MBTA fare increase may happen sooner than you think

It has been about five years since the MBTA has implimented any type of fair increase. The T is also the only transit agency in the United States that has not increased fares since 2007. This could very soon be a thing of the past for Boston area commuters though.

Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation and former MBTA GM Richard Davey announced last week that a "Modest" fare increase is definitely on the table. This comes after an independent advisory committee explained to MassDOT and the MBTA that they will need over $15 Billion to keep the infrastructure safe and operable.

Newton Center Station (For Sale)

Currently the MBTA's day to day operating costs exceed the money they are taking in from their ridership and adverting. The cash strapped organization is also facing a $161 Million shortfall next fiscal year. The T is taking every measure to try and close that gab but a fair increase seems imminent. The T has tried everything, from selling ad space all over the system and their website, to implementing renewable energies, to selling MBTA merchandise and even their properties. At present, the T just put the Newton Center MBTA station, which is located on the Riverside Branch of the Green line, up for sale. The 120 year old building, which is home to a restaurant, is being sold for a minimum of $700,000. According to Acting MBTA GM Jonathan Davis when sold the money received will be reinvested back into the system to try and put a small dent in the organizations $8 billion debt and $4.8 Billion maintenance backlog.

MBTA employees and retirees may also be unhappy with the way the T is trying to find ways to fill its budget gab. Currently on the table is taking away the MBTA retirees free rides for life pass. Negotiations with the MBTA workers union are also currently underway to try and eliminate the current employee free rides for personal use program. Last year the MBTA lost about $4.5 million in revenue because of the free rides of MBTA workers and retirees. This is going to be a tricky process for the T though. The workers union is not going to give up without a fight.

Overall, its hard to say that a fare increase is not going to happen sometime within the next year. This news is not going over well with most of Massachusetts commuters. The fact is, the T is currently one of the cheapest transit systems to ride. We also have not raised fares since 2007 which is unheard of! I feel like that the T definitely needs to increase fairs. If we want to continue to have safe and extensive transit system in this city we are going to have to sit back and just deal with it.

$8 Billion and rising

Well folks the T is broke. Well its probably not exactly what you think. No there is no signal problem on the B line, the orange line is not experiencing 15-20 min delays due to an earlier disabled train, and no your commuter rail train is not suddenly canceled because of a mechanical problem. This time the T is broke like OMG we need to win The Lottery broke.

If some of you haven't noticed yet the country is in a sort of recession. There has also been a lot of talk lately about debt. Theres the national debt, personal credit card debt, foreign debt, and of course student debt. There is also a new genre of debt that has been making some news lately, that being the MBTA's colossal debt. Which is estimated at well over $8 billion.

First I want to focus a little attention to how the MBTA racked up this insane number. First off the MBTA's Green Line is the oldest subway system in America. This means it racks up high amounts of maintenance costs. The rising debt also includes purchasing skyrocketing diesel fuel for locomotives and paying for the largest electric bill in Massachusetts. Wasteful spending is also to blame. The T purchases poorly made uniforms for its employees on an annual basis and they also have to pay out their insanely high pensions and benefits. Overall, there is truly not just one area at fault for this seemingly never ending debt. Even so the T needs to find a quick fix for this problem or its going to have them sinking faster than the Titanic.

Over the past six months the cash strapped T has been trying to find ways to reduce their multi million dollar budget shortfall for fiscal year 2012 along with reducing their overall debt. They also want to do this all while trying not to initiate a fare hike. Ambitious huh? Many ideas have come across the GM's table some of which might actually aid the T and some of which are just plain insane! One of the greatest ideas that Richard Davey and the T implemented over the past few months has definitely been MBTAGifts.com. Not only is the merch on the site awesome (I still need to buy the MBTA shower curtain for the apartment) but it is also expected to generate about $150,000 a year in revenue.

L.L. Bean wrapped #47 Bus

Another big venture for the T over the past few months has been in advertising. The T has literally been trying to sell space every where they can for ad's. They started with allowing companies to purchase ad space in wrap form. For example the L.L. Bean ad campaign, which promoted their free shipping offers. Then moved on to allow ad's basically every where! Even while getting scrutiny for it. They now have since added ads on MBTA.com, their trying to get them on the back of charlie cards, and also trying to get voice ads on buses.

The most interesting step for this massive attempt to quadruple advertising revenue came last month. When I first read about it I could not even believe that it was actually happening. The T was going to try and sell the naming rights to a few of their subway, commuter rail, and bus stations! The names of the stations would still be permanent but household names would just be sponsoring the station. For example, Scotch Tape station at Park St. Personally this is going a little far but I guess if it's going to help avoid a fare increase then I'm all for it.

Hopefully over the course of this year and next the T will find more options to help save them some money even if it is just a few grand. I just don't want it to get to the point where they start to cut corners with equipment. But with Rich Davey on board i'm sure things will be just fine! Hopefully by this time next year I can report back and say that the MBTA's debt is at $8 Billion and falling!