MetroWest and North of City Fund Mass Pike

In case you haven't seen the updates flying out from The Boston Globe/Boston.com and The Boston Herald: Massachusetts. The Mass Pike Board has voted. And MetroWest and North of Boston drivers who commute using the Pike or the tunnels, you get to pay off the Mass Pike's debt.

If you drive from North of Boston on I-93 or if you live on the South Shore and don't drive to Logan everyday, thank the good people of MetroWest and North of Boston because we're covering your debt. Not our debt - your debt. You benefit the most from the Big Dig, but we get to pay for it.

In a 4 to 1 vote, the Mass Pike Board approved plans to up tolls. The toll increases will go into effect in either February or March 2009, after some public hearings and a final vote. If you are upset about this, we urge you to contact your local state rep and your local state senator and voice your concerns.

The toll increases will be as follows:

• Tolls at Weston and Allston-Brighton increase from $1.25 to $2.00. If you have a Fast Lane transponder, your toll will only be $1.50.
• The Airport tunnels increase from $3.50 to $7.00. For Fast Lane users, the toll will be $6.00.

For those who pay cash at the tolls (which I really just don't get - go out and get a Fast Lane or EZ-Pass transponder), your tolls increase $.75 at Allston-Brighton and Weston and $3.50 for the airport tunnels.

People are enraged. Check out the comments on the Boston.com article.

I do live in MetroWest. To get technical, I live in the Blackstone Valley. I moved back to the Valley because it is my home. Also, for the most part, I've worked outside of the city. I did commute into Boston on the commuter rail, but I've also commuted to Waltham (on 128) and to Providence. Not everyone has a job in the city, so I'm sick and tired of listening to people say "you should move closer to the city." If I lived in Boston, I would have an extremely long and expensive reverse commute to MetroWest.

From a commuting standpoint, those of us who live West of the city really do get hosed. We either have to deal with an insane amount of traffic getting to jobs along 495 or 128 or we have to deal with unending train delays. There is no perfect system, but it would be nice to see transportation costs evenly distributed across the Commonwealth - at least to those communities North and South of Boston.

I think a gas tax makes sense, but I could see why it would be argued down. A lot of people live in Western Mass - is it really fair to ask them to pay for the Big Dig? The Big Dig directly benefited downtown Boston and surrounding towns.

I'm at the point right now where I think Fred Salvucci, the matermind behind the Big Dig, should be brought up on charges for deceiving a Commonwealth. This project was gross negligence. It artificially boosted our state's economy by causing an enormous amount of revenue from the project to come into the Commonwealth. Think about all the people the project employed, the cost of materials, etc.

The irony is - even with the Dig, traffic isn't any better. We spent all this money, got to see some cool engineering feats, and driving in and around Boston is still a cluster.

Why can't a gas tax on gas sold within the geographic area of the Big Dig come into play? Why aren't we seeing other solutions to this revenue problem?

South Shore residents and those North of the city who commute on I-93 are the big winners, along with New Hampshire and Rhode Island residents. For everyone else, I guess we know where we stand in this Commonwealth.

Train Jumper

Was anyone on last night's P527 train? If you weren't, you missed a massive amount of excitement. The P527 departs South Station at 5:35 p.m. and it is an outbound train to Worcester. After the Wellesley Hills stop, the train started to leave the station when, all of a sudden, the emergency brakes came on and we jammed to a halt. It seems a passenger jumped off of the train as we were leaving.

Now, for the semi-comical part, there must have been at least 10 announcements that we were at the Wellesley Hills stop . . . so it's not like said passenger shouldn't have known we were at the station. I don't believe the passenger was hurt. According to the conductor, I know they refused medical attention and limped away. You know, the three Wellesley stops are not that far apart . . . is it worth it to risk serious injury JUMPING OFF OF A TRAIN to save 15-20 minutes? People are wacky!

Onto this morning's commute. I think the conductor on my car of the P508 was cranky. Either that or he had no patience for people who didn't have their passes out. I think his announcement was something like "Next stop West Natick . . . and here's an idea . . . have your passes or tickets ready." So, maybe he's glad it's Friday too. Anyhoo, we arrived outside of South Station at 8:20 a.m. and sat there for 6-8 minutes, with an official arrival time on the track of 8:28 a.m.

Now this is really weird. I never received an update from the MBCR's RailMail about the new MBTA schedule for the Worcester line. I know the updates were sent to riders on other lines. One of my coworkers rides the Plymouth line and received an update. Plus, yesterday the author of the Charlie on the Commuter Rail blog RAILED against the Franklin line's new schedule in a blog post. Even MySouthborough posted a Southborough-centric schedule. Yet I never received an email from RailMail. Who knows - maybe I'll receive it today.

In any event, my company sent out an announcement about the schedule changes going into effect this coming Monday, October 27, 2008. Here is the announcement:

Beginning Monday, October 27, 2008, changes will be made to the schedules on the following lines:

• Framingham/Worcester

• Franklin

• Greenbush

• Needham

• Old Colony

• Providence/Stoughton
  

No changes to the schedules on the following lines:

Lowell, Newburyport , Rockport, Fairmount, Fitchburg, Haverhill

Schedules are available to view, download and print online at
www.mbcr.net where you can also sign up to receive e-alerts when your schedule changes.

Finally, The Patriot Ledger published an article in today's paper about how South Shore commuters feel about the new MBTA parking increases. Here are some quotes:

“The money has to come from somewhere, but I think the state should be helping more,” said Elizabeth Stouhlsatz of the Wollaston. “It’s bad all around.”

Jim Cotter of Quincy said that although he does not frequently park in MBTA lots, over the past six months he has been taking the T more often.

“I can’t imagine there aren’t ways they can cut costs internally instead of putting it on the public” he said. “They should be enticing people to take the T.”

The article also noted that the T is the largest owner of paid off-street parking in New England, with 43,000 spaces in 150 locations. What a trivia stat! In 2007, the T claims that more than 9 million vehicles parked at T lots.