![]() ”You can hop right back on it, no problem,” she said.īoston provided the MBTA with $8 million of its federal pandemic relief money to fund the two-year pilot program, which also includes fare-free paratransit service on the MBTA’s The Ride for trips that start and stop within three-fourths of a mile from the free routes.Ī city analysis released last March after the first year of fare-free service showed ridership on the 23, 28, and 29 bus routes had inched closer to prepandemic levels faster than the T bus system as a whole. MBTA expenses are expected to exceed revenue by around $182 million come this summer and at least $620 million the following year, a funding gap the T’s chief financial officer called a “fiscal cliff.” Last fiscal year, fares from bus riders totaled about $79 million, according to T spokesperson Joe Pesaturo. In a statement, state Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt said the low-income fare program “will increase access for tens of thousands of riders.”įares from subway, ferry, commuter rail, paratransit, and bus customers are expected to total $418 million this fiscal year, covering less than 20 percent of the T’s operating budget, according to the agency. “The low-income fare is a key piece right now.” “Free bus service, or any of those - somehow that revenue needs to be accommodated for and not only for a one-year period, but it needs to be accommodated for going forward,” he said Thursday. MBTA general manager Phillip Eng said fare-free bus service would be discussed by a new task force Healey has put together to look at the “total revenue streams that are needed.” “We are not about to pull out the rug from under our residents and commuters and we’ll continue advocating and fighting for the MBTA and the state to recognize the benefits that would be able to have across an even broader part of our system,” Wu said. ![]() The mayor, however, has pledged to come up with the funding to keep the fare-free bus program on the three MBTA lines going for another two years past the March 1 expiration date, effectively setting T policy on her own.Īt its core is a debate about whether to fund the cash-strapped MBTA by charging poor people for bus service, and whether fare-free buses can deliver the sweeping benefits advocates promise. And the MBTA’s reduced-fare subway, commuter rail, ferry, paratransit, and bus program for many students, poor young adults, people with disabilities, and all elderly people should be expanded to low-income adults aged 26-64.īut as the end of the existing fare-free bus program in Boston approaches, the T is moving forward with only the low-income fare for its entire system, something advocates and the mayor have been pushing for for years. On paper, the mayor, some transit advocates, and Governor Maura Healey appear aligned: Buses should be fare-free. On March 1, the city funds that cover the cost of the three lines run out and the T is scheduled to start charging riders again. The mayor hoped the results would spur the MBTA to fund and expand fare-free service. ![]()
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