By looking for ways to cut public transit in response to the COVID-19 recession, state leaders could be handicapping efforts to help the state recover once the virus has been tamed.
State transportation officials, MBTA staff and the transit agency’s overseers recently began what will likely be a months-long planning exercise to find a way around a $308 million to $577 million budget gap for its next fiscal year.
But by forcing them to cut rather than finding or raising more transportation revenue, Gov. Charlie Baker, House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Karen Spilka are making an unforced error.
Just as the pandemic hit, Beacon Hill was in the throes of a debate over how to raise more money to fix the state’s disastrous traffic problems. But the optics of increasing the gas tax – a major component of any proposal in the debate, as it would both raise revenue and discourage driving –during tough economic times and uncertainty about the state’s finances helped scupper these discussions in the Senate.
The move by Spilka and her colleagues was understandable but has proved unfortunate as the coronavirus crisis lingers, starving the T and other transit agencies of fares just as they increased service levels to prevent crowding on buses and trains.
As a consequence, transit leaders have been boxed into a situation where they’re contemplating service cuts that would begin in the latter half of 2022 – precisely when a coronavirus vaccine is predicted to be widely available, letting legions of workers escape their homes and return to the office. With fewer transit options available, that’s a recipe for a rapid snap-back to some of the worst congestion Massachusetts has ever seen as more commuters are forced to drive.
It’s good to see that the T is at least aiming to protect the riders who most need transit. But a mentality of cutting will set back efforts to help the state’s economy recover. And if cuts made in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis are any guide, it is unlikely services cut now will ever be restored. Literally every day brings us closer to massive, unalterable changes to our planet’s climate; is this really an appropriate time to be forcing people onto less efficient modes of transportation?
It doesn’t have to be this way. With interest rates so low and, thanks to the Federal Reserve, set to stay low for at least a year, the state faces few obstacles to borrowing money to support critical components of our society while revenues recover.
Transit officials can then stop wasting their time deciding what essential services to kill off and spend their time planning how to make the system we will have in late 2022, when we have widespread COVID-19 vaccination and the economy is starting to rebound, far better than the mass transit system we had in January of 2020.
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