I'm probably in the minority with this opinion, but I think the MBTA is long overdue for a fare increase. I did a little investigating of my own and Boston is one of the (if not THE) cheapest public transportation systems in the country (of those cities that are lucky enough to have a good one). However, I do not understand why they can't just raise fares just a little each year, rather than waiting for years and then having the whole hullabaloo that surrounds raising them 40-50%. People wouldn't even blink at $.10 or $.20 per year, but of course everyone is up at arms at 40%. It really seems like there are better ways to do this.

I'm ok with the fare increase as well, but no more commuter rail service anywhere on the weekends? No more E line on the weekends (meaning no service to Lechmere and the future Northpoint development)? Are you kidding me? Isn't ridership up significantly? This must be a joke, or else the MBTA as an organization is a complete failure.

Let's see raise the prices so that no one can afford it? Cut services? Sounds like a perfect plan. In fact why don't they just close the whole system and save 100% of the funds? The equipment is falling apart, a lot of the employees are rude, the conductors don't collect the fares. Why bother? If the T practiced any kind of customer service more poeple would ride it. when trains are late or cancled you are out of luck, no apologu and mostly no warning. If they practiced effiency in their expenses they could cut expenses by 25%. They have multiple projects that suck millions out of the system and yield nothing in the way of running the system. what is needed is a total, top to bottom reform of the T & MBCR. The riders are already abused by late and missing trains and ome people who should never deal with the public. Instead they want to take the same approch as the post office. Give people less service and charge them more for it. If any other business did that they would be gone, perhaps the T should consider doing that. Close the doors and really save money with the only kind of service they car to provide, NONE!

Whatever the new fares will be, the most disturbing aspect are the service cuts. No service after after 10 pm is a serious matter for those without cars who depend on public transportation, and particularly applies to those who clean offices in downtown Boston. It also means that I can't go to Boston for an evening at the theater, or dinner and a movie. A cab to get home is simply out of the question.

I am not appalled by the notion of paying more to utilize public transportation. Though I am appalled by the invisible political leadership and disgruntled, but unmotivated public mindset that has gotten the MBTA to where it is today. There are a lot of big questions we should be asking and big ideas we should be hearing and considering. Key among the questions are, why haven't we at the very least considered more incremental fare increases on an annualized basis instead of waiting until we need to escalate fares by 30 or 40 percent? Further, why is it that the state cannot get its act together to properly fund the MBTA for its past projects and at the same time find a viable means to sustaining, improving, and even expanding the system, which quite frankly is at, or beyond, it's capacity! Finally, where have we all been as citizens and T patrons? I know I have often dreamed of a better T, and even deluged friends and family with my advocacy for spending more on transit; be it personally or collectively. Of course at the end of the day it all does come down to one simple fact. I, and I suspect a super-majority of others, will gladly pay for an efficient, well-developed, and well-operated system. That part of the bargain is essential, and a big element of what is lacking from the discourse (and has been since I can recall), You don't get folks to ante up by cutting service.

I am not appalled by the notion of paying more to utilize public transportation. Though I am appalled by the invisible political leadership and disgruntled, but unmotivated public mindset that has gotten the MBTA to where it is today. There are a lot of big questions we should be asking and big ideas we should be hearing and considering. Key among the questions are, why haven't we at the very least considered more incremental fare increases on an annualized basis instead of waiting until we need to escalate fares by 30 or 40 percent? Further, why is it that the state cannot get its act together to properly fund the MBTA for its past projects and at the same time find a viable means to sustaining, improving, and even expanding the system, which quite frankly is at, or beyond, it's capacity! Finally, where have we all been as citizens and T patrons? I know I have often dreamed of a better T, and even deluged friends and family with my advocacy for spending more on transit; be it personally or collectively. Of course at the end of the day it all does come down to one simple fact. I, and I suspect a super-majority of others, will gladly pay for an efficient, well-developed, and well-operated system. That part of the bargain is essential, and a big element of what is lacking from the discourse (and has been since I can recall), You don't get folks to ante up by cutting service.

Why doesn't the T find a way to charge for its service based on distance traveled. That way the service becomes and economic competitor for its alternatives such as driving a car? Require use of Charlie Cards by all passengers, use the card when entering the system, use when exiting, be charged for the distance? Duh? Why doesn't the T actually measure its operations performance to determine defects like any modern operation: DMAIC: Define (what is important like cost-per-mile-per-trip, on-time arrival, on-time departure, passenger load versus expectation, etc.), Measure, Analyze, Implement corrections and Control at the new point? This is really stupid! Raise prices, cut services. Why not just shut it all down and cement up the holes.

It cost the same fare to go one stop (Maverick to Aquarium) as it would cost to go from Orient Heights to Harvard Square! Very stupid.

It should have been obvious to everyone that the real problem with the T is not the management (lots of room for improvement, though), it is with the system by which the T is financed. Everybody who tries needs to get around in greater Boston benefits significantly from the MBTA, whether they use it or not. There are fewer cars on the streets; people who don't have or prefer not to use cars can get where they are going, and the area remains more walkable than most cities because the T makes high density neighborhoods practical. While providing all these benefits, the T should not be held hostage to a system that guarantees little but that they will be perpetually underfunded and are forced to make up the difference with fare hikes and service cuts.

There are a whole bunch of very understanding folks who seem merely resigned to huge T fare hikes and abolishment of services, even relatively high-use routes like ferries and late night commuter rail after events at the Garden. What is not mentioned that I can see if the absoolute idiocy of Deevaled Patrick and his pipedreams of adding still more T service routes, like to New Bedford and Fall River and into Somerville by trolley, and... and... and. Maybe one of the first things that needs to be brought under control is that greedy little cabal of lawyers known as the Conservation Law Foundation. They can demand and demand and demand that all their dreams of power weilding be enforced by the courts no matter what the cost to the public. But the deals they design and get an agency to reluctantly agree to under threat of lawsuits has reached the unacceptable. Sure, a green line extension into Somerville and Medford is wonderful, as is a Blue Line extension to Lynn, and a commuter rail extension into Fall River and New Bedford. But the costs of such projects, like the hugely expensive Greenbush commuter rail line because some Hingham dilattantes didn't want to hear noise fro the trains they take to work in Boston, are more and more expensive, to the could-care-less attorneys at the CLF. Let the state government find a decent negotiator who can bring the CLF trial lawyers into reality so they stop the idiocy of pressing for more and more increasingly unaffordable pipedream projects.

NO fare hikes until the MBTA cleans up their act: Filthy, stinking subway cars with station elevators and escalators often not working. Travellers EATING and DRINKING on the subway cars and bicycles and strollers during rush-hours!!!! There are many policy changes that could be made which don't cost a ton of money and would improve the sub-way service for the public. It remains one of the biggest mysteries that politicians spend a great deal of money on trips to other cities and countries for 'information gathering' - but they return home with no fresh ideas. Washington's Metro - no fresh ideas??? Europe's subways - London, Madrid - no fresh ideas??? There are plenty of new ideas.

The T should charge whatever it takes for the system to make enough money to operate in the black, produce enough profit for necessary capital improvements and ensure that all employees make at least 100 grand.

I was a faithful T rider until I left in '03 when I think tokens were a buck. Since then, I've been riding the Washington Metro which has phased in numerous distance, peak, and now peak-of-the-peak rate increases. A one-stop ride costs over two bucks. Granted ridership and total rail mileage is very different between the two cities. Quite frankly, T riders have had it cheap for very long now. At least with Charliecards the T could easily begin using a graduated fare scale and with surcharges during peak times. It's a complicated price plan, but it brings in the needed revenue and you stop noticing when you always pay with a smartcard. In DC, many businesses subsidize employee transportation costs up to a couple hundred dollars which go right onto the card. It blows, but unlimited ridership for a monthly fare under $100 will soon go the way of the "A" Branch Green Line, which has long been the 57 Bus. I'm getting at the "E" Branch riders should deal with the 39 on the weekends, not a big deal (obviously the trolley would go to Lechmere wo/a bus). Also, I highly doubt weekend commuter rail is little more than a convenience. For the most part, it doesn't even exist in Maryland. The T is far from perfect, but I do miss it. However, every time I visit Boston I ask how are these fares STILL this low? Lots of you say it's dirty, which many times I agree. But, unless you want the T Police up in your face for carrying a coffee (which is common in DC), you have to support a ban on food & drink on the rails. Can't have clean cars when everyone's runnin on Dunkies.

I would be more receptive to fare increases if the MBTA addressed the substantial service failures on the Framingham/Worcester line last year. They made a lot of promises again but did not never deliver a sustained level of acceptable service. Governor Deval is unable or unwilling to hold MBTA officials accountable.