Commuters Tell MBTA Don't Increase Fares and Cut Service [Video]
More than 100 people, half of whom spoke, told the MBTA's general manager cuts in commuter rail service and increase in the RIDE fares are unacceptable at a hearing in Framingham Tuesday night.
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MetroWest residents flocked to the Memorial Building in Framingham Tuesday night to ask MBTA executives to think twice before reducing services, as proposed.
Under both service reduction proposals by the MBTA, to eliminate $169 million in debt, commuter rail service on the Boston-Framingham-Worcester line would end at 10 p.m. on weekdays and be eliminated on weekends.
Along with the service reduction, fare increases to the commuter rail are proposed between 30 to 40 percent.
"People who need a free ride or cheap ride are being charged more than they can afford," said A. Richard Miller of Natick.
Several members of the Legislature were present and or spoke including state Sen. Karen Spilka and Reps. Chris Walsh, Tom Sannicandro, Carolyn Dykema and Tom Conroy. Selectmen from both Natick and Ashland spoke, too.
Spilka said the MetroWest region and residents "depend on the commuter rail system access for affordable quality transportation." She told the MBTA cuts in commuter rail service would "isolate our area."
"The commonwealth should be encouraging the transit service, including the accessibility to Natick Center to promote economic development ... not jeopardizing it," Natick Selectman Josh Ostroff said. Ostroff added Natick Selectmen voted 5-0 to oppose the increases.
Framingham resident Kathy Maxwell took Tuesday night off from work so she could tell MBTA executives the importance of the commuter rail after 10 p.m.
For the last three years, the Framingham resident has commuted to Boston for her 2-10 shift. She takes the 10:26 p.m. train out of Back Bay home.
"I'm hanging onto my house by my fingernails," said Maxwell, who added she hasn't seen a raise since she took the Boston job. "This would be a big hardship."
MBTA must submit a balanced budget to its directors in March, who will take a vote in April. Any cuts in services or increases in fares would take place on July 1.
According to MetroWest residents, the biggest issues are the reduction in service in the commuter rail and the steep increase in price in the RIDE service and the commuter rail.
Increasing fares and reducing the amount of time we can into downtown is ridiculous," said Cornelia Dillon of Framingham. "I think one and two (scenarios) both stink."
Framingham resident Barbara McCurdy, who has has taken the commuter rail for the last 15 years and used public transportation for more than 20, suggested the MBTA keep one train after 10 p.m. to pickup fans at Fenway. Recognizing weekend service is already less than weekday service, she suggested the MBTA keep some trains on the weekend as opposed to complete elimination.
In regard to the RIDE, one scenario increases the fare from $2 to $4.50 or $12, while the other scenario would raise it to $3 or $5, based on which zone a rider lives in.
"This makes no sense. Ridership is increasing but the service provided is decreasing," said John Stasik of Framingham.
The governor and the state Legislature were mentioned often Tuesday night as important players in how to fix the MBTA's debt problem.
MBTA general manager Jon Davies said the MBTA has $5.2 billion in principal debt and that the MBTA is the highest leveraged of all the country's transit authorities.
"Thirty cents of every $1 we collect goes to pay the principal," he told the audience.
Leah Graves
8:39 am on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
First in the nation for a subway system and now we're in a horrible mess transport-wise. More cars on the Pike would equal more air pollution, more traffic and actually if you think about it--Framingham, Natick, Southboro etc. would all become less desirable places to live for people that commute via train.
Kim Poness
9:01 am on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
In the Spring and Summer, my youngest child commutes from Framingham to Manchester-by-the-Sea six days a week. The fare is already almost $300 a month for that T pass (do they even call them that anymore?). Why doesn't the MBTA do what EMC did when they had to cut costs - institute a temporary pay cut to salaried employees, and eliminate overtime for non-salaried employees?
Leah Graves
9:10 am on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Although those times were not easy for us EMC families (like mine) I agree. Also, during that time EMC executives took a 25% pay cut.
Kim Poness
12:27 pm on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Leah - how funny - I was at EMC at the time . . .
Leah Graves
1:23 pm on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
My husband has been at EMC nearly 12 years. Not me though but we have a lot of friends that have been there a REALLY long time. Great company!
Susan Petroni
11:39 am on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Personally, our family likes to use the train to attend sporting events in Boston.
Having been a rider of the MBTA since I was 2, I know the MBTA typically adds more trains before and after Bruins, Red Sox games to the orange and green lines; why would you penalize those in MetroWest who ride on the commuter rail to games at night or on weekends?
I talked to a nurse last night who said the proposed schedule wouldn't work for her 3-11 shift, as she could get in via commuter rail and not come home.
***
How often do you use the commuter rail service? and for what reasons?
Leah Graves
11:53 am on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
When I was at Framingham State I had a few professors that took it daily from Boston to WORK. So there's those that take it to our town that don't have cars. Also, I used to take the commuter rail every weekend (as did my husband) when he was at BU and I was at FSU. No weekend commuter rail would have meant it would have been impossible to maintain our relationship at the time. We relied on the commuter rail...on weekends...to see each other.
Kim Poness
12:29 pm on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
I used to take it daily when I worked in Cambridge; now, I only use it for hockey games. My daughter takes it in the Spring and Summer to get to the North Shore - quite a commute for her, but she gets a lot of reading done!
Phil Vinall
1:41 pm on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Do I understand correctly that part of the problem is that the MBTA is paying for unantipated costs for the Big Dig?
Bill Clapper
2:04 pm on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
I have used the commuter rail out of Framingham on and off since coming to town. For two years I traveled to Worcester and worked 5:30 p.m. to midnight. It was a nightly sprint from the office to Union Station to catch the 12:10 last train back to Framingham. That reverse evening commute also showed that there were many people traveling to Worcester to work in the hospitals on various night shifts. Framingham is fortunate to be between Worcester and Boston and have access to all the workplaces along the commuter rail corridor. To cut service on the line would be like severing an artery.
Joe Rizoli
1:25 am on Thursday, February 16, 2012
Hey, how about this, end our foreign wars. Stop the Billions we pay to foreign nations including Israel who want that money to fix up their roads, build Illegal houses and put up segregation walls lined with mines. How about letting us use that BILLIONS to fix OUR own roads and bridges and rebuild our infrastructure, our falling apart electrical grid, and our dams in the USA. We then would have new bridges, roads, cheap MBTA fares, no more dead soldiers, or horribly wounded men crippled for life with mental and physical problems that are going to cost us millions more to care for.
See how easy that was?
Joe Rizoli
Leah Graves
9:47 am on Thursday, February 16, 2012
Stop. Just stop. This argument has NOTHING to do with people in our town, in our community, that want to take public transport because 1. they can't afford to park in the city every day; 2. their employer does not offer parking; 3. they don't own a car; 4. they would like to live 'green' and not drive; 5. they are a student or professor at FSU that does not/cannot have a car on campus (underclassmen were not allowed cars when I was there unless they had a note from an employer; 6. people that work in Framingham and take the rail there...etc.
Dan Wiener
11:41 am on Thursday, February 16, 2012
In the NYC area, bridges and Tunnels routinely cost between $8 and $12 per round trip. I don't understand why the bridges and tunnels in the Boston area can't be raised to those levels as well. The Big Dig needs to be paid for, and the MBTA needs $$$. Those spans have been built for the people who work and live in Boston, not to mention those who commute and use the T, so why shouldn't they make sacrifices to pay for them? desperate times call for desperate measures. Seems like we have been doing it long enough on the paid-many-times-over Mass Pike.
Jim Rizoli
11:52 am on Thursday, February 16, 2012
The Taxpayers are already subsidizing the MBTA for approx 800 mill...
Imagine what you'd be paying if we didn't.
Jim@ccfiile.com