To: The Massachusetts State House, The Massachusetts State Senate, and Governor Charlie Baker
Transportation Equity for the MBTA and Riders
It's time to liberate the MBTA and MBTA riders. Legislative action must be taken to shift the Big Dig debt burden onto the beneficiaries of the Big Dig, vehicular users, and allow the MBTA to operate as a normal business. Doing so will preserve an excellent and, currently, affordable mass transit system for one of the major economic engines in the state, the Greater Boston area.
Why is this important?
The Massachusetts state legislature in an attempt to kick the fiscal can down the road saddled our extensive urban transit system with the debt incurred by the Big Dig (otherwise known as the Big Trough) - an almost entirely vehicle oriented construction nightmare complete with the usual shoddy construction work and defective materials. Worse, they also insisted that the MBTA operate each year on a balanced budget. As a result, commuters, seniors, the entire MBTA ridership are saddled with an unworkable economic plan almost guaranteed to sink a vital urban transit system. As a consequence, promises to execute environmental justice mitigation projects for the communities affected (or afflicted!) by the Big Dig are going unfulfilled because, of course, there are no funds available. This would be easily rectified by the state assuming responsibility for the Big Dig debt and allowing the MBTA to operate as an ordinary business.