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Proposition Joe posted:The MBTA is in quite a sorry state right now. Last winter, the system shut down for weeks because of heavy snow which caused significant public outcry. Of course, Massachusetts had recently elected a Republican governor so instead of actual fixes the governor put in place a Fiscal Management and Control Board which has largely ignored the MBTA's existential problems, like its massive debt and state of good repair backlog. Instead, they've raise fares over LOUD objections, put certain bus routes out to bid for privatization, and cut services like late night. That last service cut was done without even doing an equity analysis to find out the negative impact on the low income riders who used the late night service and that got the FTA to lodge a complaint, but the service is still getting axed. It must be mentioned that this is a perfect example of politics impacting public transit as not only is the currrent austeriocrat a problem, but the MBTA's financial issues exist for one major reason: the "forward funding" changes that came in 2000 that transferred about $1.65B prior debt onto the MBTA, piled on $1.7B of Big Dig mitigation debt, and has resulted in $1.85B debt since.
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# ¿ Apr 3, 2016 21:48 |
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# ¿ May 10, 2024 06:36 |