"Grabauskas spelled out two other alternatives: cuts in service, such as dropping bus routes or running trains less frequently, or state assistance with the agency's $8.2 billion in debt and interest payments."
Out of you later, taxpayers or tollpayers.
"T warns of fare hike if agency is not rescued; Says state should step in, help patch rising deficits" by Noah Bierman, Globe Staff | August 5, 2008
MBTA riders face a substantial fare increase - perhaps as soon as 2010 - unless the Legislature steps in to help the debt-ridden transit system, the agency's chief said yesterday.
"If you don't want to cut service, it's going to have to be hefty" unless the T finds some new source of money to patch its rising deficits, Daniel A. Grabauskas, general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, said in a meeting with Globe editors, responding to questions about the possibility of a fare hike....
Based on that history, and Grabauskas's comments, it appears that 2010 will be the year of reckoning for commuters, including thousands of riders who recently switched to public transit to escape high gas prices.
Gee, they really got ya coming and going on that one: drive the car, get screwed by the oil companies; take the bus, get jobbed by the state.
No wonder I'm spoutin'!!!!
Grabauskas spelled out two other alternatives: cuts in service, such as dropping bus routes or running trains less frequently, or state assistance with the agency's $8.2 billion in debt and interest payments.
HOLY BU-JEEBERS!!!! Is that BILLION with a B?????
I don't have that kind of wallet!!! Mine is sorta flat, know what I mean?
Help could include the state assuming some of the T's debt or a law guaranteeing the T at least a 3 percent annual increase in its share of the state sales tax. In recent years, sales tax growth has been much slower than analysts projected in 2000, when the sales tax became the T's primary source of funding.
Yeah, they said that would be the answer at the time!!
See what I mean about promises, promises?
Interest groups that support public transportation have been warning of a fare hike for months, as the T's financial woes have grown due to slow sales tax growth, higher fuel costs, and higher wages.
"The riders can't take another fare increase, especially low-income communities," said Rene Mardones, community organizer for T Riders Union.
The poor always take it on the chin!
Mardones, who works with commuters from Roxbury and Chelsea, said riders have mixed feelings. They believe the T has wasted money through mismanagement, yet they also understand the agency has a financial crisis and needs more help from the state, he said.
Even still, those poor folk are understanding of the dilemma.
Mardones said he would like to see more action from Governor Deval Patrick, who opposed the last increase, which coincided with the beginning of his term.
Well, he didn't want to come in with a TAX HIKE as his first order of business!!!!
I'll give him a pass on this one!
Mardones's group supported a bill that would have required the state to help pay off the T's debt, contending that the transit system was forced to build several projects - including the Silver Line bus - under deals signed to help the Big Dig meet environmental standards.
We are never gonna get out from under that Big Pit, are we?
Deliberations about the T's financial future come at a time when many of the state's transportation systems are facing similar crises. Last week, legislators agreed to a plan that uses the state's credit to help the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority refinance some complex financial transactions that are putting the agency at risk of having to make a $200 million lump-sum payment to financial giant UBS soon. Yet the Turnpike is also looking at toll increases and may need further state help.
I wasn't lying when I said the $$$ was going to banks, readers!
I don't lie; I detest the practice because it has been used upon me for, well, my whole life!!!!
The T's ridership grew by 6.1 percent in the budget year that ended June 30, mirroring a national trend. But the cost of gas to run buses and commuter trains, and electricity to run subways, has gone up faster than the extra fares, Grabauskas said."
Translation: You are SCREWED no matter what you do!!!
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