State tries to scare T riders
By adamg - 2/12/09 - 5:34 pm
How do 25% fare increases, 50% cuts in evening service grab you? That's your future unless the state transportocracy is radically restructured, according to James Aloisi.
Comments
MBTA definition of "evening"
Anything after 5:30.
They already run much more limited service in the evening than in the morning ... they could cut some morning service more easily.
Everybody works a 7 or 8 hour day, and is an early bird with no responsibility to get kids to school, judging by their schedule.
Works for me, lets start be
Works for me, lets start be restructuring everyone from smiling Dan down to $80K a year. Show em the fraking door.
Fine. Let's get started...
If this new transport authority wants to take flight, first it's going to have to cut duplicate jobs, patronage jobs, jobs that have nothing to do with the public transport of passengers, and show them the door. Slice salaries as a show that you're not one public transit agency beholden to a bunch of spoiled militants.
Next, consolidate as many bus routes as possible. Why should someone from Forest Hills have to go to Downtown to get to Quincy - or take the Route 21 bus to Ashmont, and then the 215 bus to Quincy Center? One bus (call it the Route 203) would take care of it all and chop the non-Charlie Card fare from $3.50 to $1.50.
Then, charge congestion fares during rush hours. Tack on a dollar or two to fares during rush hour, and you'll see the herd mentality and excessive crowding ease almost immediately and force people to think, "y'know, maybe I should wait for the next bus/train instead of stuffing myself in like a sardine." Charge fares by distance, too - a person getting off two stops ahead should pay less than the person going from one side of the city to another.
Simplify the pass structure. Four zones, not eight, will make fare collection much easier. Make the city of Boston Zone a city zone - why should I pay $4.25 for a ticket when I can go down to Forest Hills for $1.70 and avoid the Orange Line?
Better yet, privatize as much of the MBTA's assets as possible and put public transit in the hands of those who know how to operate a transit system right.
it's all in the frequency
When the evening 65 buses only run every half hour or so and I've been waiting for one for twenty minutes, and it shows up already packed like a sardine can, I don't really want to wait for the next one.
That said, if I take the 66 instead and I can see a second (or sometimes second and third) bus coming behind the sardine can, I'd rather wait.
Wouldn't congestion fares
Wouldn't congestion fares provide an immediate revenue incentive to be congested?
Isn't that the opposite of what we want?
Lets begin with some basic reforms, like
1) Cancel the completion of Wi-Fi rollout on the commuter rail, and remove and sell off all Wi-Fi equipment currently inplace on the commuter boats and commuter trains.
2) Have Governor Patrick sign an executive order expressly forbidding MBTA management a) from adding meaningless "supplemental" legends to stations (like the "West End" nonsense at Science Park and b) requiring dedication ceremonies when improvements are introduced.
3) Lose ALL the customer service agents. Instead, put the T police in the stations. This would greatly improve security, response to reported crimes, and fare evasion enforcement. It would also allow the T to sell off the cruisers, motorcycles, etc. that will be rendered unnecessary by such a change (not to mention the future cost savings by eliminating fuel and maintenance).
4) Lose the commuter rail surcharges and eliminate the Charlie Card/Charile Ticket fare difference. One fare for everyone, regardless of when or how you pay.
5) Lose all parking fees - let's ENCOURAGE people to use the system instead of driving.
And, if you think priviatizing the T is the answer - consider these two points:
The majority of the established transit systems in the US were all run by private companies at one point. They got out of the business because they couldn't make any money.
MBCR is a private company under contract to the T - and we all know how well they run the commuter trains, don't we?
Point Concerning T Police
"It would also allow the T to sell off the cruisers, motorcycles, etc. that will be rendered unnecessary by such a change (not to mention the future cost savings by eliminating fuel and maintenance)."
If you mean sell off a few vehicles, maybe. However, it pays to keep in mind that T police duties are not restricted to subway lines. They need to travel to wherever crime may be taking place on buses, at bus stops, and other jurisdictions of theirs.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Or maybe the T police should be dissolved entirely
with law enforcement reverting to each town and city's police department?
Touche!
Excellent points - and forgive my angry reverie of last night. It just really set me off like a firecracker.
They should have equalized the CharlieCard/CharlieTicket fares when the system came on line in 2007. Everything else, though, makes complete sense.
parade of horribles
This is the latest in the standard drill of scaring the public with doom and gloom scenarios.
Problem is, the economy sucks, tax revenues are plummeting, and it's getting harder to sort the scare tactics from the real deal. We no longer know whose word to trust.
I'd pay a surcharge
just to have those stupid glass doors stop slamming into me every time I tried to leave north station mbta during rush hour.