SOMERVILLE, Mass. — The transit system everybody loves to hate, finally deserves some love, said Jarred Johnson, executive director of the advocacy group TransitMatters.
“We’ve seen a really marked decrease both in the number of slow zones, but, also importantly, in the travel time for riders,” he said. Johnson said the T appears well on its way to eliminating all slow zones by the end of the year.
TransitMatters, which monitors MBTA performance, found that compared to a year ago, slow zones are down 63% on the Red Line and 58% on the Orange Line – and have been eliminated altogether on the Blue Line. Johnson said the Green Line is a unique situation because while it has no slow zones on its branches, there are some on the main trunk line downtown.
At one point, the MBTA had 191 slow zones over the entire system. They became necessary because so much track needed repair. Even after repairs, slow zones can temporarily persist, as new track is allowed to settle.
“I really do think we’ve seen a tremendous change,” said Johnson.
But one thing hasn’t changed – and that is the MBTA’s general financial condition.
“The T faces a $700 million deficit this upcoming year,” Johnson said. “That is a gap that cannot be filled by simply by cutting service or by raising fares. We need long-term, sustainable change in how the T is funded.”
The T’s current funding plan is flawed, Johnson said. “A significant portion of the T’s funding comes from sales taxes. The sales tax (revenue) was expected to grow 5 to 7% year over year and that growth has been closer to 1 or 2 or 3 percent.”
Johnson said that, over the last 15 years, the T has missed out on between $10 and 15 billion.
“What was misunderstood at that time was the impact online sales were going to have,” he said.
At first, like many states, Massachusetts did not collect sales tax on online purchases – but eventually did. Johnson said the other issue is that the service sector in the Boston area has seen high growth – and that sector is not a source of sales tax revenue. He hopes the legislature will come up with a new and stable funding source going forward.
As for future improvements, Johnson said one of the impediments to excellent service has to do with aging trains on the Red Line, which too frequently break down. The MBTA has ordered more than 250 new cars and Johnson said the entire order can’t get here fast enough.
He’d also like to see the T address deficiencies in bus service.
“Bus trips or slow travel times on the bus are really persistent issues,” Johnson said. “And those obviously aren’t going to get fixed by (elimination of) the slow zones or any work on the train.”
He said the focus next year should be on improving bus operations.
“How do they make sure you’re not having dropped trips – or what we call ‘bus bunching,’ Johnson said. “That’s when there’s no bus for a long period of time, then two show up and they’re overcrowded.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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