Riled Up About the MBTA Parking Increase

My whole office is up in arms about the parking increase at MBTA stations. We understand that the T is in a budget crisis and that parking has not been increased in many years. But last Friday's announcement is just another example at how out of touch the people who operate the T are.

If Dan Grabauskas or if his management team actually used the T to commute to work, they would know that there really is no easy way to get four $1.00 bills into the slots at many commuter rail stations. Sure, if you park at a T station such as Riverside on the Green Line or Wellington on the Orange Line, you had your money to a parking attendant. But at Grafton and at all the other stations along the commuter rail line, commuters have to slide their bills into these little boxes that can barely accommodate two $1.00 bills, never mind four $1.00.

Hey Dan - did you even know that is how we pay for our parking at exterior stations?

Beyond the fact that we've just seen parking fees double, there is the ongoing concern that the lots will still be managed in a sub-par fashion. What do I mean about this? Well let's see. When it snows in the winter, the lots are sometimes not cleared in a timely fashion. Or, if we get a lot of snow, the snow isn't removed. The snow just gets piled up in parking spaces, making it harder to park. Then we periodically see a fair amount of vandalism towards the cars. Local police departments don't want to handle the calls, as the lots are owned by the MBTA.

When the new fares go into effect, my monthly commuting costs will increase to $330.00 or $16.50 a day. If fares are increased in 2009, might almost make sense to consider driving into Boston.

To top it off, the T's new "be nice" campaign generated front-page coverage on today's The Boston Globe. Honestly - are you trying to kill us? With everything that is going on today, The Globe's editors thought this was "front-page" worthy? Good grief!

Enough about parking for now!

My commute was fine this morning. I was back on the P508 and we arrived to South Station around 8:23 a.m.

Examiner.com ran an article yesterday by Daniel Farnkoff about who should be responsible for the Pike's and MBTA's debts. Daniel recommends raising the gas tax, which hasn't been increased since 1990, to help offset some of the fees associated with the Pike and the T. This way, the entire state is helping to fund transportation and not just those who live North and West of the city (for toll roads). This is an interesting argument. I'm not in any way advocating that taxes get increased, but 1990 trumps 2003. Dan Grabauskas' reason for the parking increase ("half a decade is certainly a long time between increases"). The last parking lot increase for the T lots occurred in 2003 - 13 years prior to the last gas tax increase.

Finally, The Boston Globe wrote a nice article about how restoration of South Station's clock.