http://www.masspirg.org/home/reports/report-archives/transportation-agenda/transportation-agenda2 http://www.masspirg.org/home/reports/report-archives/transportation-agenda/transportation-agenda2/derailed-by-debt Unhealthy Choices The MBTA Will Be Forced To Make In FY2009 - FY2013 The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) faces an uncertain financial future over the next five years. With debt service payments increasing, along with other costs, the MBTA will face sizeable budget gaps forcing the Authority to choose among unhealthy options to close these structural deficits. These options primarily include: further dramatic fare increases, service reductions, or more borrowing. Unfortunately, all of these options would negatively impact the MBTA and its riders by making the system less affordable, less available, less frequent, or more indebted in the long run. The result will be a decrease in ridership. Decreasing transit ridership will adversely impact the Greater Boston region as a whole. Instead of using transit, many commuters will drive automobiles. The result will be worse traffic congestion and air pollution, greater stress on road and bridge infrastructure, as well as greater oil dependence. The primary cause of the MBTA’s financial crisis is a huge debt that grows each year of this projection, combined with slow growth in the state’s sales tax, which a portion of funds the MBTA. Our analysis, confirmed by the MBTA Advisory Board, shows that: MBTA faces multi-million dollar budget gaps from FY2009 – FY2013 caused by huge debt. • Operating deficit of $67 million to $69 million in FY2009. • Five year funding gap between $357 million on the low end and $438 million on the high end. • A growing debt time bomb with annual debt service payments that will reach over half a billion dollars in FY2013, threatening the MBTA’s long-term financial stability. MBTA will be forced to choose among several “unhealthy” options to close budget gaps. • An across-the-board fare increase of approximately 38 percent over the five year projection, which is more than double the rate of inflation (see Appendix B for fare increase dollar amounts). • Significant service decreases, including a reduction in service on evenings and weekends and the elimination of some bus routes. • Debt deferment into the future, thus extending the MBTA’s unsustainable debt obligations and making them greater over time. Available options have negative impact on MBTA ridership and finances. • Fare increases at this time would likely result in ridership decline. • Service reduction would also result in ridership decline. • Debt deferment could add to the MBTA’s $8.1 billion debt with interest, making the Authority less able to fund its operations, attract or retain riders, and burden future transit riders and tax payers. • None of these options raise enough revenue or achieve savings to adequately address MBTA maintenance backlog Debt relief needed to improve MBTA. These projections show a growing financial gap that will threaten the Commonwealth’s largest transit system and impair its ability to increase ridership, provide quality and affordable service to commuters, foster economic growth, and ease the region’s traffic and air pollution problems. To seriously address the MBTA’s financial instability, Massachusetts policy makers must provide either partial debt relief for the MBTA or new revenue sources to help pay down the agency’s annual debt costs. Not taking these actions will consign the MBTA to a predictable fiscal train wreck. MASSPIRG supports the September 2007 recommendation of the Transportation Finance Commission to relieve the MBTA of $1.8 billion of debt associated with Central Artery/Tunnel commitments. http://www.masspirg.org/home/reports/report-archives/transportation-agenda/transportation-agenda2/derailed-by-debt Tue, 16 Oct 2007 08:42:44 -0500 http://www.masspirg.org/home/reports/report-archives/transportation-agenda/transportation-agenda2/squandering-the-stimulus-an-analysis-of-household-gas-spending-economic-stimulus-checks-and-the-need-for-better-transportation-options America’s dependence on oil has become increasingly painful. Two thirds of oil in the United States goes to transportation, with the largest share consumed by cars and trucks. As the rising price of gasoline makes driving more expensive, Americans have sought alternatives by driving a little less and riding public transportation more. Unfortunately, government policy does too little to help Americans drive less. Energy experts generally agree that the era of cheap gas is over. Scientists likewise agree that road-based global warming pollution must be reduced. But lawmakers have not taken enough steps to help Americans consume less at the pump. On the contrary, overall government policies continue to encourage more driving at the expense of alternatives, leaving Americans poorer, stuck in worsening traffic, and emitting dangerous levels of global-warming pollution. Nothing illustrates how the lack of transportation options hurts consumers and our economy more than the fact that, since approval of the tax rebates in February, Americans on average have already spent the amount of their stimulus checks at the pump. The standard stimulus rebate check for American families with a joint filing couple and a child is $1,500. As of this week, the average family household will have already spent over $1,500 at the gas pump since February 13th when President Bush signed the tax rebate checks into law. The situation is akin to families signing over their rebate checks to big oil companies like Exxon Mobil or sending them to oil-producing countries like Saudi Arabia. We can reduce our crippling dependence on oil through long-term solutions that will make it easier for Americans to drive less. Modern buses, light rail, commuter rail and other forms of transit more efficiently move passengers with less fuel. Transit also reduces traffic congestion and encourages more compact development patterns which, in turn, further reduce the amount Americans must drive. Existing public transportation already reduces America’s oil dependence. Analysis by MASSPIRG shows that net oil savings from public transportation totaled 3.4 billion gallons in 2006, the last year for which full data on transit agency and ridership is currently available. These oil savings are enough to fuel 5.8 million cars for an entire year and to save about $13.6 billion in gasoline at today’s prices. In metro Boston, public transit saved 154.1 million gallons, the equivalent of $629 million at today’s gas prices. Comparing spending on transportation in neighborhoods with different access to rail and bus routes underscores the gas-saving benefits of public transit, according to newly released analysis by the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) as part of a Brookings Institution project. Based on analysis of 2000 Census data in 52 metro areas, neighborhoods with the best access to transit routes spent an average of $728 monthly on all transportation costs, including gas, insurance, upkeep, and transit fares. Households in communities with the least access to transit, by contrast, spent an average of $925 per month. Public transit solutions can do far more. At present, underfunded transit agencies are struggling to keep up with the record volume of riders. Despite the success of new rail lines and bus routes around the country, a long line of new transit projects remains stuck on the drawing board due to lack of funding. Federal, state, and local governments must invest in solutions to oil dependence through more and better public transportation. http://www.masspirg.org/home/reports/report-archives/transportation-agenda/transportation-agenda2/squandering-the-stimulus-an-analysis-of-household-gas-spending-economic-stimulus-checks-and-the-need-for-better-transportation-options Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:25:24 -0500 http://www.masspirg.org/home/reports/report-archives/transportation-agenda/transportation-agenda2/a-better-way-to-go http://www.masspirg.org/home/reports/report-archives/transportation-agenda/transportation-agenda2/a-better-way-to-go Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:36:28 -0500