ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
People use Charlie cards to gain access to the Blue Line train at Wonderland station in Revere.
By THOR JOURGENSEN
LYNN — State Sen. Thomas M. McGee stands by a 2013 proposal limiting rapid-transit fare hikes at 5 percent over two years, and warned the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s money problems must be viewed on a large scale.
McGee said decades worth of problems plaguing the Eastern Massachusetts mass transit provider include nearly $7 billion in estimated equipment upgrades required to put the MBTA in “fair and good repair” status.
McGee, state Senate chairman of the Legislature’s Transportation Committee, said the MBTA’s financial problems must be placed in the context of Massachusetts’ overall transportation infrastructure repair and expansion needs, including work required to repair bridges and roads.
“The T is a big part of that,” he said.
Two planning groups told Transportation Committee members this week that a new funding scheme to pay for big MBTA projects like a Green Line extension needs additional review.
The legislative proposal, according to the State House News Service, would allow the property taxes on new growth in a designated area around a transportation investment to pay the bonds for the project — with the state acting as the final guarantor.
Metropolitan Area Planning Council and A Better City representatives said the proposal should be examined to determine if it places added stress on municipal budgets. Property taxes are a major revenue source for cities and towns.
With the estimated cost of the Green Line extension project growing from about $2 billion to as much as $3 billion, state officials have been searching for ways to trim the cost of the trolley extension to Somerville and Medford, and find new ways to pay for it.
Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack has said, according to the News Service, that value capture ought to be part of the conversation since developers along proposed transit lines stand to benefit from that infrastructure.
McGee said he is “kind of baffled” by emerging fare hike proposals and said he is concerned about fare options that could shrink discounts bus and subway pass holders currently enjoy.
McGee stressed that extensive MBTA reviews overseen by legislators from 2011 to 2013 produced the proposal for 5 percent fare hikes over two years.
“That always has been what was anticipated. Now we are looking at something larger than that. If we are doing increases, they need to be fair and reasonable,” McGee said.
McGee is a strong proponent of viewing Massachusetts’ transportation problems and the costs associated with them as interconnected challenges.
Mass transit affects how many people drive to work and transportation alternatives like the Blossom Street extension ferry service affect traffic volume and transit ridership.
Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected].
