Editorial – Patriot Ledger – Dec 28, 2011

Here’s today quiz: In the next month, the MBTA will say:

a) It is broke

b) It needs more state money

c) It has to raise fares

d) It is burdened by debt its present management didn’t create

e) It faces staggering maintenance and replacement costs

The correct answer: all of the above.

And that forever will be the answer until the state and the federal government realize that public transportation is something that needs – and deserves – to be supported at the same level as highways and airports. We cannot afford to keep transporting people one at a time between cities or even between where we live and where we work.

We are in a trough right now with gasoline prices sinking to within sight of $3 a gallon. Keep in mind, however, the near panic when gas flirted with $4 a gallon, and remember that much of the world pays far more than that.

Cities in the United States and abroad have demonstrated that people will get out of their cars if trains and buses are fast, frequent, comfortable and convenient. Additionally, many countries have decided that replacing short-haul airlines with high-speed trains makes sense. There are lessons to be learned.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is funded in part by the state, in part by the communities it serves and in part by the riders it transports. There is the annual pageant of watching T and state transportation officials traipse up Beacon Hill, cup in hand, looking to the Legislature to make up the difference between what the T collects at the fare box and what it has to spend to keep the trolleys rolling and the tracks clear. It shouldn’t be such a struggle.

The T now serves Massachusetts almost from Cape Cod to the New Hampshire border, and west toward Worcester. Most people in Massachusetts live in cities and towns that have MBTA service or are accessible to MBTA service in one form or another. We are sorry that people in Pittsfield can’t take the Red Line, and perhaps they don’t benefit as much from the MBTA as people in Braintree or Bridgewater, but the economic viability of eastern Massachusetts drives this state, and the T is part of what keeps that engine moving ahead.

It has been five years since the T raised fares on buses and subways, and that is clearly going to end this spring. But how much fares go up – and how many people fare increases drive away from the buses and trains – depends, in part, on how much the Legislature is willing to contribute from the general fund toward keeping the T running.

It is not an act of mercy, or a demonstration of kindness, to fund public transportation. It is a right and proper role of government, and it is time we all realized its importance.
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