require no higher education beyond high school earning over $50,000. Yikes!!

Worst plan ever! They won't make up for the deficit because they'll lose half of their customers. Clearly people at the MBTA aren't thinking, as usual.

I guess I'll start driving again since it's cheaper anyway ever since the T raised parking rates.

People who rely on the T for their main source of transportation cannot afford to lose up to 50% of service on evenings and weekends. Those who take the T during these times have no other option. The legislature needs to act immediately to preserve T service that is vital to so many in and around Boston, including the elderly, blind, disabled, college students, and those that choose to reduce their carbon footprint by using public transportation. The T should have looked at cutting the fat (including closing BU East, BU West, and other Green Line stations long ago. It's a shame that regular citizens have to suffer so much for the T's mismanagement.

I wonder whether some of us will even notice the service cuts; there have been obvious service reductions or scheduling SNAFUs on the D Line, the 39 Bus Route, and the Orange Line that I have experienced in the past three months.

POOR MANAGEMENT. Put in hiring and wage freez in immedailtly. Hold off on all current pruchases. Refinance the DEBT today. Fire all double dippers that work for the T. Make sure every person is accounted for and doing a job that is benifical to the operation of the T. If not fire those people. Document this to the union. Let them know that public is wants change in how the employees are paid. Fire the leadership of the T today. There inablity to Manage a large MASS TRANSIT SYSTEM has caused this problem. If the union has a problem. Fire them and rehire more motivated works. There are 100ks available today in MA.

They should have eliminated the BU East, BU West and Pleasant Street stops YEARS ago! There's no reason to have so many stops on the B line.

Cutting commuter rail service after 7 on weeknights would cause a huge uptick in the number of people driving in to the city. And cutting the E line on weekends, the line that services both the MFA, the Gardner Museum and Symphony Hall, three major attractions for tourists and residents alike, would make Boston appear to be outrageously short sighted. Not to mention that the E line is also one of the best ways to get to the Longwood Medical area, for patients and employees. Come on people, think! There may be some places to cut corners, but making it more difficult for medical personnel and ill patents to access the hospitals, as well as more difficult for visitors to access some of the city's premiere tourist destinations is beyond stupid.

Its about time the T was run like a business. Why do they offer services for which they lose money? Don't offer them unless it is profitable. Simple. No way should folks not using the T cover the cost through a gas tax.

For the record, there are stops on the B line that are less than a block apart. They could probably skip those. At rush hour, the train would actually stretch from one stop to the other.

I have mentioned this several times before but the T top people don't seem to get it. When the driver is late and in a hurry, or the fare box is broken, the driver just tells everyone to get on without scanning their cards or paying. This tells the T that there are not many people riding on the bus so they eliminate some of the runs. The 86 bus line is the worst lines for doing this. When the driver is picking up in rush hour traffic in the Harvard Square station, I have counted as many as 50 people waiting to get on. Because the card scanning would take so long, the driver just motions everyone to get on without sscanning the card.

When I lived in Winthrop I used the bus almost daily. I think this is a ridiculous cut. Orient Heights is not large enough for all the commuters that would need to park there. If they are going to cut the private bus service then do they plan to replace it with an MBTA bus?

What about eliminating the free ride program to reimburse people for a round trip ride if their train is more than 30 minutes delayed. I can see reimbursing for the one way ride, but why round trip? Seems like cutting this would be an easy way to save some money.

Stop making the T riders pay for the MBTA's bad management!

Oh, and what was the point of the large flat screen TV's at the bottom of the escalator near the security station in South Station? Has anyone looked at these lately? They are hardly ever on, when they are on it's days old news and they are both covered in some kind of crud that must have run down from the ceiling. Just another waste of the public's money.

noooooooooo now a 20 minute wait on the green line becomes a 40 minute wait!!

eliminate the E on the weekends??? reduce bus/subway service by half???

this is practically shutting the city down!!!

How about eliminating the redundancy in management. Eliminating commuter rail services after 7 p.m. on week days and all day on weekends means more people will have drive into Boston for sporting events. This is great for people selling parking spots but horrible for traffic and the enviroment. Clearly MBTA needs new management from top down. Its a solution to the problem that is long overdue.

This is the type of ignorant nonsense you'd expect from the MBTA. No train service after 7pm? How are those of us who work late, and lots of us do, going to get home. Guess I'll be trading my $186 T pass for a $350 parking pass. Good job MBTA.

MBTA needs to address their major expenses - salaries and benefits. First cut all non-essential workers - that should save a lot of dough.
Next increase medical co-pays to match the private sector. Again will save tens of millions of dollars.
Cap all pension plans. Reduce the return on assets in these bloated pension plans. The returns assumed in these plans are not feasible (just look at Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway as an example of purdence). Anyone double dipping pensions, should pick one and eliminate all others. 401K equivalents should be used by all public employees. Outsource as much as possible.

Your kidding me? What about the Disabled Veterans who take the E line to their appointments who cannot drive? This is making a bad situation worse. FIRE the people who are in charge of the MBTA cut the salary and then hire new people at a fixed salary.

These have to be the worst changes I have ever seen. Basically kills any chance at nightlife in Boston for many people. Commuter Rail service stopping at 7 pm is a joke since the subway only goes so far (which isn't much with the other cutbacks). Hopefully someone can step in and make things more like the other cities.

So basically Boston will turn into a mess of cars as everyone will drive into the city or Boston's retail and entertainment will suffer loses as no one will be able to easily travel into the city. Sounds more like a massive scare tactic on the part of the MBTA.

Why don't they bother to collect the fares on weekend commuter rail right now? I only ride commuter rail on weekends (out of Malden outbound, various lines) and literally HALF the time they don't even bother to collect the fare. Much as I enjoy the free ride, obviously this is part of their problem. This isn't a busy crowd situation like opening day, just ordinary trains running one-third full.

How about cutting the 100% healthcare for MBTA retirees?

They are showing us the Draconian cuts that will happen IF the Gov and his flock of harpies don't get their gas tax monies. Total sham of problems that have existed for decades and decades. Time for an overall of the hack central jobs bank for politicos and their connected families. ' Working' 25 years for a full pension is totally ludicrous in this day and age.

classic PR ploy to make sure everyone is scared and doesn't get in an uproar about the gas tax hike...theyve been looking for a way to kill those green line stops for years.

This is a ridiculous PR move...publish an over-the-top plan of cuts and wait to publish the back-up plan until after a decision is made on a gas tax.

- Eliminate E branch on weekends; extend C Line to Lechmere

So is this saying that all Northeastern, Wentworth, etc students will have to walk to at least Copley to get on the T? This is BS

A lot of people rely on the MBTA to go in & out of Boston for Bruins, Celtics, Red Sox games and concerts. So if they are going to eleminate T service to those things...they better also take a look at eliminating drunk driving laws, because that will force a lot more people onto the roads.

And before anyone says: "Why don't people just not drink at those events?"...you may as well just replace the word "drink" with "breathe".

How are people supposed to get around on the weekends? People who work late? Why not cut some of the top level people,or acutally have them work and cut some administrative staff?? So much for the MBTA going green campagin

Only thing I agree with on this is getting rid of some of the stops on the C and B line.

Otherwise if they do this how long until they tell us costs have to increase due to the fact that no one is riding it

Unacceptable. Eliminating the commuter rail service after 7PM is a bad idea, I for one rarely get out of work by 7PM, what is someone supposed to do if they have to work late? Take a $200 cab ride from Boston to Plymouth? This is disgusting and unfair to commuters. Someone needs to be held responsible for the bad decision making leading to this plan. Commuters should sue the MBTA if this goes through especially commuters who purchased homes near a commter rail stop for the conveinance into Boston for work.

Well, I for one, will not ride the T if this happens. The service is already awful, and this is sure to make it worse. No E line on the weekends? What are those northeastern, wentworth, and other college kids going to do? Have to work past 7, sorry financial district execs, you're out of luck. Want to make a weekend beach trip to the north shore- too bad. I understand that the T needs to get itself fixed, but I think this is their way of trying to scare Beacon hill into giving this terrible agency more money.

It figures that the proposed cuts in service, combined with rate increases will disproportionately affect those who work for a living and struggling to stay afloat. So much for the claims by the Govenor and the Legislature on making the Bay State a ecologically progressive, "green state".

I personally will vote against every incumbent who allows these cuts to happen.

As much as others, I think the B line stops a stone's throw apart are ridiculous .. but how is eliminating unstaffed above ground stops a savings? Is it maintenance? I would presume the ridership will go to another station.

I do think a good look at [cost per trip] and daily + hourly variation in demand is a great place to start. Put the service where the greatest need is.

Eliminating the Commuter Rail weekday service after 7pm!? How is half of Boston supposed to get to the Celtics and Bruins games? More importantly, how are they going to GET BACK?! That's absolutely ridiculous.

Public Transportation is a necessity, not a luxury, for a city like Boston. In my opinion, any cuts in service are a crime that further weaken the local economy, put low income workers at risk, increase the disparity between the richest and the poorest and force additional toxic cars on our already crowded roads. I hope the MBTA can stop threatening the people of Massachusetts and find a solution which makes Mass a better place.

Eliminate E branch on weekends AND only go to Brigham Circle? Wow, that isn't a slap in the face to the Heath St. housing projects. Have fun with that outcry...

are they legalizing hitchhiking?

Once again, typical respponse to a lack of funding- cut high profile services so the public wont revolt when you raise taxes in the next phase. Address the major waste and expense of running the system for the union employees instead of cutting service.

I'm particularly shocked by the commuter rail cuts. No weekend service at all? No service after 7pm? Those will have a major negative effect on people commuting for work, and certainly decrease visits to Boston, whether for recreation, tourism, etc. I'll be very disappointed if this goes through.

This is clearly a political move by the MBTA to get the Beacon Hill to bail them out! The T has been poorly run for far to long!! Fire all senior management and start over, the T needs new blood!!

I understand the logic of more suburban rather than Boston service cuts based on a lesser likelihood of total reliance on the MBTA. For example, I live in the Fenway neighborhood and don't own a car like many of my neighbors.
But that's just a big leap backwards in environmental and traffic progress.
I can already tell you, as a regular Green Line rider, that 3-car trains are in desperate need, particularly on game days.

I've heard some make the suggestion that universities and colleges implement more extensive private bus systems, but I can tell you as a BU student that it's nice to be able to go somewhere aside from Agganis Arena and BU Medical Center.

Raise fares again??? It's ALREADY cheaper for me to drive into Boston for work than take commuter rail/subway!

Odd that they would release this just before the House Ways and Means budget goes to the printing press and can't be changed. Think they're trying to scare the HWM committee? Or at least this will make it easier to get some representatives from the affected communities to sponsor an amendment to the House Ways and Means budget calling for more MBTA money.
People don't get panicked about cutting middle management. They get panicked when they realize they won't be able to get to work anymore. The MBTA is fully aware of this.

Karen makes a good point. When the conductors on the commuter rail don't take the fares the ridership is undercounted. They don't take the fares and then some bean counter looking at the numbers say, "hmm . . . nobody takes the train on weekends."

Here's what they are not proposing to cut: BIG FAT PENSIONS

Many agencies like the MBTA in Massachusetts have exorbitant, excessive pensions with things like banking sick time, early retirement, and other ways to maximize pension that the system JUST CANNOT AFFORD. That is the first place to start cutting... but that would hurt the "T", not the customer.

Yeah, shesh... keep the T workers jobs... they make more than I do! And they are always so pleasant and eager to help!...

No commuter rail on week-ends!?! The after 7pm is a BIG joke! The just JUST did over North Sation, now they don't want anyone there! Most B's and C's games will now only be attended for 3 quarters or 2.5 periods. Sox games will become the 5th inning stretch... tourists - well that money will be gone...

Grabowski (or whatever the head guy's name is)... has the leadership qualities of a gerbil!

The T sucks

Welcome to Detroit, folks! While the real living and breathing and thriving cities manage to increase service and improve coverage, Boston is headed backwards at full speed.

Time to sell the house and get out off this sinking ship. This is not a major city or anywhere near a world class city anymore. With transit service cut on weekends and at times when people are still commuting, the priorities in this area are clear: let's suck harder!

My wife take the commuter rail on the Framingham line to South Station to work and she tells me that the "ticket takers" on the trains sometimes don't even bother checking/taking tickets because they are in a rush to prep for the next stop. Hmmmm... you have ALL these people who "supposedly" paid for the ride but you don't take pickets or check passes. I guess the riders could get 2-5 rides per ticket from her estimate.

The T system is broken and the people in charge don't know how to fix it.

+1 for giving up my commuter rail pass if this goes through. At least once a week I can't get out of work until after 7.

I am a frequent bus and T rider (commuting and just getting around). I live on the green line and quite frankly, they can drop even more of the B and C line stops than they have suggested. Not only will it save money, but it will speed up the train too (fewer starts and stops and reduced waiting time). The same can be said for some of the bus routes I take. There is one one-quarter mile stretch with 4 stops. We can all manage a 5 minute walk instead of a 3 minute walk to get to our nearest T stop, and a 1 minute walk instead of a 30-second walk to our nearest bus stop.

Well here we are again... another government agency asking for a handout to help with a problem. This screams bailout on the state level plain and simple. Look the only people to blame on this is ALL OF US WHO VOTE. We are the ones who aren't keeping an eye on our elected officials and watching how they perform their jobs for US. We just keep voting the same people into office no matter how much the mess things up. The root cause is fat salaries that these positions pay, there is no accountability for poor management and their bosses we keep putting back in office. We get what pay for folks.

Here's a crazy idea: how about T employees actually contributing to a portion of their health care premiums. Currently they contribute nothing.

Governor: don't you think its time you actually did something? I voted for you to lead. So did a lot of other people.

I am OUTRAGED AND SICKENED!!!!

Thea decision to cut the stops on the B line is really good and long overdue. This cut actually will improve service on the B.

TOGETHER WE CAN! - GET FLEECED AGAIN. No mention of cutting salaries or benefits (that don't exist for those of us in the "real" world). Remember citizens of Mass - you keep re-electing these bozos every chance you get.

I am sure there are other measures that can be taken. I live in Winthrop and use the Paul Revere bus everyday to get to Orient Heights. Now what!!!

The sad thing is that there's already plenty on revenues. The problem is that so much is just pi$$ed away. Bureaucrats, people making $50,000 watching abandoned buildings, you can retire with full benefits after 23 years (no matter what age), stifling union contracts. As Chef Ramsay would say, SHUT IT DOWN!

I've spent years taking trains and buses to Bruins games as well as the four Beanpot rinks. I don't currently own a car and would hopefully not have to be stranded after a Sat. night game at the Garden or Agganis Arena.

If the T was a private enterprise, they could file for bankruptcy, dump the unions and way too generous perks and start over.

Whether or not it "balances the budget", there is no way the MBTA will be allowed (by the people) to do this. The total overall cost to the city will be huge if this becomes effective and sticks, as it will have a further negative impact (by removing customers) on the Boston area.

I expect if things are as drastic as they are seen to be, there will be a significant pay rollback at the mid-to upper salary levels of the MBTA--right?

Speaking as someone from western MA who NEVER uses the MBTA< I thing the gas tzx is a good and probably necessary idea. Large portions of the existing federal gas tax are used for maintaining the public transportation network--what most of us call "the roads"-- and funding the operation of the trains and buses and vans that make up the rest of the public transportation system with a small state gas tax would be consistent with that.

When people get laid off, a lot of times they can't afford their cars anymore and would depend on public transportation. Cutting commuter rail service and a lot of T service is the stupidest idea I have ever heard and completely opposite to the direction the T should be taking in these hard times.

There currently are customer service agents in subway stations?

Every proposed cut regarding the commuter rail is ill-advised. Automate the ticket fare system on the commuter rail to avoid "ticket takers" failure to collect fares from riders given their claimed need to prepare the exits for each stop.

For additional cuts, look into the bureaucratic redundancies within management.

I live in Attleboro and work in Boston. If the T cuts weeknight commuter rail service after 7, I guess I won’t work late or stay in Boston for dinner anymore. I’ll just have to spend my money back in Attleboro. Can you hear that sucking sound, Boston and Cambridge? That’s all of our suburban dollars flowing away from Boston.

While I am not in favor of most of the cuts, I do think that the idea of dropping E line service beyond Brigham Circle makes sense because the remaining E line stops duplicate the 39 bus route. Moreover the E-line trains disrupt traffic flow and are dangerous to pedestrians. Dropping some of the B line stops also seems sensible. No other line has so many stops so closely spaced, and the sheer volume of stops slows down service for everyone.

In tandem with my above suggestions regarding the probable necessity for a gas tax, I suggest hiring people from the private logistics industry (UPS, FEDEX or some place like that ) to replace some of those at the upper echelons of the MBTA.

Reducing public transportation is NEVER the answer. What ever happened to all of the Washington cries to expand our nation's public transportation?

Daniel. J. Grabauskas & Co. should be ASHAMED of themselves!

good luck to any tourist unlucky enough to take the T around Boston to see various sites. They won't be able to ask how to get here or there (no cust service). And forget going to a Sox game from the suburbs unless you live near the Red line, but good luck getting home!

Is Boston becoming the Detroit of New England?

Boston will also be missing out on all the revenue from those out of towners who take the T into the City for the weekend. There is no way we'll drive in for a weekend and pay $50 a day to park. So, due to that, you'll lose on hotel revenue, restaurant revenue, shopping revenue, the taxis we take within the city, etc. Guess Sox tickets will become more available as well, as fans won't have transportation to/from games. This is just sick.

And another example of the government's inability to spend money efficiently. What I cannot understand is why nobody is asking "why" there is such a severe budget deficit? And what nobody will talk about from there is that like the Big 3, their employee costs are out of whack! They are the same thing, and yet the Big 3 get lambasted by politicians for this, they turn a blind eye to their own constituents. Pensions need to go!! When are people going to start asking the hard questions and not react to the inevitability of giving anyone in the government anything?

You know what, let's just cancel the whole MBTA while we're at it.

Why not just do away with the T completely? Then it won't cost ANY money.

Makes about as much sense as these plans...

At least we have Charlie Cards. What a joke.

With the story about the pension and consulting abuse, plus the ridiculous 100% parking increase, this is too much to take! If you look at the markets, and the state and ctiy budget shortfalls, none of them were effected by 100%! A 100% price increase is a sure sign of mismanagement. Cutting rail service for evening and weekends is suicidal. Have you ever been on a train on a red sox game day? Even coming in town around noon for an evening shift/evening game, there are tons of fans. This has got to be scare tactics. Reducing B line service is smart. That's a no brainer 10 plus years too late. This other stuff is nonsense. Time for the governor "Governate" ; )

Previous comments above have pretty much summed up my opinion.

- p.r. move to force the state to act
- maybe the MBTA should look into curbing those ridiculous pensions now

The MBTA isn't serious about balancing their budget if they give senior officers salary and retirement benefits simultaneously. I strongly believe that public transportation is a necessary service and should be strongly supported by, and subsidized by, the state governement, and possibly by the federal government using its gasoline tax funds. I have found the MBTA's recent announcements of the need for fare hikes and service cuts to be morally repugnant. They are not a for-profit insitution, and there is no reason to keep escalating the fares for the continuously deteriorating service they offer on increasingly decrepit vehicles. Their primary function is to provide decent transportation, not executive percs or even a balanced budget. I also find it revolting when I enter a bus that is freezing because the driver assumes that if he opens all the windows while smoking in the bus for ten minutes on his break (because it's too cold to step outside the bus), nobody will notice the smell or the ashes or the temperature. The MBTA lacks all credibility and is widely resented. They need to change.

i'm glad i didn't buy those Bruins/Celtics season tickets that i was considering.

the added inconvenience of driving into Boston along with parking and traffic issues make it a no-brianer. it'll be the couch and the tv for me.

Sorry, Sully's, Fours, Harp, Halftime Pizza, etc, etc, etc.

Well, this is just wonderful We are now paying the price for past screwups under Republican Governors. What is the MBTA's debt service? I'm certainly far from thrilled with our current Gov, but he didn't create this mess. What we can hold him accountable for his is absolute lack of leadership in this matter and others. It costs me $175 a month to commute on the Red Line cattle cars. They are already packed. What is it going to be like now? As for going to Boston in the evenings, forget it. No baseball, basketball, to say nothing about the BSO. Parking garages should like this. We can all pay Fenwy Park rates every night.

Unions, folks.. We can all applaud the unions. Sure, MBTA management may not be stellar, but how do you expect to run a break-even business when you have people retiring with full benefits when they've barely hit middle age?

What would be AMAZING would be if the union made some concessions RIGHT NOW to help close the gap and let the tens of thousands of people who depend on the T continue to live and work normally.

hahaha, that'd be like asking the fire department to drug test without giving them raises for the trauma it'd cause.

After lving in several cites around the world, I have to say that the MBTA has always been the worst transit system I have ever experienced and it continues to baffle me why they can't see what everyone who rides the T has seen for years. Bad management and bad politics...and we riders are always the ones who seem to pay...too bad for us again....

"Eliminate E branch on weekends"

How do they expect tourists to visit the Museum of Fine Arts? I guess that is not an important part of Boston.

I have travelled all over the world and consider the public transportation systems in some third world countries to be far superior than the T.

The T and Boston suck. If this truly is a 'city' then we need some of these services that are getting cut. How could they? Just get rid of Dan Grabauskus and the other admins taking money from the T who do nothing for us. If I had it my way I would actually extend the the T's operating hours to make it a 24-hr system. That could be done with some of these cuts. I cannot believe this. Oh wait, this is Boston, so I can!

When I would buy a 12 ride pass, I would usually get 15 rides as the moron T workers could not be bothered to puch the tickets.

this is nuts, other than eliminating 2 of the three BU stops (would actually make B line trips faster, the stops are close enough that people can walk)

More reason people will drive to work; this means more traffic, more unhappy people and more reason to leave Boston. Ohh, isn’t this city great.

Great plan. Encourage riders to drive into Boston, clog up the highways, increase air pollution, and create the perfect environment for road rage. What an excellent way to promote Boston to the rest of the world!

Eliminate, eliminate, eliminate. How about eliminating pensions that pay T-execs 100% of a $100,000.00 (or more) salary? And while were'at it eliminate every hack politician's pension by 50%. Do that an there would be no need for gat tax increases, taxes on candy, beer and wine or income tax increases.

This is the culmnination of decades of corrupt, incompetent political hacks serving themselves rather than the people. Blame yourselves first beause you keep voting them in.

The MBTA needs a swift kick and a major overhaul. I have seen three hikes so far, 25%, 20%, and 25%. Each one was a huge increase and I haven't seen any improvements in service at all, in fact the trains have been breaking down and later than ever. I can't understand where that 70% increase went over the past few years. They still cry poverty! They need to cut the expensive benefits program they have. I pay for my benefits at work why can't they? I dont' get 75-85% of my pay at retirement, why should they? MBTA management is nuts, they need to be cut. What about people who take classes after work? We'd all be affected. MBTA and politics...where does all the money go?

NO WEEKEND COMMUTER RAIL SERVICE?!?! This is flipping ridiculous. It isn't just COMMUTERS who use the commuter rail. I live in the city and my parents live near the commuter rail. How in the hell am I supposed to visit them on the weekends when I don't have a car? Good work, MBTA. You really stink.

This will affect more people who work nights and weekends and don't have cars, in general, lower paid people. It will put more cars on the road and more drunk drivers on the road at night and on weekends. It will probably even increase unemployment for people who can't get to work! The 70 and 70A busses are packed as it is evenings and weekends. They're going to cut busses by 50% during those times? No one who takes the commuter rail will be able to work late, or go out in Boston after work.

when are these changes going into effect?!!?! this is awful, awful news.

How are all the college students supposed to get around?

Simple solutions that MUST be enacted before any Service cuts or fare increases are even debated:

A. Retirement at 62 or after 35 years of service. Period. Renegotiate existing contracts (where else are these people going to work?). The unions will not be able to overcome public outrage on this, whatever they threaten. Plus, what self-respecting Union would not opt to spare layoffs resulting from draconian service cuts rather than propagate this shameful retirement scam?

b. Cap all upper management salaries at 150 K. If so-called talent leaves, so be it. News flash: They are expendable / replaceable in this economy. Mandatory T communte for all new upper management hires.

c. 5 % salary cut for all salaries above 90K, including overtime, for current fiscal year and the next.

d. Moratorium on station renovations until crisis passes. Expedited and audited completion of renovations under way.

THE MBTA CANNOT EVEN BEGIN TO FATHOM THE RIDERSHIP AND REVENUE DROPS THAT THESE CUTS WILL CREATE, EXACERBATING THE PROBLEM FOR YEARS TO COME.

Q: " How did the suburbs take the majority of the hits?"
A: Because ALL Hail BOSTON... All our legislatures, and
Goverment bow down to the almighty VOTE... and Boston
has the biggest VOTING Block..

I think this is ironic.
The government has been going nuts about the whole "green initiative", and the whole save the planet crap has practically become a cult. Now that people are actually trying to cut down on their use/waste of resources by using public transportation, that option is being taken away.

SHAME ON YOU.

People work way to hard in this city to deserve this. We are nearing the prices of New York City and Boston's system, although older, is no where near as good. And now were are cutting back more, and charging more?

Cut wages before you cut people and services, everyone else in the city has gotten a pay cut in this economy.

This is disappointing, particularly at a time when more people should be encouraged to take public transportation, both for environmental and fiscal benefits. Any chance stimulus funds could be applied toward fixing the T?

The T obviously needs to just forget about extending any further lines and opening any new stations (ie New Bedford/Fall River). The T can't handle what they have and yet they want to spend astronomical sums expanding service????? to areas not yet served?????? so they can then shut down other stations ?????

They should not be able to expand their empire since they can't manage properly what they already have.

Fire everyone at the T! There are plenty of people who need work, and lets face it it does not take a P.h.D. to drive a bus, or run a train that you do'nt have to steer in the first place!!!! I know a few people who work for the T (and I use the word "work" very loosely!) they brag about the money and bennies and laugh at all of us T riders as well as tax payers too!!!!
Bye the way how does one get a job on the T? Do I need to give money to Deval and his Beacon Hill criminals?

They need to extend their hours of operation. If everything ran until 2AM, imagine the money they would make from the bar crowd. I can't tell you how much money I dumped into cabs because I missed the 12:30 AM train.

Seriously? Cut the customer service people? What customer service people?

Only place I have ever seen a customer service T employee work is at Back Bay.
At Beachmont (last time I took the blue line from that station, which was, admittedly, about 6 months ago), the customer service guy stands there talking to his buddies, or sticks his nose in a newspaper even when customers are obviously having problems with the machines / turnstyles. A lot of help, he was. Probably raking in $100k to shoot the breeze & drink DD from next door.

Better yet, disband the MBTA and fire all employees. Bring in a private company to run it the way it should be run. Re-hire drivers and blue collar employees at the $10/hr rate that most non-college educated employees make everywhere else. You could maintain service AND turn a profit. This is how it works everywhere else when companies want to stay in business. It's not rocket science. The T is so mismanaged now, it's rotten to the core. The only way to fix it is to blow it up and rebuild it properly.

Can you imagine someone who lives on the North or South Shore and depends on commuter rail service to now go to their boss and request that they need to change their daily schedule to ensure making the last train out? In a recession no less where job cuts are coming left and right and fragile job security at best?
Who will be the first to have to run out of a meeting because the last train is leaving in 15 minutes? Would you risk doing that knowing you might not have a job tomorrow? And what of all those folks who bought homes near commuter rail service especially on the South Shore? You think the commute on Rt.3 to the X-way is bad now; wait until these cuts go through. You're looking at three hour commute times.

Wow! I thought we had it bad here in San Diego. Nothing like this!

I'd like to see MBTA officials talk about wage freezes, hiring freezes, reviewing fringe benefits.

As for the E line (outbound from Symphony to Heath, the service duplicates the 39 bus (very reliable). Both are not needed late night (after 9pm) or on weekends. This is actually a smart idea.

Why the T hasn't eliminated all duplicate routes is unknown.

Posted by Bob:
"Well, this is just wonderful We are now paying the price for past screwups under Republican Governors...."

Hi Bob,
Perhaps you're a new resident to this fine socialst state of Taxachusetts, but let me assure you that this state has been controlled by Democrats for decades.

Boston will truly be America's Walking City if these cuts are true.

What are all those lazy BU students going to do not having those stops on the B line 100 feet from eachother closed?

Relax everyone; these are scare tactics (as you can see from peoples reactions, it worked).

It would be financial suicide if the MBTA were to implement the proposed service cuts. The ridership numbers they quote are the number of riders that use the effected services. They are not taking into account the number of riders who will stop using the T due to the lack of convenience. As many readers have pointed out, people cannot accommodate 40 minute wait times or never having to unexpectedly work past 7pm. Ridership numbers will plummit, and the T will end up deeper in the hole than it is now.

Perhaps these rumored cuts are just scare tactics, but regardless, could we just raise the gas tax already and stop talking about it? An increase in the gas tax is something we should have had 35 years ago. What exactly is the delay? Who is blocking this?

I live in Attleboro and working Boston and I take the commuter rail into town, every day. I guess this means I can’t eat dinner in town anymore. Can you hear that sucking sound Boston and Cambridge? That’s the sound millions of dollars flowing out to the suburbs.

Maybe if the MBTA were run by more competent people then these cuts wouldn't be necessary. What business rehires employees that are collecting pensions? Incompetent management and crooks for employees make for a very poor business model.

The T management are simply criminals -- which was obvious to anyone paying attention, long before this talk of cuts -- and most of the T's ordinary employees are surly creeps at best, and often worse than that. Most of us know this. Unfortunately I haven't seen any practical suggestions for getting rid of this mafia, and I can't think of any way myself. So I guess the city is just hosed.

I've got 2 words for you Deval Patrick-----you're fired!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The MBTA should realize that instead of cuts they should be looking into improvements to give customers what they want and bring in some money. As an example, instead of closing the T at 1am, why not stay open 24 hours on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and charge $5-10 for fares instead of $1.70?? People would happily pay rather than take cabs, and it would entice people to stay out in the city longer and spend more money. The same could be done for the commuter rail during late hours and weekends. There are better solutions that just making cuts.

This is BLACK MAIL. Pure and simple. MBTA top honchos are not cutting their salaries, tax payer paid SUV's, pensions and other benefits. No... they are threatening to make us not being able to get to/from work, to public events etc.,. In other words they are threatening to do all possible to SLOW DOWN OUR ECONOMY EVEN FURTHER. They all should be summarily fired and prosecuted for YEAR of GROSS mismanagement. Make April 15 not just a TEA PARTY day at the Beacon Hill but a day of protest against MBTA and the rest of the state mismanagement.

I am so sick of these threats. In another year from now when they are in the same position again of trying to 'close their budget' are they just going to cut more service? The T is insolvent and an embarrasment. Everyone who works there in particulary the 'managers' should be embarassed and ashamed of themselves.

All this while they move ahead with new projects like the New Bedford commuter rail line. They might just be the worst run agency in the world. What amazes me is when they go up on rates by 30% each time, a year later, they have more debt. How is that possible? Are we just stupid?

ARE YOU SERIOUS???? How does the MBTA come up with this stuff??? they're insane if they think they'll get away with this. Why not cut the fat from the front office???? This is ridiculous!

Eliminating the E branch on weekends is a TERRIBLE idea! the E train goes to very important locations that don't exactly shut down on weekends, such as Symphony Hall, Northeastern University, the MFA, and 3 major hospitals. and they propose cuts on the BU stops. Am I the only one sensing that, once again, city officials don't care about college students? yeah, we're not important or anything, it's not like Boston's a college town *eyeroll* Also, a lot of college students use the commuter rail to go home on the weekend, these new cuts are going to make that a lot harder.

304 customer service positions at T stations to be eliminated saving $18,500,000.00. Doing the math and assuming everyone gets the same salary, they are making $60,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To tell tourists how to use the charlie card system!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate the MBTA/MBCR.

this announcement to be followed by....wait for it...If you want to save this service then we can increase the gas tax and income tax....

Wow. The T's like my deadbeat best friend. You can't stand him, he askes WAY too much of you, but you just can't do without the comedic relief.

I have a proposal. Let's get rid of the tolls on the pike and give those laid off toll takers jobs replacing those people on the T. (At least toll takers tend to be good natured. ) Then everyone can drive into the city and we can sit in traffic until noon, because there will be twice as many cars coming in. While we're at it, let's build another ridiculous bus station in the middle of a city center, as screwed up as Kenmore Square, and take 5+ years to build that too. But don't worry, we'll get flagmen because Deval has ensured us that we don't need the police to direct traffic. Maybe they can make their overtime back driving cabs, since cab drivers will be loaded for all the fares they'll get because of the T's cutbacks!

great, eliminate service and make the thousands of greater boston suffer....just so the few people who work at the T can keep their wallets and pockets fatter...that makes a lot of sense....when will people stop being selfish...

The MBTA has been horrible for years. Service sucks, it costs more and more every year whether it’s the increase to fares or to parking, most of the structures and vehicles are in horrible shape and they employ some of the rudest and most inept people I have ever seen but pay them more than almost anyone I know. They spend millions of dollars to create giant glass stations that commuters are in for 5 minutes tops. I used to take the express bus into the city but it was always breaking down and it always reeked of exhaust. I switched to the commuter rail where the parking ticket thing never worked and so I got tickets from the local police and would get plowed into my spot when it snowed not to mention the horrible commuter rail delays and not having a seat most days. I switched to the orange line that increased its parking rates and have trains with seats torn apart and train drivers that scream if people are too close to the door. What are we supposed to do if they raise the fares another 25-30% and cut all these services when everyone is strapped for cash right now? And every week in the Metro they have the questions for Dan Grabauskas where he says “oh we are aware of these problems and are working to fix them”. Really has anyone seen anything improve lately?

Just brilliant... cut all night/weekend revenue for Boston restaurants, retail, sports, entertainment venues, etc. for all the surburbanites who don't like driving into the city. That will do wonders for our economy, I'm sure.

Of course, I am being sarcastic. But economy aside, haven't we seen a huge increase in the use of public transportation recently as we all push for greener living? Isn't this a huge step backwards in the effort to emphasize the use of public transportation to save the environment?

At any rate, I hope the bus driver that side-swiped me on Route 2 yesterday and kept driving is one of the workers who loses his job.

great, eliminate service and make the thousands of greater boston suffer....just so the few people who work at the T can keep their wallets and pockets fatter...that makes a lot of sense....when will people stop being selfish...

Eliminate E line on weekends? Is the MBTA absolutely insane??? How do you expect visitors to get to the Museum of Fine Arts and the Pru on the weekends? Especially in the summer when tourism picks up? Plus, Northeastern University, Wentworth, MCPHS, and a bunch of other schools depend on that line and the college students are probably the largest group that rides the E line and supplies the majority of its revenue. They'll probably lose more than they would gain by eliminating the E on weekends.
This is beyond ridiculous.

MBCR pays their employees more than anyone realizes... a commuter rail train conductor makes more than I can ever hope to in my life (despite my professional college degree). They could MOST DEFINITELY afford to cut salaries.

Also, to try to make money, why don't they ACTUALLY COLLECT FARES?!?! I've ridden the commuter rail at night on MANY occasions when they haven't collected. If they simply do their job and collect fares I'm sure they would have a much smaller deficit.

This will force more cars on the road and create more pollution. Aren't we just getting greener! As usual, the people most affected are the ones who are the neediest. The T has more waste and such poor management no wonder it is in such dire straits.

So, with 58 million riders affected, and hopefully, registered voters, should contact their legislaters from each area and make their case. Between the mis-management and the losey politicians those affected should and can make a difference.

MBTA cuts = Welcome to Connecticut. The state that doesn't have public transportation. Oh wait, we have Metro-North, on the shoreline but most towns in that service area you must wait 5, or more years to get a parking space.

The larger part of inland Connecticut does not have public transportation (other than bus) unless you are requesting Amtrak service. If you want a friendly business enviorment you must lower-corporate taxes, and have an up to date public transportation system. This formula creates jobs, new homeowners, and future business growth.

Jodi Rell & Deval Patrick must create some solutions on this key -issue.

In addition to all of the idiocy commented on by others, how about the part of their plan that severely cuts back on The Ride? In typical MBTA fashion, they take away a vital service from the elderly and the disabled--who have even fewer recourses than the rest of us. The T should be ashamed, and somebody with some management and transportation expertise should be brought in to do things right.

Cutting all this stuff after spending $2,000,000 on a bus simulator. What a flipping joke this city is becoming!

Some of these cuts are reasonable but CUTTING evening and weekend commuter rail service, rather than reducing frequency? Madness.

But I'm all for dropping Green Line stops. Just don't cut back on the #7 bus in Southie (hey, we all have our own agenda).

GOTTA LUV OVER PAID T OFFICIAL POLITICS

I agree with the MBCR automation. I can't speak for other regional rail systems, but, speaking from experience, Tokyo-Yokohama, where urban rail and suburban systems are much less distinct from each other, most non-long-haul routes use turnstiles, both on local subway and commuter routes.
the SoundTransit system in the Puget Sound (Seattle-Tacoma-Everett) tested out a farecard like Charlie back in 2006, and I had the fortune to test it. No turnstiles, but you scanned your card when you boarded and scanned it as you left, and fare would be deducted automatically, or your pass validated.

Unfortunately, I have a feeling this wouldn't be well-accepted because, despite the savings, it requires a high capital investment, which the MBTA doesn't really like. Hence, we get the Silver Line.

This seems like a deliberate leak from the MBTA to the Boston Globe to create public outrage over the proposed changes. The fact that someone somewhere honestly believes cutting service on the commuter rail after 7 AND raising the prices will create more revenue has a very warped understanding of economics. I believe this leak was done intentionally to try and force the city of Boston and state of Massachusetts to provide more funding to a system that is obviously running inefficiently. However this one option is clearly not the best option and there must be other solutions, perhaps the MBTA management needs to hire some consultants to teach them about creating a balanced budget.

How about the safety of passengers who wait outside for the subway or bus at night? While the bus supposedly has a "schedule" it's more difficult to predict when the next subway will arrive. Does eliminating the customer service agents at the subway stations mean there will no staff on guard? Doesn't that seem to severly jeopardize safety of passengers?

Don't you people get it? They are cutting commuter rail, T , and bus routes so that we'll be forced to drive. The next phase of their plan is to put up toll booths on the roads we are all now required to drive on because we have to get to work. It's all quite genious.

This might save the MBTA money in the short term, but it will cost Boston 10 times the savings in lost work, added cars on the road, more accidents, etc. This is the stupidest thing I have heard yet. They should be investing in the system and expanding to make the MBTA more like the TriMet system in Portland Oregon. Everyone uses public transportation there, and they enjoy it.

Nice! Cut service and revenue from 45,000,000 riders. At the same time, spend money to maintain the Greenbush line and extension of the subway.

Who are these managers? Fire them and promote capable folks from within.

Oh wait! I get it! You release the memo to stir up public outrage and hope for state/federal funding to enable you to maintain a bloated costly system...
Smart!

Well tough times call for tough decisions. I'm affected but I'll do my part. I applaud the T for taking responsibility for its finances. I've been so frustrated with the way they've ignored the problem. It's pay now or pay later. With pension reforms, lay-offs and increase in fares we can start working towards a system in which we get what we pay for --- and pay fair but not exorbitant wages and benefits. I am a pro-union Democrat generally but the T is an example of what happens when unions get too much power and act unreasonably and, by doing so, they soil the integrity of unions for those who really need them.

The so called management at the "T" is looking at this problem backwards. The problem is spending, not revenue. Where can any average person get a lavish pension like the T offers?

It's appalling that they haven't even mentioned the option of surcharging cars entering the city, like they did in London. Ridership is higher than ever, for years they've been touting the importance of using public transit, and now suddenly it doesn't matter.

The most appalling thing on this list - "Eliminate Saturday and Sunday Commuter Rail service" - apparently the City of Boston has no concept whatsoever of the money spent by people using those trains to come into the city on the weekends for events. It is such a big deal for people from the near suburbs to be able to use the train to get downtown, hardly anyone I know bothers to drive. All the money they think they are saving themselves by doing this - it so unbelievably short sighted.

How on earth has the MBTA been managed so poorly that it got itself into this big of a mess?

As long as they don't eliminate the "driver" of that second T car. That guy is really important...
I also like to see that they are paying KONE to fix the escalators every day in every station. For the last decade that I've been riding the T, one escalator(which one changes every day) on each Red Line station is "broken" and needs fixing. What a racket...
Don't forget about all those new greenline cars that they paid countless millions to a European company to build, only to find that they didn't fit the tracks. Instead of getting their money back, they spent millions more changing the tracks.
The T has been rife with corruption and waste for decades. Rather than trim the political favor jobs and the corrupt, bloated vendor contracts, they are instead cutting service.

Now is the time to extend service rather than cutback. This is lunacy. Instead, install Tolls on the SE expressway and I-93. Isn't it time Boston "benefits" from those tax eluding leaches to our north? What does NH do for MA...except complain about taxes and Deval and choke our streets with their freedom trucks and SUVs. Get a job in Manchester or Nashua.

Hooray about the B line changes!

There are WAY too many BU stops anyway, and if 19-year-old kids can't walk an additional block or two, who can? Besides the fact that most of them slip on the train without paying anyway.

I can't remember when they announced it, but the MBTA GAVE increases earlier this year and now they are whining that they don't have enough money and is waiting for a bailout. The rest of us of suffering from pay cuts and freezes, so why should the MBTA be any different?

Coupe Deval has you right where he wants you......up in arms about this...so he can raise fares, raise taxes, fleece you more........Never looking inward to see why the cost is so hight to run the MBTA and being a good manager and cut the areas that are costing too much.....like over blown salaries not competitve with commercial rates or commercial employee benifit packages.
you voted for him......you reap your reward.....you also voted for Obama-lama ding dong.....he is up the same tackics........

I find it really discouraging that nearly everyone of the 100-odd posters so far seems to feel that the T is entirely to blame for its current plight. Count me as an apologist for the T. It has its share of mismanagement and corruption, as does nearly every large institution, public or private, of any significant size. Some of its problems are egregious (the overly generous pension rules) and should be fixed. In fact the governor and legislature are considering legislation improve the pension system right now, but the impacts of reform will take years to be fully effective.

But the pension has been in place for decades, and is not by itself the cause of a sudden gigantic budget gap, though its contribution to the problem creeps up year by year. As I see it, the reason for the sudden gap is that sales tax revenues (which make up the majority of the T budge) have fallen dramatically due to a severe recession, while ridership and costs have risen markedly. Fares pay only a portion of the cost of rides, so every new rider increases the imbalance.

Furthermore, the T is burdened with the highest debt of any public transit agency in the country, mostly because it was saddled with Big Dig-imposed projects. No other agency in the United States has been forced to assume similar kinds of debts.

Naturally the announcement of draconian cuts is being made with the hope that it will get some attention and action. The T has been calling for help for years. Has anyone listened? I imagine that they hope to use the threat of laying off 800 employees to encourage the unions to negotiate (just has Menino has brought pressure to bear on city employees). Additionally, I am sure they hope to spur the governor and legislature to quicker action. And why not? Nothing else has worked, yet.

I have cursed the T plenty in my fifteen years of riding it nearly daily. There are bad apple employees. There are also good ones. There is mismanagement. There are things about the system that are great. I encourage everyone to bring some balance to the posts on this page. Be a little more thoughtful. Try not to make everything black and white!

Suggestion: hire one agent for outdoor green line stop during rush hour. While this may be increasing staff, you'd easily be increasing your ridership fare. At least half, probably closer to 3/4, of the commuters ride for free each morning. My coworkers stopped their monthly pass purchases since they never had to swipe their card for morning commute.

The T, unions and politicians ought to be ashamed of themselves. This is an obvious PR move designed to scare the public into accepting the gas tax and those clowns on Beacon Hill into forking over more money, rewarding years of mismanagement. Where is the statewide salary freeze, review and elimination of waste, theft, fraud and outrageous spending, starting with redundant, useless agencies with pensions and benefits that are unsustainable. God I cannot wait until the next election. VOTE THEM OUT.

I dont hear any cutbacks on salaries for upper management or is it they are making all these cutbacks so they can have enough money for there pay raise.
MBTA have clearly not think this through about all the buisness and shows and games will suffer and have to take a loss from this

This is going to kill Boston's economy....

Do any of these people making these decisions use public transportation? Besides how this will personally effect me, it seems to me it will effect everyone, unless your job is a very strict 9-5 and you never stay in the city proper to socialize (and stimulate the economy). Further, you never go to a sports game, or are on the road when the sports fan has had one too many and has to drive to get home.

All of the cuts make this seem like an awful place to visit, an awful place to work, an awful place to live, and the worst place to go to school. My commute is already inconvenient, and I must leave the city by 6:30 if I want to get an express bus to Watertown Square.

Pretty soon, people will start leaving. See you all on the darkened Zakim!

Eliminate the T and replace it with a new, non-bloated agency that won't be this inefficient for, at least, a couple more decades.

After reading the article and several posts made by readers, I have determined that many residents of Boston are unhappy about the details of drastic MBTA cuts. Back to the drawing board.

way to support the green movement

I work for the MBTA and can tell you first hand that this is all BS. These cuts are being "proposed" to create a scare. There's a lot of pressure to cut the fat in here and it's not going over too well. Here's what's going on.... if service actually got cut this much the state would veiw the MBTA as dysfunctional and would take measures to either hand it over to a 3rd party or clean house. The state can't handle that burden now and the MBTA knows it. So, the idea is to use that possibility as leverage to get an influx of cash. Once that cash comes in, service will be back to "usual." What you have to understand here is that if the MBTA were run optimally, there would less leverage for the top brass to use. By keeping it limping along they hold the most power.... it's either give them what they want or the whole thing shuts down.

The fact that someone actually put this ridiculous scheme on paper, with the intent to present it as a solution, is insane. So commuter rail users working in Boston now have a 7pm curfew and those who finish work before 7pm aren't going to be allowed to have dinner in the city or even catch a Sox game. And then the fares will be increased, to add to the 100% increase of daily parking fees that were rolled out last November. Yeah, this will definitely encourage people to 'go green and ride the train'. The MBTA will then lose a significant number of riders and still won't be able to make up for their huge debt. Great solution, people. Let's take a look at the multi-figure salary of the person who proposed this insanity.

makes you want to pay the stupid gas tax now, doesn't it? its politics people. there is no way the gov will allow the mbta to cut that much service. they throw it out there so you will be happy when your service isn't cut, and you won't feel the need to storm the state house over the gas tax.

Once they realize how much money they are LOOSING as opposed to saving or cutting from the budget, they will most likely rethink this. I could understand cutting some things here and there but compensating for the cuts with something elsewhere. People are what run the city, if they cant get to and from work...well, the beast will raise its ugly head when the time is right. Hell, I live in Florida, and this bugs the heck out of me.

I have a better idea; let's just get rid of the T management team, who have been useless since Day 1. The T has to be one of the worst managed public transportation systems in the country. I take commuter rail connecting to subway to work, and inevitably, at least 1 - 2 times per week, my train is late - or just doesn't show up! I thought that the T management was going to address this with their commuter rail partner - another patronage stronghold, just like the T itself! But, it changes for a month, then reverts back to the horrible customer service and delays that the commuter rail has always experienced. it's time for commuters to realize that the T just doesn't care, because they have a captive audience; and, they don't need to be accountable, because their mismanagement and patronage is just as bad as what's happening on Beacon Hill - one screws up, and the other one provides the CYA! I think a private firm should start a bus service from the 'burbs to downtown and compete with the T. Or, people should just simply boycott the T completely until it shuts down; because we need to start from Square 1 and rebuild this mess.

Public agencies like the T should not be permitted to compensate their employees with pensions. They should be forced to pay their employees from their current budget, and those employees can save or not depending on how long they want to work.
When we allow them to save some money today by promising a pension tomorrow, we allow the agency to pass along an even worse problem to the next generation of managers. The chickens are finally coming home to roost for the state, the towns, and the agencies like the T. The obligations to people that no longer work for the T, but still are working full time, are killing us.

You might as well close down the system. Cut the service, increase the fares? A great way to solve the problem. Has anyone in the MBTA ever run a business? It makes me wonder.

I cannot believe that at a time when our planet needs people to stop driving and switch to public transit that we are making cuts that are this severe. The quality of life in Eastern Massachusetts will greatly decrease in the T stops this much service. Though the T needs a lot of work, one of the best features of living in the Boston area is relatively efficient transportation that runs late into the evening and on the weekends. I grew up in Mass but currently live in Washington, DC. I do not own a car and my life depends on public transit. I couldn't even imagine the economic backlash that cuts in service would cause. Boston may become the next Detroit!

Article says: "By slashing 805 jobs and service used by almost 52 million annual riders, the agency could save a projected $75 million"

$75 million for 805 jobs translates to an AVERAGE of $93,167 per job.

I guess we can now understand why the "T's" bankrupt...

The MBTA needs to hear these concerns. I'm not sure they'll be reading these comments, we need to tell THEM how we feel. show up to the public meetings if you can, write letters, make calls, do something. we can't let this happen.

This is actually good news! Soon Bostonians will get so fed up with this crap that they will exile the city..lowering rental rates, and maybe I can actually afford a one-bedroom in the city!!

This will suck. But they should cut most of those green line stops regardless.. the BU ones are like 10 feet apart and those kids can walk the extra distance like I did at my suburban college campus.

this is not what is needed in a crisis. public transportation should remain in spite of everything else; instead it is getting the shaft. boston is quickly becoming a second rate city.

on another note, i could have told those morons at the mbta to get rid of half the B line stops and a handful of C line stops years ago. the green line is the worst light rail in the country hands down. slow, inconsistent and unreliable. gross, old trolley cars. its just a big disaster.

Am I missing something? How does eliminating T stops save money? That is ridiculous.

All the people saying how much this will hurt the city are right. But they speak as if the T would have the power to just spend this money anyway and keep things as they are. They don't; their funding sources are determined by law and they have to stay within that.

How many $100,000 execs are there? You have to cut an awful lot of those to make up a $160M budget gap. And, to comment #68, T employees do pay a portion of their health premium, like most other workers - currently 15%; to #22, there's been a freeze on everything but operators for over a year.

But, as usual, there's a crowd of commenters that's bitter that anyone makes a decent living. If anyone working for the government can afford anything but rags on their back and gruel on their table, they're outraged at the waste. Can it.

Here's a radical thought...instead of cutting T services, why not extend the subway lines until 3:00am on Fridays and Saturdays, just like DC, NY, etc. Six extra hours a week, but think how of many people who live in the area would utilize public transportation once nightlife in Boston closes at 2:00. Just think, that might even decrease driving under the influence! Of course Boston would never go for it, they don't like to do things that might actually make sense. They'd rather spend the time and resources on DUIs as oppose to even more dangerous crimes...

I can't believe the "T" would choose to eliminate the St. Paul Street stop on the "C" line!! I haved lived on this street for eleven years and would have to use the Kent Street stop just to get home!! I'm not very happy with these eliminations at all!!

I'm really not sure what The people at the T are thinking. All this would do is reduce revenue for the T, who would in turn look for more ways to cut service. How about running the B line on odd days and the D line on even days? Cutting customer service helpers would be perfect for all those pesky tourists that try to navigate our city. I think our state symbol should be changed to a turtle, because all of these cuts will cause citizens to retreat even further into their homes, not head to the city, find jobs elsewhere, etc. Is there not one T manager with the courage to fight for civic pride? Cuts like this are a disgrace to this "world class city".

I think cutting back on the commuter rail is rediculious!!!! Expecially as early at 7:00 p.m. on weekdays???!!!! And weekend service???!!! PLEASE PLEASE dont cut back the service on the commuter rail.

Let's just shut down the T, build 1,000 high capacity garages all over MA and buy everyone a hybrid. It'd be cheaper and a hell of a lot more useful.

Nothing else to say other than that T Service has been miserable before the cuts; I can only imagine how awful it will be after... If this happens, get ready to see a complete decline in those post-graduate students that Boston has been trying to attract so much. We prefer to live in a TECHNOLOGY EFFICIENT CITY. I love how Boston touts that having the first subway system in America is a good thing without making any significant repairs. Certainly still feels like 1900 to me.

The only way the Governor will step in and squelch this dumb idea is by instituting another dumb idea and that would be to raise Gas Taxes and other taxes and fees. The "T" is absolutely mis-managed and most of the cuts should come in the form Management.

I do though agree in part with some of the cuts and as far as these private lines are concerned, not a bad idea. Also, some of those Green line runs are uselss too along with some bus routes that should be cut due to lack of ridership. My Town has a bus service and nobody is on it.

where is the MBTA think cap here!!!!!!! this can be seriously while first it was cut the weekend commuter rail, now regular services too, MBTA need to sitting down put more than ten heads to think about how many people would suffer stop been greed here

I am a college student and the only time I can take the commuter rail in and out of the city is after 7PM. Stopping commuter rail service on nights and weekends is absolutely absurd! I take the Worcester line, and HALF of the cars are empty all the time- why not just take those out of commission and have smaller trains throughout the day? The only thing I approve of on this list is getting rid of the extra BU stops. The students have their own bus line, anyway. If they double wait times at night, I'll invite every MBTA employee to ride the B Line to and from Allston on a Friday and see how they like it. Those trains are monstrous at that time and there's no way they can hold double the capacity they do now. This whole thing is awful!

NO night or weekend commuter rail service? This is REDICULIOUS!! Your going to lose money doing this, because no one will take the train anymore and find other means of getting into Boston. Expecially if they have to work late. And all the people who go see the games will be driving in, because the train will not be available when the games are over.

May be a small point, but how does eliminating stops on the B line save any material amount of money? The trains have to go past the stop whether they stop there or not, and there's no huge expense associated with maintaining an open air T-stop like the BU ones. That point aside I'm in favor of closing stops simply because there are too many of them and it slows the trip down appreciably.

If the MBTA is so hard up for cash, perhaps they should reevaluate the amount of money they pay out to employees. I have a degree and I work fulltime in Newton as a teacher, and I still make less than the average T operator. What a waste it was to study so hard and pay so much for school, when I could have spent my life driving subway cars in Boston! Also, it would be great if I could get a great pension and paid healthcare after retirement, too. Where do I sign up? It must be in the line next to the protestors with their pitchforks and torches.

Eiminating services is probably one of the worst ideas this city has had in a very long time. Too many people depend on the T for it to simply disappear. The MBTA can cry poorhouse all it wants, but the truth of the matter is, they're purely responsible for their dire situation (overpaid execs, rushed operators forgoing fees, ect...). If they can't run their business effectivey, they should walk away and restructure instead of punishing their consumers.

wow...most places in China has better public transportation for less dime than this city.

OK: I agree there is a definite need to eliminate some service within the city limits since many routes run with both trolley -and- bus services. The 39 bus line from Forest Hills stops at the same stops as the "E" branch of the Green line between Heath St and Symphony Hall - so yes: making Brigham Circle a transfer point for these two lines makes sense - and I'm sure there are other redundancies in the system as well.

What doesn't make sense is the elimination of nightime and weekend service, etc. The T has been bloated for far too long. Its riders and the taxpayers of this state have paid the price. This is totally inexcusable!

The magnitude of these service cuts if far-reaching and will be devastating to both our economy and the environment - and were the heck is the Mayor??
(Looking for bright spots in Downtown Crossing, perhaps??)

Cap their employee salaries, reduce benefits, and fire all those nincompoops in upper management who drove the MBTA into the ground!

This cuts are in contradiction with any ecological long term thinking. They should be doing the opposite : improve services, add more lines, increase frequency while at the same time increasing revenue from gasoline and tolls to sponsor public transportation for its positive impact on the environment.

MBTA has been a dead beast anyway for a while. Service is very unreliable, there is always an excuse for delays (maintenance, weather..). Take it into your own hands and use services like zimride or craigslist to find people who have the same commute as you.

Great Job!! Build up the public scare. That way the gas tax is sure to happen. This is a great way to trick the puplic in to buying in to more taxes is the way to fix problems. Not making people in charge of the money responsible. Keep crying wolf and the people will soon learn to ignore you..

This is a scare tactic from our wonderful governor so we support his stupid tax increases. Eliminating major service after 7 pm?? Are you nuts?
We have nobody to blame but ourselves-we have voted for these people (reps, senators, governors, etc.) who on pad their wallets with taxpayer money. We should start by going back to a part-time legislature and term limits . . .

OR implement a congestion charge for people who insist on driving their bmws into the city.

I live in West Boylston and driving to Boston is probably my least favorite activity in the world. It's right up there with parking in Boston, pedestrians in Boston, and getting parking tickets in Boston. What are we supposed to do for Celtics games on weekends? Red Sox? Is the MBTA in cahoots with the people collecting money in the parking garages? Money I don't have... if all this happens I probably won't see Boston for a long time. What an inaccessible, useless city.

I am more concerned with the cuts in service all together than I am about the elimination of a few stops. Reducing service after 7/8pm will have the highest impact as commuters/visitors will be forced to leave the city sooner, which is BAD FOR BUSINESS in general.

One thing i could say is that the majority of motor vehicle commuters on the road are driving 1 person to a car... perhaps there could be some kind of community carpool organization created out of this.

In my lifetime I have seen MA is a very proactive, forward thinking state. One that has been on the cutting edge and is constantly breeding new potential ... but its saturday and I need to get to Rockport... oh? Sorry, that's a tough one.

If the T can screw things up, they will. At a time when people are leaving their cars at home and taking the T, they should be encouraged to continue to do with GREAT service and courtious staff... not the opposite.

Cut exuecutives salaries and pensions, etc . Manage labor more effectively especially over-time ans sick days. Get big union concessions and changes in work rules. Stop hiring former employees as consultants.

Then talk to me about cuts in services.

Absoloutley unbeleivable, cutting public services while raising taxes. Taxation without representation. Mind numbing. Never mind the counter effects this has on the Green initiatiive are we not trying to reduce emisssions. With these cuts people that need transportation will look to cheap older car and transportaion, thus using more gas, great emissions and smog perfect timing with summer around the corner.
No wonder Massachusetts has one of the highest attrtion rates in the country absoloutley unbeleivable.

Let's see. We have proposed gas hikes and an increase on tolls which would encourage commuters to take public transportation, and now all of these cuts are being proposed? This is great.

This is ridiculous. We see the MBTA waste money every single day and they want us to believe service cuts are necessary. How much are they spending remodeling the Ashmont T stop? It's been under construction for 2 years now. I realize platforms may need to be rebuilt or maintained, but it seems to take less time to build a condo or office tower. The MBTA needs to stop taking on construction projects it can't afford to complete in a timely manner and stick to providing regular subway and bus service. I could not care less how fancy my T stop is. It's not going to pacify me when I'm waiting 40 minutes for a subway train every weekend.

I just don't understand the thinking behind the managers of the MBTA with cutting services to the public. Why are we the common people being penalized because the MBTA can't, or won't take measures to cut back on their high paying positions?

How many more corrupt politicians and managers will we allow to continue to spend money like it's going out of style before we have had enough?

Typical thinking of managers...Cut at the bottom instead of at the top!

I do not take public transportation so why should the increase in the gas tax be passed on to me? Raise the fairs accordingly and manage the T correctly .

And 6 mos. after THESE changes go into effect they'll complain again that they're not making enough money...vicious cycle. Greed does that. They'll just run mass transit in Boston into the ground and place the blame on the riders -yet again. It's time for a change - but from within the company or perhaps by the State stepping in.

Budget Cuts. The people in charge at the MBTA are clearly unintelligent. After traveling to Europe and riding on the comfortable, on time, clean, extensive Tube/Metro Train systems i don't understand why Boston is stuck with the terrible T. Why doesn't Massachusetts step in and make the T and Commuter Rail a choice of transportation that people will want to use. Raising revenue is a better way to fix the MBTA's financial problems than cutting costs and making public transportation even more unreliable/inconvenient to ride. The MBTA obviously can't fix themselves so come on government of the people of Mass, do something! Please.

MBTA Idiots -
check your calendar - it's April 10th, not April 1st !!
You're 9 days late with the joke....
Seriously - they estimate the ridership loss with each of these proposals and the number of T jobs lost. But some of these cuts simply don't add up.
If a lot of ridership is lost, that's a lot of revenue lost. And in many cases seems to far exceed the costs of the jobs involved or operating costs. Remember operating costs for one or more stops is amortiized over the whole route anyway. Finding ways to increase ridership is another approach - it doesn't have to be all about cutting service. Here's an idea - run the subways one hour later at night from Thurs thru Sat. (til 3am). Yes, I know, the poor cab drivers...boo hoo.

What a PATHETIC threat. "Give us our big tax hike or ELSE!" That's all this is. I agree we need to provide additional revenues for the state's transportation infrastructure, but this kind of threat is a joke. Typical brinksmanship from the T. They should be ASHAMED of themselves.

And of COURSE they realize there are wide-ranging implications for these cuts. But when you're using scare tactics, you're not interested in making rational arguments.. This will never happen. It's just a threat. It's a way to pressure the legislature to favor a tax hike. These kinds of tactics will only backfire, though.

I find it really discouraging that nearly everyone of the 100-odd posters so far seems to feel that the T is entirely to blame for its current plight. Count me as an apologist for the T. It has its share of mismanagement and corruption, as does nearly every large institution, public or private, of any significant size. Some of its problems are egregious (the overly generous pension rules) and should be fixed. In fact the governor and legislature are considering legislation improve the pension system right now, but the impacts of reform will take years to be fully effective.

But the pension has been in place for decades, and is not by itself the cause of a sudden gigantic budget gap, though its contribution to the problem creeps up year by year. As I see it, the reason for the sudden gap is that sales tax revenues (which make up the majority of the T budge) have fallen dramatically due to a severe recession, while ridership and costs have risen markedly. Fares pay only a portion of the cost of rides, so every new rider increases the imbalance.

Furthermore, the T is burdened with the highest debt of any public transit agency in the country, mostly because it was saddled with Big Dig-imposed projects. No other agency in the United States has been forced to assume similar kinds of debts.

Naturally the announcement of draconian cuts is being made with the hope that it will get some attention and action. The T has been calling for help for years. Has anyone listened? I imagine that they hope to use the threat of laying off 800 employees to encourage the unions to negotiate (just has Menino has brought pressure to bear on city employees). Additionally, I am sure they hope to spur the governor and legislature to quicker action. And why not? Nothing else has worked, yet.

I have cursed the T plenty in my fifteen years of riding it nearly daily. There are bad apple employees. There are also good ones. There is mismanagement. There are things about the system that are great. I encourage everyone to bring some balance to the posts on this page. Be a little more thoughtful. Try not to make everything black and white!

Maybe the T should just declare bankruptcy, go out of business and break the behemouth into three private entities. These operations can be put out to bid, void all union contracts and make all employees re-apply for gigs in the privatized system. Private subway and bus operations, private subway operation and a private commuter rail operation will bring a breath of fresh air to the system. Remember, good service brings more riders and that eqauals something no one at the current T has ever heard of, a PROFIT! The current T can go the way of the Boston Globe...Scrap Heap City! Good bye and good riddance!

They're cutting off commuter rail service after 6:45pm during the week? This isn't affecting my particular commute, fortunately, but that's insane! Nobody gets out of work before 7 some nights! You should at the very least make that 8pm. And hate to say it but the Green Line does have too many stops. Most of the time no one gets on or off at all the freaking stops. Reduce THE RIDE service area that will definately affect certain riders. Eliminate Commuter Boat Program subsidy, I mean, I don't take the boat but that sucks. I don't get why we're always the ones footing the bill when other people caused all the problems on the Big Dig. That's why they're making these cuts. Geez. Pretty soon I won't even be able to afford living in MA anymore.

Get rid of the customer service personnel at the T stations? Who is going to sit on their a$$es all day? Oh wait, everybody else that works for the T. I've never seen such lazy people in my life.

I really enjoyed the multi-million dollar Charlie Card advertising campaign. That was money well spent for the less than 1% of people that couldn't figurev out where you tap the card. Rediculous.

What a joke. Might as well bring back Scollay Square and all the strip clubs in the North End, because Boston is quickly headed in that direction with innane ideas such as this.

This is just the MBTA hierarchy letting everyone know that it will never, under any circumnstances, dismantle the bureaucracy that lays the golden eggs.

I work in Natick and I use The Ride to go to work and back to come home. How am I suppose go back to home and go to work.?

How about they go bankrupt and get restructured like the auto co should. They can get rid of all the big pensions. In fact maybe the whole govt should file for chapter 11 and get rid of the political pensions. The state would have enough money for the T without raising taxes on gas or more tolls.

More SCARE TACTICS ! ! !
Bureaucrats will do anything to protects their fiefdoms, their salaries and benefits, and their pensions!
Their usual weapon is DIVIDE and CONQUER using SCARE TACTICS:
"Let Government increase this tax OR ELSE ...
1.) ... your grandmother will starve!"
2.) ... rats will run wild in the streets."
3.) ... and so on.
GIVE US A BREAK ! ! ! You could eliminate 50% of government jobs and no one would notice - provided they were the right jobs.

It all comes down to the ridiculous wages and Benefits given to these apathetic, lazy, MBTA Unioninzed employees. Wack half of the jobs and put the union out of business and maybe our state and city can have a REAL transportation plan for the future. These employees think they deserve the world. Somoene should do an expose on the abuses of sick leave and their credit union as well. There is some juicy stuff there I know for sure.

No commuter rail on weekends? Eliminating stops for all three services? Wow, they might as well disband the company.

Cannot understand the mismanagement of the system when ridership is at its highest and there have been significant inreases every year. It will be cheaper to drive. They are also spending millions on projects not needed. Ewven with the cuts they will still cry poverty and raise the prices again the year after that. Need someone to seriously audit that whole system.

I see that the MBTA has resorted to scare tactics in order to get the state to fund their incompetence.

Not too much to add to this, I think most of it has been said. I am sickened by the continued empty promises passed out by the MBTA to provide a better service, and now cutting so many services. The upper management is obviously grossly unqualified. I did not see any mention of salary cuts, all I saw were how the people who ride and use the T will suffer. If these are scare tactics they are pathetic, if they are the best you can come up with you are pathetic.

I think the management running the T are idoits! They know that this propsed plan wouldn't work. They are trying to get everyone up in arms about the "possible changes" in service just so they can raise the fares.

I'm not afraid of the T or their threats! Go ahead! I dare them to even try to do what they are proposing! They will never do it, because even they know this would never work. Like Ronald Reagan did with the air traffic controllers, I say fire them all and start from scratch -- hire new employees with new ideas!

Has anyone noticed that the poorer communities are getting hit the hardest; Mattapan, and Roxbury train service. Many of the bus lines run through the poorer communities. Also the student population that does not have much a voice in local govt. but need the T for transportation is getting killed here; NU, Wentworth, BU, MassArt.

Notice that there will be no cuts to the D line which serves the well off suburbs of Wellesley, Newton, Brookline, and commuters from Weston.

hope they start working on those bike-lanes REAL fast - that's my back-up mode of transportation once the roads get clogged with angry commuters.

what a friggin' sweet ride in today! i'm too much of a wimp to ride in the rain though.

Keystone Cops

If these cuts are enacted, Boston will have a system of public transportation which doesn't serve the needs of the people who use it, and which will quickly become irrelevant. What the T management doesn't seem to understand is that kneecapping T service will have far-reaching consequences outside the T itself. Far more people will drive into the city, resulting in worse commutes on corridors into the city and more pollution.

Cutting commuter rail service after 7pm on weeknights is lunacy. Someone who commutes from Haverhill better hope they don't get stuck at work for some reason, because how will they get home? They won't be able to count on the T. And never mind what this does to people who find it more convenient to take the T into the city than drive in for sporting events, cultural events, concerts, and dining.

The killer here is that they have apparently estimated a ridership loss of approximately 50 million per year. Given that Boston's layout is hostile to automobiles, they should be looking at ways to increase ridership, not reduce it. The T is by far the easiest way to get in and out of the city. If they're going to make it harder for me to get my family in and out of the city, I'll be more than happy to spend my entertainment and dining dollars on the North Shore or up in New Hampshire.

TERRIBLE! I live at the last stop on the E line so if this happens, I will be left in the dust! Sure I can walk to brigham circle now and then, but in the winter its not an option, and on the weekends, well, i guess i dont have to go anywhere?

WHy the E line? and how does cutting random stops on the other green lines save money?

The outcry will die down after awhile and you will just see that I along with my minion are right and that you all are too stupid and ignorant to see that this is in all of your best interest.
My name is Deval Patrick and I am running for re-election as your Governor.

We deserve what we get....maybe he is right we are too stupid.

HUGE mistake! Classic shortsidedness. Doing things like eliminating commuter rail service after 7 pm only makes Boston less of a world-class city. It may help you with this year's budget, but will cost the state in much bigger dollars in years to come as it becomes something less attractive about the city, meaning employers and potential employees (particularly those who have to look into living in the outer suburbs due to the cost of housing) decide it's just not worth it and not appealing to do business in Boston or MA.

Other things, like increasing the likelihood of drunk drivers because of no rail service make this proposal ridiculous.

There are stops on the Worcester-Boston line that are very close together and unneccessary. Why are 3 Wellesley stops needed or even 2 Natick stops necessary?(Natick, West Natick Let people drive to the next commuter lot. and according to Google Earth, a Weston station is being constructed - I don't know if that's accurate but it's a lot of stations in close proximity to each other. Also, the number of runs between Worcester and Boston should be increased, not decreased. That's a money-maker.

There are stops on the Worcester-Boston line that are very close together and unneccessary. Why are 3 Wellesley stops needed or even 2 Natick stops necessary?(Natick, West Natick Let people drive to the next commuter lot. and according to Google Earth, a Weston station is being constructed - I don't know if that's accurate but it's a lot of stations in close proximity to each other. Also, the number of runs between Worcester and Boston should be increased, not decreased. That's a money-maker.

Why don't they try cutting back on the RIDICULOUS benefits that T employees get instead? Eliminating Commuter Rail service after 7pm is such a bad idea, especially as a first step! This is going to seriously affect the already horrible traffic problem we have in Boston, not to mention all the pollution that extra automobiles will cause... I thought we were supposed to be a progressive city!

This is a huge step backward for Massachusetts.

Another Massachusetts Bureacracy that has been poorly managed & cares more about it's mismanaging staff than the people that actually make the system run or those that rely on it as their transportation to & from meaningful employment as well as a normal mode of transportation. It is amazing to me how much money the MBTA receives from the State & the Federal Governments as well as theose that rely on it as their mode of transportation, yet they never have enough money to even come close to covering their operating expenses, especially now with the rise in daily ridership. There only answer is to lay off the people in the trenches that actually provide a service to the operations of the T. God forbid if they got rid of all of the wasteful & useless people in management. It's pretty obvious that most of them have never been capable of performing their jobs satisfactorily, & furthermore, many of those positions are unnecessary. Their salaries are too high, & the perks and benefits they receive creates even more budget problems that never go away because of the percentage of retirement pay as well as their perks & benefits they receive for decades after they have retired. There is no end to it.

They're doing this on purpose, mismanaged and dirty and horrifically run as the T stations are. It would cripple the Boston workforce, cancel nights out in town and certainly be a major blow to tourists who visit Boston and rely on the T to get around. Every person and every business would suffer. They can NOT cut service as they are suggesting, they're doing this to stir the pot to get everyone worked up - so they can raise the rates, no doubt substantially, to keep everything running and you'll feel happy and victorious like you won. I say do an audit first and explore just how efficiently they're running the T and go from there. I'd accept a rate hike, but the numbers they're tossing out there are absurd. I've never ridden the T that is wasn't overpacked with people, no doubt beyond allowed capacity, not to mention a very long walk to my car because every T lot is always full.

What a scare tatic that they are using, give us a bailout or we'll cut service that will just cripple the city, talk about trying to strong arm the public. Cut their pensions and benefits to what is more inline with other sectors.

So...let me see if I get this straight....the country is supposed to be getting off its oil addiction and using energy more wisely...and all the greenies want everyone to drive less and use public transport to save the earth, whales, frogs, snakes, and rain forest. Obama is investing all this money in infrastructure and pleading with companies to start green initiatives. What dos the MBTA do? The exact opposite of all of these efforts. Shut down commuter rail service after 7 pm? Why even call it commuter rail? Just call it the daylight trolley for people who work 9-5. Everyone who works past 6:30 - too bad - drive your car to work or walk 35 miles home.

This city can not handle anymore cars on the road. Thousands of people willl now need cars and additional parking parking (which there is already too little of). Way to be "Green" Boston. We're officially one step closer to being like smog ridden LA.
I am, However, glad i'll need to be home by 7, since you're cutting my service. My "curfew" will keep me off the streets just about the time the drunken masses are getting in their cars and driving home from red Soxs, Celtic and bruins games not to mention the after work cocktail hour. Thank you MBTA... you will now be responsible for not only a rise in unemployment, but a rise in DUIs, accidents and possibly deaths.

As a bike commuter I'm thrilled to see that there will now be more and more obstacles for me to fear on the road.

Get the damn cars off the road, public transport isn't the problem. Fix it don't throw it away.

Sad day for all those who try to curtail use of vehicles to help the enviorement. The "T" has always been at "fat cat" and filled with many political appointments who will continue to spend tax payer dollars for their personal gains. Some day people will revolt and get to change the system. The unions for public safety and government agencies have had their way much too long and when the government goes bankrupt we will have only them to blame along with the politicians,

wow, yeah, this looks GREAT.

Boston, you're my home.

Hey, that's great. Save money by making the service almost useless. In addition to the T jobs being cut, I wonder how many jobs will be lost because people can't get to work. It sounds like they may be cutting my bus entirely, which will leave me looking for a new job. Maybe some laid off T employee can have mine. :-/

My suspicions are that this is a scare tactic to push through the fare hikes, toll hikes AND gas tax....

this has got to be just a scare tactic -- there is no way they could make these cuts and the city survive -- its a joke.

Screw this, I'm moving to New York when I graduate. What is the city going to get rid of next, the newspaper!??!

Oh wait....

It seems to me that they should be increasing services especially on the commuter rail at weekends, at the moment there are so few trains that you have to drive into the city at weekends as you could otherwise get stuck or forced to wait hours for a train. Increasing the number of trains would probably solve this.

More people should just move into the city. Ride your bikes, people.

I think it's all part of a scare campaign (raising masspike tolls, cutting T services) just to get gas hike increase pushed through legislature....or maybe they are just morons...

People need to stop taking public transportation. Stop using it and put them out of business. Take your car and cause traffic jams until they get the message.

Commuter rail really is an inaccurate term. Should be called regional rail.

While this makes me pretty angry, part of me agrees with the above comment that says this is just a scare to get more support for a gas tax hike.

aNYONE WANT TO BET THAT NONE OF THE T'S 6 FIGURE MANAGERS WILL BE LOSING THEIR JOBS...WHY DON'T WE JUST SCRAP THE WHOLE THING AND START OVER..THE SYSTEM DOESN'T WORK AND IS OVER BUDGET BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF ABILTY TO MANAGE THE SYSTEM. WHY CUT THE WORKERS JOBS, THE FAULT HERE LIES WITH ADMIN, MANAGEMENT AND THE OVERSEERS.

This is easily one of the stupidest ideas MBTA has come up with yet. I've been riding the Commuter Rail from South Attleboro for almost two years now, and they already raised the price of parking.

Where does all the money from fares go? Thousands, sometimes even millions, of riders a day already pay the steep fare of $1.70 to ride the T. I just don't see how SO MANY people pay money to ride "public" transportation and yet the MBTA is broke. Something is just not right here.

I just started taking the commuter last September (gas prices), and paying $2 a day for parking my car - then they raised that to $4. But that's not enough I guess. If they do any of the proposed ideas, and I'm impacted - I'll start driving again. My company subsidizes my rail fare, but not my parking. And I certainly won't meet my spouse in town for dinner after work, because we won't make the 7p train home. And we won't come into the city on weekends, like we do once a month. And we won't come in and pay $50+ to park for a game. And... and . . . and...
Stupid, stupid, stupid

Typical thinking on part of the MBTA. No mention of salary increases being frozen, management being trimmed, pensions plans being cut back or anything that would effect those whom think their entitled to their perfect job. They're somewhat like the Boston Globe management... "Jobs for Life"
I do find it funny that you cut all these services to safe money and yet you lose money from the services you've chosen to cut? Not to mention the impact it has on the city of Boston and the hundreds of thousands who use the T as a life line cause they have no car. So much for the Moonbat push of a "Greener Boston". The management over the years has just been a bunch of limosen liberals.

This is so absurd that it I actually needed to check to make sure this wasn't published on April Fools.

I mean, when they turned off the lights on the Zakim Bridge to save $5k a month, i thought people were being silly for being so upset about it, but THIS is entirely ridiculous.

I honestly can't even believe this isn't a joke. No commuter rail on weekends? Or even after 7? Are they trying to put more people into debt who will now have to buy cars, etc. etc?

No. 40 is right on. This is a scare tactic to frighten the crap out of people. It's ridiculous. Management needs to be purged there, since there are many people doing nothing (in management and outside management). It's asinine. I really want to see someone fired over this plan being leaked. I'm not holding my breath.

start writing to your local governments - send an email to the MBTA, to Gov. Patrick and all the state and local reps. It is time to stand up and fight.

This is the old "Washington Monument" scam. Propose cutting vital services so the public will demand more funding or accept higher fares. If they cut executive and managerial positions and salaries, no one would notice except the executives and managers. These are the guys proposing these service cuts.

Let's privatize the T. If the whole network were sold off, they could get out from under the ridiculous debt and cost structure the state has laden in the MBTA over the years.

At some point in time, which has probably past, it becomes an equation where the costs, associated with the government's bureacracy and inefficient machaine, outstrip the revenues that come in. Well, now that the T plans to cut back service so dramaticaly (while the cost of a T ride, with parking and other charges, rivals the cost of using a car), a private company would likely have a better chance at making the situation profitable. And, if the private company needs some subsidization, I bet it would not come close to the amounts poured into the T every year.
Let's face it, Governement does a lousy job at running things....sell off the bus lines, commuter rail, and subway lines, seperately, make the present schedules a necessity for any bidders, and accept RFP's. New private companies could operate without the fat cat upper management, and without the union and pension headaches.
Now that we have seen the poor excuse waste-of-time in the corner office and his reforms - just soaking us with higher gas taxes, and tolls - let's let private enterprise take a try.
They could not do any worse than the state and the MBTA.

THIS IS RIDICULOUS!!!! You’ve got to be kidding me! No commuter rail after 7???? Or on the weekend??? No E branch on the weekend? This is NOT the way to improve (or maintain) the standard of living and quality of life in this state. Attendance at events in the city will drop. People shopping and eating in Boston will drop. And how are people who work off-hours (and are lucky enough to still have a job in this economy) supposed to keep it if they can't get too and from work. There HAS to be a better solution.

My son is a student at Northeastern and counts on the MBTA to not only get him around Boston, but also bring him home to visit us. I'm sure there are MANY other college students who do so as well. Would you rather all of them bring their cars in to Boston and add even more traffic? Stupid, stupid idea.

It's just one bad thing after another for the MBTA now isn't it? With the way things are going there it's not hard to imagine the decline of reliable public transit in Boston and all the negative repercussions that would have for its community. This is very bad news but we must stay strong and keep up hope for brighter days, even if that means watching the MBTA gradually fall apart right now. With our collective energy, dreams and spirit we will always be able to rebuild and repair...

This has to be a scare tactic by the MBTA, to try to get more money from the legislature. Either that, or a very, very bad joke.

Anyone at the MBTA who is in management or making more then $100,000 should be immediately fired or laid off. This is more corrupt then anything that I have ever seen. I even saw charts that show that based on all of the revenue the MBTA takes in from the parking lots they own, they SHOULD BE MAKING A PROFIT!!!

Bottom line? All of the ridership's money is going in to someone's pockets. Unreal that they would reduce the amount of rides AND increase the rate. If this happens, I will never take the subway or commuter rail again. I will be driving in to work in Boston.

CLEAN UP THE MBTA. Start with the management group. Start over. They are greedy and corrupt.

As many people have said, but I want to echo, literally 50% of the time I am on the commuter rail the conductor never collects my fare. This week of 9 times I have ridden the train I have only paid 3 times.

I don't have a car, and I really don't want to have to buy one, but if this stuff happens, I am going to have to. Thanks MBTA for straining my budget. Get on the ball and look at what really needs to happen, Nothing this drastic - just more rigorous attention to detail, a few salary cuts, a couple unnecessary eliminations.

So now it's going to take you longer to get most places and the Commuter Rail won't run past 7. So in my case, I won't have a ride home on Fridays and I don't own a car and work till 6pm. Excellent! How about cutting back on retirement pay for the employees? This city depends on the T. The current system is fractured with dirty buses and trains, buses that are rarely on time, and limited commuter rail service; imagine what will happen when these cuts are made and the system actually breaks!

Reduce weekend bus routes by 50%? Already Sunday bus service from Lynn Busway to Danvers/Peabody is divided between 2 similar routes, with each route running once every 2 hours; so, if you need to go to somewhere that's only on 1 of those routes, you have a 2-hour wait for a bus NOW. Forget about cutting it further. There is NO bus service to Nahant on weekends (probably because the residents don't want anyone from "outside" on "their" beaches during the summer) and to actually have weekend service there during summer months would probably bring MORE riders. And as for the commuter rail, not only Boston would be impacted by lack of weekend service; what about places like Salem and Rockport which are visited heavily by tourists using the commuter rail? Most nonmanagereal workers in Boston who are in 1-income households cannot afford both a car And a house/apartment. How do we choose when you remove our ability to work undesirable shifts at night and on weekends!!! Fire or freeze/lower the pay of high-level executives who do virtually nothing to improve T services, and join the real world as far as retirement and health benefits are concerned - and stop creating new projects to suck the existing revenue away from maintaining what already exists.

Eliminate commuter rail after 7pm and the entire weekend.

NO.

Just... NO.

This is rediculious

Really? I mean, REALLY?

These cuts are perhaps the worst thought out and proposed plan I have ever heard given the current economy and focus on the environment. Mayor Menino wants Boston to be known as the #1 Green City in the US and has made a pledge to do so, and has set up a task force to make it happen. The proposed cuts in the MBTA system are in direct conflict and violation of this effort and mandate. Does the left hand even know what the right hand is doing? How about taking some of the savings and paybacks of 'going green' (read or speak with Tedd Saunders, author of "The Bottom Line of Green Is Black", and a member of Menino's task force, if you don't believe that), and applying them to help the MBTA budget deficit?

Cutting MBTA services to half will hurt Bostons tourism. The city is hurting its economy by such a move. Right now, the T is full 90% of the time; cutting the services to 50% will make it overcrowded, and inconvenient. The city better start building parking lots otherwise, people will leave Boston.

How about just increasing the price?

To those of you that compare Boston to Detroit are out of bounds. Detroit is beyond dead, people are fleeing in search of new lives! It is happening here in Buffalo, where a migration is underway, just like the many europeans who fled their homes in the 19th and first third of the 20th century that led to the growth of this nation because there was a future here. Boston is in no way as badly off as Detroit, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica NY, Cleveland, Dayton, OH have been or are right now.
I can say that there are sustainability issues over the T employees benefits and pensions. There was a belief that the benefits could be sustained. But the wheel stops on a bad option. Things will rebound, but the bad times have to be endured. It took 86 years to win the series, but two rings in this century to one for that team from the Bronx! It will come around, folks!

Yet another shot at the middle class in this state.

Oh Good. A few million more drunk drivers on the road every year. A few million more cars jamming up the Pike and 93 in the morning.

GREAT Planning.

Looks like upper management at the MBTA is taking negotiation lessons from Governor Patrick and Mayor Menino. Too bad they can't find good negotiators to model themselves after.

People, the MBTA doesn't do a very good job of communicating - they are in debt because of an agreement to be funded by the state sales tax (which has diminished since then due to internet sales not being subject to state taxes) but are still lumbered with the debt from the Big Dig. The money has to come from somewhere and the gas tax is the perfect place because those who emit poisons into everyone's air should pay! Therefore a gas tax would encourage public transit use and discourage vehicle use. Everything should be like this! Get involved - write, email or call your representatives. Let them know you mean business.

This is a ploy to scare people and the legislature in order get the gas tax the MBTA wants. Of course the current funding system is crazy and public transportation should be better funded but don't they know we can see through their fear tactics. No subway on the weekend to the Museum of Fine Arts for all those tourists. No commuter rail service on the weekends, bringing people into the city. The management of the MBTA never fails to amaze.

I hope tbat the General Manager of the T reads these comments of over 150 people who have emailed to Boston.com. As a rider of the T I am shocked over these impending draconian cuts. The T is trying to blackmail the public and the state legislature into excepting these cuts to save the T. How about if the T General Manager take a pay cut and all of his sychophants as well? That should take care of some of the deficit. Hey I have a great idea how about if the Carman's union excepts cuts as well just like the unions for the Boston Globe? Just an idea.

You say you want a revolution???

Cut service AND raise the fares? Driving in would be a no brainer. It would just be too convenient since it would be cheaper, and I could get home when I get stuck at work. If I didn't get dropped off at the station most mornings, I would already be driving again. With the recent doubling of parking rates, it would just be too expensive as well as too inconvenient. So much for taking cars off of the road.

Haha. Don't move to the suburbs.

I agree that this is probably a very extreme PR move to push for the gas tax. I don't think Deval Patrick would risk his career enough to agree to something that will cripple the local economy so severely.

At least... I hope not!!!! If it goes through... EPIC FAIL!

This would be catastrophic. Punishing the riders for bad money management is ridiculous. Ridership is at an all-time high right now, which means that the MBTA is making more money off riders than ever before... but because they are paying some high school dropout $50K to push buttons on a T car, they can't handle their finances. Why is it that we can all see this but Graubauskas and the Governor can't? This isn't rocket science here. The T's debt didn't just suddenly happen with the downturn of the economy - this has been building over years and years. If you end commuter rail service after 7 on weekdays, you're killing the city's economy and creating a parking and traffic nightmare. Don't do it!

Nobody has even mentioend the drastic raise in drinking and driving deaths that will occur once commuter rail and T services are cut back or eliminated at night. All it will take is for one MBTA executive to lose a family member in a drinking and driving accident to see how idiotic thier plans are. they obviously aren'ttkaing poubliuc trnasporation, so good luck on the roads.

I love how there is no mention of freezing pay for their top officials, only job cuts for the worker bees. God forbid anything happens to anyone at the top.
This is nothing more than extortion on a large scale level. The goverment will now have to step in and give the MBTA more money otherwise everyone will suffer.
I cant understand why they have to waste money on rebuilding some train stations. I know its nice to look at and have but not if it means paying more than $2 per ride on the subway and all these cancellations. No one spends enough time at the actual train station so who cares if it looks nice. I'd invest that money in making the trains/buses better for all the riders. I mean in the end, all you are doing is promoting loitering at these fancy looking glass buildings.
Has anyone ever taken a ride on the New York City subways? The actual subway stations are usually filthy and gloomy looking, but no one cares because the subway itself is well kept, comfortable and they run pretty smoothly.
This is extortion...

This is absurd. You are going to take out service for the people who need it the most--poor people and college students. You have no effective public transportation policy and your "plan" for the budget cuts is a joke. Have you ever been abroad? Have you ever seen Paris, Madrid, or London? Even Beijing or Shanghai? How about Tokyo? THOSE are real public transportation systems that are cost effective and efficient. Guess how much the Metro costs in Madrid? ONE EURO. That's $1.25-1.40 depending on the exchange rate on any given day. And what do you get from the city of Madrid? Exceptional service, as in trains that come every 4 minutes (at the most), and an overall clean and modern subway that is worth the money. Get your act together and join the 21st century like the rest of the developed world. Myself, I'm not spending money on this garbage anymore. I'm buying a scooter, and as soon as I get done with college (I go to Northeastern, which is apparently not important enough for the MBTA), I'm moving out of Boston to a place where they actually care about how citizens live and work in the city. GOOD RIDDANCE

The only reasonable thing on that list is cutting the B line stops. That should have been done years ago before they built new stations for each stop, every block. I'm not sure if the people who make these choices even ride the T, there is fat to trim but they seem to do their trimming with a machete.

I would love to see the economic impact study for this proposal. If you think the service industry is struggling now, just wait!

this makes me want to move OUT of Massachusetts. Especially since I live in Hull. yes i have a car, but to eliminate the busses etc is only going to make more traffic in the city. As if upping the parking prices wasn't enough. Screw you MBTA. Stop raping people.

Comprehensive public transportation is part of what makes Massachusetts great and different from LA and Topeka. It makes no sense in a green era to force people into cars. It's exactly the opposite of good public policy -- far better to toll Route 93 south and north of the city and incent people to use more public transportation, not less. In the limit, better policy would be to charge the marginal cost for each rider: use this crisis as a chnce to do something right and long-lasting.

If we have to pay more for gas and tickets, so be it, but these are essential services that make the place tick.

People need to realize that any public transportation system will never MAKE money - that isn't it's purpose. Not everyone will like the cuts, whatever they may be, becuase nobody wants to give up any of their options (sorry to all those who take the commuter rail one a year!) T employees pay more for their health benefits than state employees and also more than most other blue collar workers and the MBTA only contibutes 6% toword it's workers pension! 6%! Even the state contributes more- private sector contributes way more to their funds! 6% is a deal and it's because the fund is privately managed, not by the state, but by it's employees

"Blackmailing" usually doesn't work to engender support when it is so obvious.

What an outrage by the MBTA! Public transportation is a necessity, not a luxury. Everyone needs to stage a mass PROTEST outside T headquarters. Not only by those who take the T, but those business owners who would be affected by the service cuts. Mr. Henry, Mr. Jacobs, Mr. Aingle, Mr. Chara, Mr. Werner, Mr. Grousbeck, Mr./Mrs. Owners of Halftime Pizza, North Station Area restaurants, Fenway Park businesses, etc....please help organize a protest. You will certainly lose a lot if you don't participate. This is ignorance by T management. They only care about themselves and the pensions they receive, not the real workers who rely on their services.

This is stupid. Which idiot is in charge of the MBTA? cutting service past Brigham circle? Reducing bus frequency? The buses (e.g.- 66,47) don't run on time anyway and they never show up. No one will be able to rely on them for anything, besides tourists ...and $*#! the tourists!!! The service areas they're eliminating are less wealthy neighborhoods and per usual the MBTA decides to give them the shaft...
Losing revenue= lower budgets, MBTA!
They should hire a college graduate to be in charge of their finances.

why

This is brilliant. They make public all of these exaggerated cuts as a pre-emptive strike to the gas tax hike. Then they lessen the cuts when it goes into effect. That way, they look like they made some concessions, and whatever else happens is the fault of the state. Not only do they rid themselves of any responsibility, but they have created public outrage. Everyone on here is screaming about how much this will effect their lives, and how the state is to blame, and the T is to blame (even though nothing has even happened yet). I think everyone is getting played here right now. Relax.

Time for a workers' revolt! No T, no work in the city. Businesses would collapse without employees who are kept away by lack of T service. Garages would up their prices; gas will go out of control again. The middle income and poor suffer once again. Come on businesses bring the T to its knees...no T service, no workers! Who is serving whom? This is the commonwealth of Massachusetts. The commonwealth is not being served equally by such T threats. Bring in a company that will serve the people and the commonwealth.

How about they rollback those promised union hikes?

This must be a ridiculous scare tactic to gain concessions. What sane person would consider shutting down commuter rail service to a major city after 7pm? What about all of us that work late and don't drive a car into the city? Most of this is because of poor planning, budgeting, and management by the MBTA and the state and NOT because of the economic downturn. The MBTA budget has been grossly out of whack for years. This is just the latest outrageous act. I'm tired of paying for the MBTA's gross negligence. They should all be fired. How about actually collecting the fares? That might help.

Schools. Police. Transportation. When will they get it? This cycle happens over and over, and they still cut the most valuable necessities. Boston's economy, environment, nightlife, and tourism will certainly suffer from this ill-advised move. Commuters (and certainly tourists) already have to wait inordinate amounts of time for some buses and trolleys. With these cuts, you might as well stay home. Not to mention all the workers who work evenings and will be effectively stranded whever they are after 8 p.m. An already inefficient and antiquated system is about to become an albatross. And a more expensive one! Say NO.

Finally a plan! Cutting the services is just step one, next the state needs to sell the rights to provide these services to the private sector!

The BU stops on the Green-B line should be cut anyway. The 20 years old can manage to walk from Kenmore. If they cut these stops out the B line might be able to average greater than 2X foot speed!!! These stops should have been cut 20 years ago. I rode that crap line for ten years before getting a scooter.
Speaking of ten years ago. In those ten years T fare as increased over 100% and parking fees have gone up over 300%. There most have been some severly negligent budjeting for the T to fail desite the huge price increases.

There are many things I love about Boston, but this unrealistic approach to an already poorly run public service is why Boston is a 2nd rate city. Sorry to say, no matter how good the Red Sox might be playing, or how pretty the city's historic buildings are, such disservice lacks respect and class from a city who holds such a high opinion of itself. This city’s institutions (including the MBTA) pride themselves on being the “first” and the “oldest” and if they’re not careful, that’s all they will have to say for themselves once turned obsolete. The MBTA brings such embarrassment and frustration to a town with so much potential.

How does cutting stops on the Green Line save money? Don't get me wrong, I live on the B line and would love to eliminate the stops. But I don't understand how that would save money. Please explain.

When will the State get rid of the benefits and excessive pension - maybe then they wouldn't be in such a hole. People that don't drive or work in Boston need to be able to get in and out of the city. I suppose all the T workers being laid off will get early retirement and other benefits to jack up the cost not saved!

It is an obscene injustice to be such drastic cuts to the public transportation system. Especially when the primary cause for the T's debt is the shift of Big Dig debt from the highway system. To be cutting services and increasing fees for those who cannot afford an alternative is a travesty. Boston is known world-wide as a progressive and cutting edge city; severing access routes to the hub will greatly detract from the livelihood of city and state.

When I lived in Chicago,the Chicago Transit Authority pulled scare tactics exactly like this every year, every year some kind of last minute solution was reached, and eventually Chicagoans got used to it and rolled their eyes every year when they threatened to cancel 50% of rush hour service. Everybody knew that management was corrupt and wasteful, that the union's inflated benefits drove up the cost of service, and meanwhile half the stations looked ready to collapse and trains derailed in the subway tunnels. More money was needed but nobody trusted the CTA enough to give it to them. It's the same situation with the MBTA. Don't panic.

This is so ridiculous. Although the MBTA will save money, ultimately the city of Boston will loose money. Less people being able to enter the city because of rail and T limits only means less money being spent in Boston's stores, restaurants, and other sevices. Poor planning and thinking on behalf of the city leaders. They need to step up to the plate and make sure this does not occur. Besides the Jobs the MBTA will lose, the amount of jobs that will be lost because of no transportation is only going to make matters worse. Paying the money to make sure this doesnt happen will save the state in the long run because less people will have to go on welfare because they will be able to work.

This is ridiculous!!
Poor Management!!!
Stupid Decisions!!!
Cutting down the service when there is demand is no sense!

What about less salaries and workforce instead of less amount of service? Does it make any sense MBTA?

All you people who fled the city- too bad. And these are the people constantly griping about commuter rail service. Tell your boss no more O.T. since you can't get home.. The stops on the B & E lines are too close together. Get the students and others walking more. I've walked from the monument in JP all the way to the Forest Hills stop and it's good exercise. Make the elderly and students pay full fares. No fare boxes on the Green Line midway doors and unless the driver yells at these cheats they ride for free!
Start charging for the Charlie Card- if you didn't get one when they were introduced-tough! You can get to Red Sox games on the commuter rail (Fenway stop), the MFA on the 39 bus. Who has money to eat in fancy restaurants in the city now- eat out in your tony suburbs or LEARN TO COOK. You want the good paying jobs in the city -this means you-cops and fire fighters, but none of the city/state tax burden. And Grabauskas, cut your salary, use your partner's health care
To the "surly" drivers who yell at people not to block the doors, pull your heads out of your asses and DON'T BLOCK THE DOORS!
And finally, if you need to get away on weekends or whatever- rent a ZipCar, it's cheaper than owning a car. As for the elderly, the City of Boston has the Senior Shuttle and there's the ride.

no!!! this can not happen!! We need to do something... how are we supposto get to work? pay rent? I work evenings and I live here now for the convience of public transportation! please dont let this happen, the T and the Busses are always full down here.

Once again all you idiots- you morons- LISTEN UP

Let them cut the jobs and the service. You will survive but they won't.

When will you all lear to CALL THEIR BLUFF!

The T is a typical Government agency...and some people want the Govenment running healthcare.
Greenbush line, Silver Line, SILVER LINE TUNNEL!!!...All money draining expansion projects that will NEVER be financially sustainable.
Why does the T expand when they can't afford their existing obligations.
Politically everyone loves public transportation...except when it comes to pay for it. Riders think their fare covers the freight when gas tax revenue and 20% of the sales tax revenue go straight ot the T so people who drive will pay for the trains and busses they are not taking.

PEOPLE -
This is what happens when one system (roads for cars + suppressed gas prices) gets subsidized far more than another (buses + trains + subways). The leaking of these drastic service cuts are intended to get people motivated to support the gas tax increase.

SO - if you value public transportation, support the gas tax.

Of course the T could tighten their operations, but the simple fact is that without more public funding (still a measly portion of what the highway system receives) the overall system will have trouble supporting itself.

My Doughter has to work two (2) J0bs to make the ends meet. The first Job starts at 7am and ends 4pm. Second iob starts at 6pm and ends at 11pm. At that late hour she takes the last trian home. We live in South Attleboro. We use the public transportation and Can Not efford to drive. She works at weekends as well, ( both days ).

I stand by the MBTA 100% Price increases are part of life and the MBTA has not increased their fares that much over the past 20 years. Keep in mind Boston's trains are still cheaper than NY or Chicago. The MBTA has been under charging for years and now it is time for the commuters s to give back in the MBTA's time of need. If you do not like the service then drive in. The MBTA is a luxury and not a right. Remember that you ungrateful citizens.

p.s Thanks for voting me in. How am I doing?

What a joke, I already gave up on taking the commuter rail a while ago after the parking rates went up and I realized that I could drive in or deal with horrible service on the MBTA for just a few more dollars a day ( That is with an F250 V10 so it's not like I even drive anything fuel efficient). Why don't they cut the union BS and put a plan in place that actually fixes someting instead of feeding the moster ( Unions and Big wig hacks) which has run the MBTA so poorly for so long! I only approve of putting a small amount of money generated through gas taxes if I actually think that they won't just flush the money down the toilet likeI fully expect them to.

Massachusetts seems to love illegal immigrants. Why doesn't the MBTA bust the unions and only hire illegal immigrants. Save a lot of money and, according to pro-illegal immigrant advocates, they work harder! ROFL!!

Simply put, if most of these proposed cuts go through, especially No Commuter Rail service (and 50% reduced Green Line service) after 7 PM Mon-Fri and ALL DAY on weekends, it will be a COMPLETE DISASTER for the city of Boston. There will be NO ROOM on existing trains already packed like sardines for 2x passengers and people who NEED to work late to finish a project that rely on the Commuter Rail will have to leave early. Traffic will become bumper to bumper to the point where it is IMPOSSIBLE to drive in and out of the city and 6 HOUR COMMUTES will become a regular occurrence, just like when there is unpredicted heavy snow in the middle of a winter day. Long term, most businesses inside Boston will relocate to the suburbs where the driving commute is easier and more manageable; better yet, they will relocate OUTSIDE MA and to more forward moving states. Over time, Boston may even become another Springfield or Fall River. Seriously, these cuts CANNOT be allowed to go through... even if it means the state CONSOLIDATING the failed MBTA into a more general public transportation system.

Is it true that the MBTA pays for the Big Dig? Why should those who have made a commitment to mass transit pay for all those automobiles? If the MBTA wasn't so burdened, it would likely be a more viable entity.

Normally, when we say "cuts," an organization means a small-scale and usually temporary change at the margins. However, this is not what is being proposed here. While cutting a few marginal services might be valid, this is not a 'cut' in the traditional sense. This is effectively a different organization - a smaller MBTA that exists mostly in the daylight hours.

raisethegastaxalready what are you smoking?
When has raising a tax ever really fixed something. All the state will do continue to mismanage and find yet another way to squander the money and we will be in the same exact position. All the gas tax increase would do is punish the public. Our state gvt is broken and just throwing money at it wont fix a thing....

MBTA, why not eliminate your entire management team? Shame on you!

What a shaft job... I love Boston but things around here border on corrupt. This about as pleasant as having to listen to Deval talk about how everyone else needs to pay for the mismanagement of the state by jacking the average joe on everything. Nice work boys. Hey what car are you driving? How many leisure trips have they taken on "business" on our dime? This state is the birthplace of revelution... when do we take back control and stop getting railed?

All hell will probably break loose if some of this happens??

The only thing I think is good is eliminating some of the B line stops, it's just ridiculous how many stops there are for BU.

But this really pisses me off: T employees don't have to contribute anything for their health care? Wow. I guess I made the wrong choice by not working
for the T.

I'm thinking of moving back to NH where I grew up.

I don't have a different or original comment - I agree with most of the posts that oppose the proposed budget cuts. Just wanted to be the 335th person to express disapproval.

Dust off your bicycle, you're going to need it. Once you start riding, you may never want to give it up!

It's all a bluff, people. Look up the "Washington monument" gambit on Wikipedia. Agencies threatened by budget cuts publicize a doomsday scenario to scare the public and drum up support. They need to fire more people and renegotiate these ridiculous contracts that allow people to retire in their 40s and then take other jobs. It's a bluff.

Absolutely shameful. Eliminate E-Branch on weekends? Look, I don't oppose cutting certain public services, but public transportation is something that we need to hold on and depend on for the environment's sake.

whatever. they're totally bluffing. there's not way in heck they could get away with this.

Good. The T should just go out of business and let a private firm take it over. It's about time cuts were made in public services -- the madness had to stop somewhere. Now let's cut some fat in the UMass system and the DMV. Oh, and every single member of our state legislature needs to go. Democrat, Republican, every last one of them. End pensions for ALL public employees and impose term limits for elected officials. Massachusetts is the butthole of the Earth.

Is anyone aware of any "Developed" countries such as France or Switzerland offering a "transit-asylum" program for residents of greater Boston in lieu of these proposed drastic cuts in transit service? We should be on a fast track to greatly improve our decrepit transit system, not cut it! Are the American people really that idiotic?!

There are definitely some inefficiencies that some other folks here commented on that should be dealt with before this ridiculous plan is enacted. For one, I commute everyday between Worcester and Natick and on my way out to Worcester I hardly ever get charged! I would gladly pay, especially if it meant I could continue commuting (provided I can find the friggin' conductor)! Time to get a car....

Completely bogus story. Save your vitriol for the decades of MBTA mismanagement, greed, and corruption that no one in this city seems to care about.

Stethant, you stated: "mismanagement, greed, and corruption".

I'm not saying I disagree with you, but to make such harsh criticism, please offer 3 examples for each. Please. I'm sick of Boston.com discussion boarders throwing out accusations and adjectives and not providing evidence. Please. I'm looking for a solid argument.

I live in the City. This is a great plan. Trim the fat. They should raise the commuter rail and T fees while they are at it, the rates have been too low for too long. Give discounts to elderly and handicap. Able bodies, walk 50 extra feet to the next bus or T stop. Buy a bike. If you can't afford a $2 bus ride.......then walk. People that own a car pay for the luxury. Why should they have to pay even more for a service they do not need. Gas tax, insurance, tolls, excise tax, parking fees.............I would bet that 60% of T and Bus riders are exempt from paying any taxes at all. It makes no sense to charge people that don't use the service or even live near boston to pay for the T. The riders should pay for the luxury of having a top notch system. Increase tolls on the Pike as well. Youo do not HAVE to take that road to get anywhere you are going, it is a luxury to take the Pike.

They should have cut those BU stops long ago.
I go to BU and no one ever goes on to go about 200 meters and then get off, 'cept of those North Face Girls with their rich daddies.

I think we should have several Mass protests. Like at least a few hundred people at each one - have one rally at Copley Square...and then - march (disrupting traffic up Newbury St---to Boylston and then up Park to the State house and have a large protest in front of the state house, blocking traffic on Beacon (we want to get media attention)
that would get people's attention (right by fox news studio in the AM would be great by the state house) :-) blocking traffic. (we'd need to get a protest permit tho)
at least a couple thousand people at each rally and hold several a month
Anyone want to get in on this? Email me at jdearman77@gmail.com we can organize something maybe?

Anyone

The MBTA loses money due to mis management . many times we have seen the tickets not being chekced in the commuter rail. Is there any accountability on the parking fares collection ? What was the need for HiFi in the trains when you can't maintain the services ? Last few years the fares and parking has doubled and still they are operating under loss ?
Someone needs to fix the core issue here. Cutting services is not the answer. Fix the broken management.

This is what happens when you have negotiated pay raises and ridiculous pension benefits. If only I knew....I would have been a T worker.

It will be very interesting to see what happens on special occasions, like the July 4th esplanade fireworks, or First Night.

Perhaps the streetcard suburb residents should be the ones screaming back at the T - it is their streets that will be clogged with drivers from the outer suburbs parking there.

What of people who don't have cars, or can't afford one? They will go on the dole, furthering the Commonwealth's financial crisis.

"I'm taking my ball home"
It would be nice if this proposal wasn't so transparent. The geniuses that came up with the pathetic PR poly are the same ones that have been running the T into the ground. Can we somehow get some more intelligent people involved in running the our mass transit.

Cutting commuter rail weekday service after 7:00? People do work after 7:00 . How would the T higher ups know this? Most haven't seen a 40 hour work week in years. We all can go home at 4:00 like T managers. I don't know how some of these people look at themselves in the mirror.

Hmmmm....a few weeks ago, we were all threatened with huge toll hikes and a gas tax. Our fellow reps said, "USE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION!" Now, the MBTA pulls this STUNT.

Anyone else think this is just another game being played, and we, the public are the one's getting scr*wed. Get ready for $7.00 tunnel tolls and $3.00 gal/gas.

This was a smart move by the MBTA to illustrate that public transportation has its costs. Any city around the world that has a pervasive system subsidizes it will public funds and we must as well or we will become Atlanta, where everyone has to drive everywhere.

Good move MBTA

Freshman Calculus shows that mass transportation only needs to do one thing. This is to make the trains run on time. All management decisions should be guided by this principle. All the current practices of analysis, cost projection and accounting should be refocused on achieving this objective. Once all the trains run on time ridership will increase up to the maximum capacity of the system and the system will pay for itself. If this principle if not used, there is no financial model or schedule that can support the system having irregular service and poor coverage. Savings can be made, once the majority of the upper management is no longer needed to create plans that do not or never have worked, in the past.

Hacks, pensions,.......pensions, more hacks,....... some more patronage hires..... retiring at 43....... yup, that about sums it up.

The following comments should not be interpreted as defending the MBTA but to show that the situation is more complex with so called public interest groups like the Conservation Law Foundation playing a big part.

The MBTA is in trouble because of the poor management decisions made over the decades. The decisions on the exorbitant pay and pensions are only part of the problem. Other decisions include agreeing to pay for service expansion forced on the Commonwealth by lawsuits filed by the Conservation Law Foundation as "mitigation" for the Big Dig. Even with these proposed cutbacks, there are plans to extend the Green Line beyond Lechmere as part of one of these deals. The MBTA has been borrowing money to lenghten the Blue Line platforms and upgrade the Fairmont rail line as part of the mitigation plans. Another of those deals cost $550 million dollars to restore service on the the Greenbush line. Isn't the Silver Line the result of an agreement between the the Commonwealth and the lawyers? One would have thought that the increasing amount of debt to fund expansion would slow now that the Conservation Law Foundations don't have the Big Dig to force the MBTA to expand as the CLT wants but instead the Commonwealth's governor has stepped up. The Governor wants to expand rail service to New Bedford/Fall River. This is expected to cost $1.5 billion and he has proposed nothing in the way of financing for it.

How about cut all MBTA "work" crew and "customer service" agents. I don't really see any use or reason for either of these sectors to remain. It doesn't take 2 years to build a roof for buses at Kenmore station, and tourists/first time users of the T usually get their information and questions answered by regular commuters anyway. All the money that SHOULD be going to the betterment of the MTBA service (i.e. running trains and buses ONE TIME, and more FREQUENTLY) is going to the MTBA union workers just to satisfy their lazy butts. Nothing gets done with the MBTA - or if it does, you better expect it to take more than 2 years and twice the proposed budget.

Yet another example of why Boston is a third rate city. Why Bostonians put up with this behavior is beyond me. Must be something in the water.

The MBTA needs to wake up and smell the coffee. They can keep cutting services and upping prices; however, that continues to result in less revenue.

In the past I would park my car and take either the subway or commuter rail into the city. Now that parking rates have doubled (not to mention the cost of the subway), it is actually cheaper for me to drive into the city and pay to park or spend the time locating a free parking spot.

I've considered taking the commuter rail into work and riding my bike the last mile+ to my office. Once again, the cost of a monthly pass between zones (not even considering parking) is more expensive than my car payment.

If they want people to use the service, then perhaps the fare should be lower than the cost of driving and/or parking in the city.

Typical MBTA ploy - blackmail the state into giving it all the money it wants by making service cuts that would hurt tons of people, rather than seeking ways to make more reasonable cuts. Such an obvious extortion attempt.

Great idea, let's increase the amount of DRUNK DRIVERS at night because people can't take public transportation home from Red Sox games and concerts.

Being a northeastern student, i think this proposal is absolutely appalling. How they can seriously propose eliminating the E line on weekends, really? REALLY? That is just the most idiotic thing I have ever heard. Looks like they are going to take the already mediocre-at-best public transportation system and drive it even further into the ground with this one...glad I got myself a bike recently. Then again, there is always the age old answer to most of the world's bullshit: lets just RIOT.

A real good guideline for State/City/Town budget cuts.
Fully fund the following:
Public Safety (Police/Fire/EMT/etc).
Public Education (school/library)
Public works/transportation.

Everything else gets reduced or cut. Do not touch funding for any of the above until everything else is eliminated.

As a B-line resident, I COULD NOT POSSIBLY BE HAPPIER that they are cutting stops!!!!

The B-line stops about every two blocks right now. I personally live with a 5 minutes walk of four stops on the B-line. Why? Walk, people.

I'm curious how eliminating umanned surface stops on the green lines will save any money. The commuter rail situation seems particularly egregious. As others have said no one will be able to work past 5 at all.

We Will We Will SCARE YOU!!!

This article is nonsense, the T cannot shut down the commuter rail as outlined here. The authors of this proposal should all be fired. Revenue to Boston restaurants would be reduced so low that half of them would have to close and Boston would end up looking like Hartford Ct.

The MBTA couldn't possibly conceive off increasing revenues by working to create a service that is efficient, clean, cheap and reliable, thereby causing MORE people to use it instead of less? Not a chance in hell. Making the system even harder to use and less available is definitely the way to go.

So you want to cut service for the commuter rail and remove stops on certain lines, and now there is an article on boston.com about EXPANDING the green line into Somerville?

WHAT GOES ON!?!?! And then the T wonders why they are in the red?

Don't extend the service. Fix the problems you already have on the T and Communter Rail. It is not fair to punish those who take the T now to get to work and those who depend in it.

It must be a govt run operation; otw it would be working.

Chloe O'Brien: While I understand your frustration, your criticism is ignorant and ill-founded. Privatized public infrastructure, history has shown, invariably leads to worse service. The problem is that with so little money, the T is being forced to act like a private company, keeping only the most profitable services (ie Rush Hour services) in tact. The T needs to be saved by the government for the health of the Greater Boston area, not be allowed to languish.
Also, while our current legislature is absolutely absurd,I agree, ending public pensions would increase the problem by allowing only the wealthy to be able to afford to serve in the Government. And finally, especially regarding civil rights, Massachusetts is one of the best states in the Union.

Safran you're obviously a political hack or related to one -- who else would defend these crooks? It's only a matter of time before the T is DOA. As for MA being the greatest state: Are you completely insane? You obviously suffer from rectal-cranial inversion...better get that treated real fast. Now go drive your Prius, hug a few illegal aliens and fly your rainbow flag.

I live on the B line and people don't seem to realize that you need BU central AND east. You could probably get away with getting rid of Blanford and BU west, but I still don't see how eliminating those stops would save any money. You can't have every BU student trying to cram on the T at BU central or else it would take FOREVER. They don't have those stops so people can be lazy, they have them so you spread out the 30,000 some students that go to campus everyday getting off at BU central/east.

A scare tactic, definitely and quite effective, too with well over 300 comments. The state sees to have a one-track mind on this issue. Executive salaries has been an issue with me for a long time, not only with government but in the private sector. Do people REALLY believe that the world will fall apart if executives get 1/5 or even 1/10 of what they get now? It's like the greedy doctors and the allegedly "broken health care system."

I've got a great idea. Let's go renovate tons of our infrastructure when the economy is good, and keep dreaming the good times will roll forever. Then when things crash and shift we'll be paralyzed with debt. At least our customers can sit waiting for 25 minutes in our state of the art cool steel stations.
I do enjoy the renovations, but it seems like a poor choice if they were that bad in debt. Cutting evening and weekend service has a logic to it unfortunately. If that happens, then get on a predictable schedule like germany or switzerland. Or get on a system like san fran with a website and mobile alerts about when the next train is coming.
I hope only the most minor of these changes go through. I don't own a car. People build the routines of their lives around things like transportation.

Perhaps they should cut some of their perks, instead of cutting the services they offer their customers....

Did you know …

* T workers can receive a full pension after 23 years of service, regardless of age.
* T retirees also receive free health insurance for life.
* T pensioners can work at other jobs and earn as much as they can, unlike state retirees.

If you are going to cut the stations, there better not be a rate increase. You cannot expect us to pay more and then take things away. You have got to be kidding me if 7PM is the latest commuter rail train. You could make the latest train be 10PM and that would satisfy most people.

Do they realise how many people commute to and from work? Many of them work late, and are reliant on the Commuter rail...How about communities that are dependent on commuters for tourism, like Salem? The loss of weekend commuter rail service will devistate their tourist industry. Last time I checked, most people who trek to Salem to celebrate the Halloween festivities all October take the commuter raail- And how about the scores of students who commute to Salem via commuter rail to attend evening classes at Salem State College?

I take evening classes at Salem state college, and take the commuter rail to and from Boston- How the heck am I supposed to get there-and home if evening service is scrapped? Salem's gorgous Peabody essex Museum can expect to see the numbers of visitors plummet if they lose all the train tourists..

I thought Boston was supposed to be a major world class city!!!!!

Boston is (and always has been) a boil on the butt of humanity. You morons who keep voting the same crooks who appoint all their buddies to high paying state jobs get what you deserve. Idiots.

Boston is a crap city- NEW YORK is 1000 times better

What kind of ludicrous idea is this? Obviously people won't stand for these kinds of drastic changes. The city of Boston would fall apart!

How the heck is a college student supposed to get around? Obviously we don't have cars in the city! This is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.

I am buying a condo in Winthrop, having chosen it partly because the private bus service makes Winthrop easily accessible to the Blue Line. I don't drive and wonder how I would get to work. What about the many people in working class communities like Lowell, Lawrence etc, especially those working second shift who would be stranded in Boston because the commuter rail shuts down at 7 PM?. How about the elderly, disabled or other low income people who count on the MBTA and often can't afford cars?
The Green Line is packed after Red Sox games with many fans going to North Station to catch a train back to the suburbs. What if all of those people drove in? Where would they park? The city would be gridlocked. What a nightmare!!

Very nice site!