I agree that T expansion should come to an abrupt halt. Among metropolitan areas of similar size, we probably have the most extensive rail and bus system. That's good, of course, but further expansion by an agency with back-breaking debt is fiscally irresponsible. In addition, fares paid with Charlie Tickets should go up even more than the proposal in this story. Charlie Cards are readily available and make loading buses much faster. I can't think of a legitimate reason for so many riders to still be using tickets other than laziness. They should pay for their laziness.

The government should pay ALL of the cost for riding the T through tax increases. The T should go through massive expansion. Public transportation should be free. Free-free. Not subsidized free. Free-free. Getting people to ride public transportation, live closer to where they work and shop is the NUMBER ONE WAY to better our lives in this insane suburban sprawl. We now spend way too much time in our cars and way too little money on public transportation. We need to increase the cost of owning a car by 50% (driving in Germany costs twice as much as it does here) and use that money to support public transport. That formula works for everyone. It provides money for public transport for those people who "get it" and understand that life without a car for daily living creates a MUCH better lifestyle. It works for drivers as well because the roads will be a little less crowded.

As a daily T commuter I understand that fares will need to go up. But there need to be some conditions: 1.The T needs to heed the recommendations of the independent review and halt all expansion until the maintenance backlog is cleared. The T currently is incapable of delivering safe dependable service to its current customers. The T has been very lucky in that no one has been hurt in its recent systems issues (e.g. Downtown Red Line wiring fire, underground breakdown in the northern part of Red Line, etc). This luck may not continue. Expansion projects may be a great idea but doing them when the rest of the system is not safe is foolish. 2.Discard its new winter weather policy. Plenty of transit systems in the US and Europe operate in bad winter weather. To follow the example of a city (Washington DC) that shuts down at the drop of a snowflake is idiotic. If T management cant maintain service then it is time for new management 3.There needs to be an investigation of the South Shore commuter rail tie scandal. This has been ignored by the Globe but the Patriot Ledger has done some great work on this. We need to find out why the T changed the design specs for the ties from something they knew would last to ties they knew would fail. At the same time the T accepted a shorter warranty on the defective ties. These ties were replaced this summer with the T forced to cover the $19 million cost after losing in court.

Part of the purpose of mass transit to encourage people not to drive. Personally, I would be in favor of more government subsidy for Boston's transit system if it would reduce the number of cars on the already congested highways. Now is not the time to discourage ridership with a massive fare increase. I wonder if The Globe realizes that Mr. Davey and his colleagues have no contact information on the T website. If Mr. Davey had an email contact, I would ask him why the conductors on the Providence trains never seem to collect fares from all of the riders--even during non-peak hours of operation. When my family and I have approached conductors about not being charged for a ride, the response is always the same. The crew members even urge us to take the free ride. While this is a nice gesture on the part of the subcontractor who is operating the train from South Station to Providence, it has to cost the state a large amount of money when you figure an entire carload of fare could be missed at rush hour. Maybe the conductors figure most riders pay for the monthly passes? Mr. Davey needs to send some undercover riders on some fact-finding rides before opting for a significant increase in fares that will have a major impact on everyone. Cranky