MBTA Gains Riding on State Aid, and Volatile Revenues
The surge in state dollars that fueled the MBTA’s recovery leaves the it more reliant than ever on Beacon Hill to hold on to its service gains and make further improvements.
MBTA Budget Fix Could Be Even Tougher Sell in 2026
At first blush, the latest budget crunch forecast at the MBTA looks like déjà vu all over again, to borrow Yogi Berra’s famous phrasing.
Senate, House Headed for $420M MBTA Funding Showdown
Senate Democrats want to send only $370 million to the MBTA under a new spending plan fueled by excess surtax revenues, much less than the House approved across workforce, infrastructure and reduced fare investments at the beleaguered transit agency.
MBTA Envisions Another Burst of Hiring to Boost Repairs, Frequency
The hiring blitz at the T will keep going full steam ahead. Or it probably will, at least if the MBTA’s final budget looks like the preliminary version that’s up for a vote Thursday.
Political Headwinds, Competitiveness Talk Kept New Taxes Out of Transpo Task Force Discussions
Healey promised that the report’s recommendations and her transit funding plan are no longer “kicking the can down the road” by underfunding transit and roads. But task force members say new revenue options will still be needed in the future.
Healey Announces ‘Historic’ $8B Transportation Plan
Gov. Maura Healey says she’ll lean heavily on higher-than-expected returns from the state Millionaires Tax to keep the MBTA from going broke in the coming fiscal year, while setting three-quarters of a billion dollars aside for capital investments like bridges and rail lines.
Healey Plans to Stabilize T with Budget Plan
The MBTA drained its reserves to balance its fiscal year 2025 budget, and officials project the agency will face a roughly $700 million gap in the next fiscal year that begins July 1, thanks in part to underperforming sales tax revenue.
Eng Senses “a Lot of Optimism” Around T’s Budget Trouble
MBTA budget-writers have warned the agency could run out of cash in the first quarter of fiscal 2026 amid a roughly $700 million gap, but the agency’s leader is feeling “optimism” about the prospects of addressing the shortfall.
With Tracks Largely Fixed, T Moves on to Signals
The speed restrictions that have plagued the MBTA for years should be gone by next month, and agency leaders will then turn their attention toward similarly important work on signals and station improvements – work that will still require small shutdowns.
Millionaires Tax Won’t Eliminate T’s Fiscal Cliff, Tibbits-Nutt Says
When Massachusetts voters passed the Millionaires Tax in 2022, there was an expectation that the funds generated by the 4 percent surtax on income over $1 million would help solve the problems in the state’s transportation sector, particularly with the struggling MBTA system facing an operating deficit.
MBTA Estimates 25 Percent of South-Side Commuter Rail Fares Not Being Collected
MBTA officials say fare collection efforts are being stepped up on the commuter rail system, but the loss of revenue remains a problem, with a quarter of fares not being collected on trains operating out of South Station.
House Budget Chief Ready to Bulk Up MBTA Investments
The House budget chief wants to direct $1 billion in surplus income surtax funds towards transportation investments, mainly MBTA capital investments, he told business leaders at an event in Boston.
Data Shows The T Is Finally Getting Better – Finally
Does it seem like your T ride is improving? It actually might be. Statistics show the transit agency is turning a corner on subway slow zones, speeds on the Blue and Orange Lines and the largest workforce in years that resulting in better service.
Splinter Group Meeting on Transportation Funding
Sources say the side-meetings grew out of concern about the slow pace of the task force and frustration with the Healey administration’s push for a “tool kit” of revenue options rather than a curated list of preferred options.
With Clock Ticking Down, MBTA Board Talks New Revenue
“We’re at the fiscal cliff,” the agency’s top budget official warned. That would mean the Legislature would have to pass some sort of revenue package for the T early in the year, or else the agency might be forced to start laying off workers
MTF to Beacon Hill: Solve MBTA ‘Fiscal Fiasco’ This Year
A business-backed group wants the state legislature to resolve a projected funding gap at the MBTA this year, saying the high stakes include Boston’s recovery from pandemic impacts and the safety and reliability of the heavily-used transit system.
Watchdog: ‘Terrible Options’ If Transit Funding Fixes Not Found
Public transportation is on the verge of an “existential crisis,” a key transit watchdog warned, as the MBTA moves ahead with a budget plan that drains its reserves in the face of a looming deficit and uncertainty about Beacon Hill’s approach to long-term funding fixes.
T Will Trim Consultant Spending in Budget Gap Strategy
MBTA budget-writers will attempt to balance the agency’s books next year by trimming spending on consultants and delaying lower-priority purchases, taking aim at a $93 million budget gap, officials said Thursday.
Tibbits-Nutt: Transpo Financing Group Will Look at ‘Everything’
The Healey administration’s new Transportation Funding Task Force will be “looking at everything – congestion pricing, tolling, every single option there is” for state funding of roads and transit, the group’s chair said
Researchers Outline New Potential Revenue Ideas for the T
Gov. Maura Healey’s task force on funding transportation in Massachusetts hasn’t even met yet, but already ideas being explored by researchers retained by the MBTA hint at the solutions Healey’s task force could generate.
