State House News Service photo / File

Gov. Charlie Baker gave his stamp of approval to the strategy MBTA leaders will deploy to minimize the damage from a looming fiscal year 2022 budget gap of $308 million to $577 million.

Noting that the massive drop in ridership has created an “enormously difficult and disruptive period,” Baker said he supports the decision to link the FY21 and 22 budgets into a single two-year process.

“It would be a mistake to wait until February or March of next year to start talking about what to do about this,” Baker said Tuesday following a tour of a bicycle shop in Belmont.

MBTA officials will attempt to find $400 million in new revenue or savings before that gap arrives, and they declined to rule out fare hikes or layoffs starting next fiscal year as part of the strategy.

“They’re smart in saying nothing’s off the table, they’re smart in starting early on this, and I think they’re thinking the right way,” Baker said. “Ridership represents, historically, about 50 percent of their revenue base, 40 or 50 percent depending upon the year. It’s pretty clear that that kind of expectation with regard to riders – unless there’s a pretty significant change in both employer behavior and employee behavior – is not going to move immediately.”