Keep the T on Track

What's New

In February, Governor Patrick announced a strong transportation reform and revenue plan, anchored by an increase to the state gas tax, to support the MBTA and other transportation needs across Massachusetts. Unfortunately, the legislature has rejected that plan, instead increasing the sales tax and carving out a smaller amount of funding for transportation.

While this amount is inadequate to address all the state's transportation needs, the MBTA must receive $160 million of the new revenue to prevent massive fare hikes and devastating service cuts.

Overview

The MBTA has undergone major changes in the past several years. Unfortunately the authority falls dramatically short of what it needs to be, and is facing major financial problems as it moves forward.

At the heart of the problem is that the T spends more than a quarter of its annual budget paying off $8 billion of debt (with interest), much of it from state transit commitments to offset Big Dig air pollution that should be paid for by the state and not by T riders.

Now the T is facing a downward spiral in which the authority cannot generate the revenue necessary to achieve a state of good repair, meaning that the MBTA cannot improve service quality, retain and attract riders, and increase revenue over time.

Until this debt burden is solved, the MBTA will continue to request rate hikes to bridge its operating deficits, and will do nothing to address the backlog of needed service improvements.

MASSPIRG supports legislation filed by Representatives Carl Sciortino and Alice Wolf to increase the state gas tax by 12 cents and dedicate that funding to address Big Dig debt, improve service, and keep fares affordable.