Rick Dimino
A functioning, safe and reliable public transit system is crucial to our economy, quality of life and environment. A Better City – a 130-member organization of businesses and institutions in the metropolitan area – supports planned, incremental fare increases as one component of providing adequate funding for public transit in the commonwealth.
It is obvious to all of us who lived through last winter that the T is in dire need of significant investment in its existing assets and infrastructure and improvements in its management and operation. In fact, we need more – and more reliable – commuter rail and transit services. Increasing demand for transit throughout the region caused by our growing economy requires strategic growth of rail and bus options, and more frequent service on existing lines.
Therefore, all transportation-based revenue sources and user fees are needed and should be considered to support growth and a state of good repair of our public transit system. Incremental contributions from T riders must be included on this list and must stay on the table.
A Better City supports a 5 percent increase in fares every two years to keep pace with inflation and avoid the need for drastic and unpredictable across the board increases that occur when too many years pass without a fare adjustment. The MBTA Fiscal Management and Control Board is considering a fare increase of 10 percent, which will have to be evaluated. Major fare increases burden employers and working families alike and discourages public transit use. However, our current MBTA fares are on the low end when compared with other major transit systems and have room for gradual upward adjustment.
With the use of new fare collection technologies – many of which are already available to MassDOT – we could implement innovative fare strategies that discount off-peak travel, and which could reduce the impact of a fare increase on low-income and elderly riders. Improved fare collection efforts by the MBTA on commuter rail lines should also contribute to improved revenues.
A Better City has developed a proposal for a unified transportation media – to consolidate payment for all transportation modes from T fares, to private carrier bus fares, to highway tolls, to municipal parking. Smartphone technology enables this possibility, removing cash from the system, providing opportunities to prevent leakage from fare and toll evasion, and pricing the system according to time-of-day travel and income levels.
Every commuter – even those driving alone in their car – depends upon a functioning, adequate transportation system to move people to their jobs and reduce congestion. A 5 percent fare increase cannot be the only solution for the commonwealth’s transportation infrastructure challenges, but it should be one component of the overall solution. Simplifying and rationalizing methods for payment will make future fare and toll increases more acceptable and equitable.
Rick Dimino is the president and CEO of A Better City.
