Opponents of MBTA proposal to cut service call the plan ‘premature’ and ‘unconscionable’
By MARIE SZANISZLO | Boston Herald
MBTA riders and elected officials on Saturday urged the T and its oversight board to reconsider or at least postpone a Dec. 7 vote on sweeping proposed service cutbacks due to lower ridership since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
At one of 11 virtual public meetings scheduled before the T’s Fiscal and Management Control Board vote, General Manager Steve Poftak said that ridership has dropped to 1/4 of the 1.3 million weekday trips on the T before last March, leaving close to a nearly $600 million budget shortfall.
As a result, T officials are considering temporarily eliminating 25 bus routes, ending subway and bus service at midnight, no longer running any ferries and doing away with commuter rail service on weekends and after 9 p.m. on weekdays, among other cutbacks that would begin next spring and summer.
But U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, a South Boston Democrat who spoke at the virtual meeting, said that Congress has “certainly … signaled that this is a major priority for all of us.”
“We will provide money to Massachusetts, to the MBTA; that’s a promise,” said Lynch, adding that he wants to make sure transit lines to three Veterans Administration hospitals, communities of color and other vulnerable populations in his district are kept intact. “President-elect (Joe) Biden is keenly interested in getting a transit bill done … I’m hoping an injection of cash will blow up this plan.”
T officials aimed the steepest cuts at routes where ridership has declined the most during the pandemic and in places where commuters have access to alternatives.
“Obviously, this is painful. However, there is significantly less ridership,” Poftak said. “We unfortunately have to plan for the worst.”
Kat Benesh, the transit agency’s chief of operations strategy, policy and oversight, called the plan a “multiyear issue” based on what T officials think ridership might look like.
“We’re trying to protect service for those who are most dependent on it,” she said.
But state Sen. Walter Timilty, D-Milton, said he felt the service reductions were premature.
“I believe help is on the way,” Timilty said. “Once these service reductions are made, it’s difficult to restore them in short order.”
Other opponents argued that they would make commuting more difficult for essential workers who rely on the T, a large portion of whom are low-income or people of color, despite any efforts to limit the brunt of the cuts to routes where they will have the smallest impacts.
Chris Osgood, Mayor Martin Walsh’s chief of streets, said the mayor is opposed to the cutbacks, and state Sen. Sal DiDomenico, D-Everett, called them “unconscionable.”
“I hear your point that you need to plan ahead,” DiDomenico said. “But … what you’re talking about is for the people of my district an amputation” and “utterly at odds with our climate goals.”
A woman who identified herself only as “Kristine A.” called the service reductions “completely outrageous” and dangerous in the age of COVID-19.
“I’d like to know how we’re supposed to stay six feet away from people,” she said, “when buses and trains are packed” after the cuts.