Editorial: Funding Mass Transit in Massachusetts

SouthCoastToday.com published an editorial today written by an advocate for MASSPIRG.

The editorial, Funding mass transit requires difficult choices, provides examples of why commuter rail service to South Coast communities (such as New Bedford and Fall River) is needed. As a voter, I do not understand why the Commonwealth pushed so hard (and for so long) to re-establish the Greenbush commuter rail line (which serves towns included Hingham and Cohasset) to an area that already had ferry and rapid transit service into Boston.

If I had been a state transportation leader, I would have established commuter rail service to Springfield and the South Coast and improved the service on the Worcester, Franklin and Fitchburg lines because that is where the population growth in Massachusetts is occurring and all of these communities are not near rapid transit lines (such as the Green Line and Orange Line trains).

The editorial calls on the Legislature to approve Governor Deval Patrick's transportation bond legislation.

This is a great statement:

When it comes to public transportation, the region's transit network must expand to keep pace with its growing needs. As growth has shifted outward, new passenger rail and other forms of public transportation provide a vital role in connecting people to their workplaces and communities. Public transit allows the clustering of people together around vital centers without choking that vitality in traffic congestion and parking hassles. Anyone lucky enough to use subway or commuter rail instead of being stuck on the roads during the first snowstorm of the season knows what I'm talking about. New England's character and quality of life will be strangled if future growth simply puts more cars on the road.

The editorial also mentioned that no plan is yet in place to balance the MBTA's massive $5.2 billion debt. A third of this debt (roughly $1.7 billion) was due to the Big Dig. Also. the Commonwealth's bipartisan Transportation Finance Commission recently found that the state faces $15 to 19 billion in a transportation funding gap over the next 20 years. That's crazy, huh?

The Transportation Finance Commission has proposed that Massachusetts remove the levy currently imposed on the state's gas tax (which has not seen an increase since 1991). If the state adds a 11.5-cent tax to gas, most Mass. drivers would only seen an additional $66 increase in their annual vehicle expenditures.

As a commuter rail rider, I would not be opposed to seeing the levy unfrozen. However, I have a feeling that my fellow citizens would be in an uproar. People are already complaining about the rising cost in gas over the past two years. An additional tax could send people over the edge.

That being said, it is imperative that the Commonwealth educate its citizens on why a functioning commuter rail service serving the entire state is important. Over time, our home property values and our business opportunities could be negatively impacted if we do not have a sound and reliable mass transportation system.

I hope this is a conversation that engages other Mass. residents in 2008.