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MBTA to cut late night Friday and Saturday operations
Kow-towing to Keolis? Sacre bleu!
Cutting service is truly one way to cut costs. I guess they don’t believe they are supposed to actually serve the public that funds them thru their (the tax payers) taxes as well as fares.
Mr. Hays:
I think this program was for the in-city systems, the subways, buses, and LRT lines and not the Commuter Rail. But it is ironic that it comes just as Gov. Baker’s recently-formed MBTA Control Board is about to implement a general fare increase of at least 5%.
IIRC, this guy Joseph Aiello was one in former Gov. Deval (casino man) Patrick’s revolving door of Transportation Secretaries/head of MassDOT and no great fan of mass urban/suburban transit. And the fare hike is not being accompanied with any pain whatsoever for motorists who clog the expressways leading into/out of downtown. The deep dark secret of the Control Board and MassDOT IMHO is that they see the transit riders are ne’er do wells and losers while the real Americans, the patriotic Americans, are up on the Zakim Bridge or on the eastbound MassPike in choking traffic.
This is emblematic of highway-centric thinking. The railroad must justify its existence, but are profit/loss evaluations performed for paved roads?
No public transportation system is truly cost-effective. They all depend on tax dollars to make up the difference between total costs and revenue generated (fare-box recovery).
William Hayes: OY GEVALT!
13000 nightly riders is not exactly a small number of people…
I feel sorry for anyone dependent on mass transit in late night trips to and from jobs. Taxis and their ilk may be too costly for hourly wage earners. The board has obligations to be responsible and yet it’s a portion of the taxpayers that is getting screwed. Sad. There ought to be a way!
Perhaps they could allow customers to take a cab, pay the cabbie what the bus or train cost, and have the cab company get a grant from the taxpayers to make up what they would have gotten paid for a regular cab fare. Add that all to the unpayable Mass debt…yeah that’s the ticket!