Ex-T chief urged fare hike delay

In a July 6 e-mail to Transportation Secretary James A. Aloisi Jr., Grabauskas detailed a plan to delay a fare increase until January 2011, writing that that there would probably be enough new state sales tax revenue and federal stimulus money to “spare our customers, many of whom are poor and transit dependent, a fare increase for an additional year, during the worst economic climate in 80 years.’’

Aloisi wrote back the same day and advocated a more immediate fare increase, for January 2010.

“Thanks Dan,’’ Aloisi wrote. “My reaction is that there are too many ‘ifs’ or other risks in the scenario you outline - too many things have to go right . . . My objective here is to set the MBTA on a much stronger financial footing, and moving forward on the fare increase now seems to me to be the best and most certain way to accomplish that for the next three fiscal years.’’

Publicly, Aloisi and even Patrick have told a different story, seeking to cast Grabauskas, whom they forced to resign last week, as the one pushing a boost in fares. The governor, asked yesterday who was arguing for the increase, said, “You should ask the T that. It didn’t come from me.’’ Asked directly whether his administration had been advocating for it, Patrick said, “No.’’

Aloisi, at a July 29 State House hearing, told a legislative committee: “We have not proposed a fare increase. . . . No, no, no - the Patrick administration has not proposed any fare increase. The MBTA has proposed a fare increase.’’

Grabauskas, speaking publicly for the first time since he was forced to resign Thursday, said in an interview yesterday that he was pushed out in part because Patrick administration officials were worried he would question the need for a fare increase at a public hearing yesterday on the T’s proposed 20 percent boost in fares.

Grabauskas said that $160 million in new sales tax revenue earmarked for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and $18 million in federal stimulus money, along with future savings from reforming employee health benefits and job cuts, made an immediate fare increase unnecessary.

“The math is pretty darn simple,’’ Grabauskas said in the interview. “Anyone can see there isn’t a necessity to do this.’’

Before the Legislature in June approved the sales tax increase, Grabauskas had warned that the T might have to raise fares; he also made the case for a fare increase on a July 21 TV appearance on WGBH’s “Greater Boston.’’

Grabauskas said he was stunned that Aloisi, while announcing Grabauskas’s resignation last week, asserted that any decision on a fare increase would be put on hold until former John Hancock chief executive David D’Alessandro can conduct a financial review of the transit agency. Grabauskas said that suggested to him that the administration will look for a way to put off the increase and claim credit for helping commuters.

“I screamed at the TV at home, ‘You son of a [expletive]! You’re going to steal my plan and then let Patrick rescue the fare payers!’’’ Grabauskas said. “It’s Orwellian. This is what I’ve been putting up with for the past two and a half years.’’

Aloisi declined to comment. His spokesman, Colin Durrant, accused Grabauskas of trying to “rewrite history.’’

“We’re not going to let him draw us into a counterproductive back-and-forth,’’ he said. “We need to move beyond this and focus on the real issues facing the MBTA and its riders.’’

Durrant added, “Any statements the secretary has made in the past about the fare increase were based solely on information provided to him by the former general manager,’’ Durrant said.

Patrick said yesterday that he would await a complete review of the MBTA finances before deciding whether to support a proposed fare increase. In addition, the governor, in his first extensive comments about Grabauskas’s removal, said it was “never personal, at least not from my perspective,’’ but he raised several questions about Grabauskas’s performance.

“You look at a record of two serious crashes in a short period of time, you look at a record of projects that, I think, not one has been on time and on budget in the last few years,’’ Patrick said. “There’s some serious questions there that I had and that others have.’’

Grabauskas, 46, who was appointed general manager by former governor Mitt Romney, a Republican, agreed to step down after the MBTA board of directors offered to buy out the remaining nine months of his five-year contract. Though he will collect nearly $330,000, Grabauskas said he would have preferred to stay on the job.

“I would have been satisfied to fulfill the obligations of my contract by working until May 15,’’ he said. “I would much rather not have gone through this. Who would want to go through this? I’m too old to have my mother feeling really bad for me.’’

He said he was gratified by the expressions of support from political leaders including House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo, Senate President Therese Murray, and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino.

“I feel very honored that the people I had a chance to work the most closely with over four years and two months spoke favorably about the work I did,’’ he said.

“Sometimes you’re judged by who your enemies are,’’ he continued. “If that’s Deval Patrick and Jim Aloisi, then I’ll take my friends.’’

Noah Bierman of the Globe staff contributed to this report.