MBTA proposes hiking subway fare, making bus transfers free

BOSTON --The MBTA is proposing to raise subway fares from $1.25 to $1.70 per trip next year as part of a fare restructuring that would also allow subway passengers to make free bus transfers while ridding the system of a century-long accumulation of fare inequities.

Daniel Grabauskas, general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, said the fare hike -- the first since Jan. 1, 2004 -- is necessary amid the agency's heavy debt load, less-than-projected sales tax revenues and rising fuel and security costs.

The restructuring, meanwhile, would be the most extensive ever for the nation's oldest subway system. Its aim would be eliminating anomalies such as free outbound rides on surface portions of the Green Line that have been an open secret among the area's college students for years.

Bus fares that currently range from 90 cents to $1.55 would be set at a uniform $1.25, while commuter rail passengers would seek increases of about 25 percent. The general manager disclosed the changes to reporters Friday afternoon on what has become a time for revealing bad news -- late in the final business day of the week.

Commuters will have a chance to weigh in on the proposed changes at workshops and formal hearings in May and June. The T board of directors will be asked to approve the changes in the fall. Grabauskas said he would be open to changes as long as they maintain a net increase of $70 million in annual revenues.

"I believe we are operating efficiently. We are doing everything we can to maximize non-fare revenues," the general manager said. "But debt service continues to grow. Fuel costs are fuel costs ...I defy you to find any other significant transit agency that has not raised costs in the last three years."

All told, subway, bus, and commuter rail riders make 1.1 million trips per day. The biggest discounts would be available to those using Charlie Cards and some versions of the Charlie Ticket, the credit cards and paper tickets that are being introduced as the T switches over to an automated fare collection system.

It is that system, scheduled to be installed in all subway and bus stations by Dec. 31, that will allow implementation of the new fare schedule and structure, such as free transfers between subways and buses. Currently commuters have to pay a subway fare and a bus fare, leading to some of the highest per-trip costs among transit agencies nationally.

At the same time, the new technology will, among other things, allow the T to impose a 45-cent transfer fee when bus riders switch to subways, an assessment levied because they would have entered the system with a lower base fare. The T's ultimate goal is to make all urban riders pay $1.70 to reach their destination, regardless of the combination of subways and buses.

The current Subway and Combo passes would be replaced with the so-called "OnePass," which would allow them to ride on any combination of subways and buses for less than the current Combo price.

However, tourists and infrequent riders paying cash or using standard Charlie Tickets would be penalized, assessed surcharges ranging from 40 cents to $1.35 to compensate the T for collecting cash or assessing numerous paper tickets.

"What we really want to do is bring simplicity and ease of use to our most frequent customers," Grabauskas said.

Working with the Rider Oversight Committee, whose members come equally from the agency, the ridership and transportation advocacy groups, the T also sought to use the occasion to eliminate inequities in the system.

For example, subway passengers boarding at the Quincy Center, Quincy Adams and Braintree stations currently pay a $2.50 entrance fee, plus their fare, while those exiting at the Adams and Braintree stations also pay a $1.25 exit fare.

Meanwhile, most bus passengers pay a base fare of 90 cents, but those traveling distances pay zone surcharges raising their total fare to $1.55 -- an accounting challenge for drivers.

All of those anomalies would be eliminated with the restructured system, the single bus and subway fares and the monitoring allowed through automated fare collection.

Jeremy Marin, an environmentalist at the Sierra Club and co-chair of the MBTA oversight committee, said he supported the free transfer program and hoped it would bring more riders to the T, but worried the proposal won't solve all the problems.

"We're concerned without additional state assistance, this is going to continue the downward spiral of reduced revenue so you raise fares which reduces ridership and leads to revenue problems," he said.

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On the Net:

MBTA: http://www.mbta.com/index--fare.asp