The largest fare increases were saved by MBTA management for the elderly and disabled -- people who are least likely to be able to afford it, but don't have the political clout of suburban commuters. What a hardhearted and selfish group the T management is.

Still not enough. The ride is a welfare system, not public transportation. Pretty soon there will be almost 3x as many elderly as today. Will we provide them with a private car and driver for about a fifth of the actual cost? ($4 vs a $20 cab ride). In my experience with the elderly, old people who have no trouble getting around and a car they can drive have often called the ride - because they like to talk to the driver. The T gets saddled with the cost, then provides subpar bus, trolley and train service. Come on people, this is a welfare program - just give cab vouchers to the elderly - who have proven their financial and physical need - and let private car services take up the slack.

The T directors (political hacks, of course), union members and management personnel, each and every one is assured of continuing to collect salaries and bennies among the highest in the public sector. Now ay would they sacrifice to save their employer...no way, jake. They need to send their kids to college and pay the second home mortgae andkeep the SUVs gassed up. So put the T's lousily stupid budget deficits on the shoulders of the folks with the least ability to pay... and let Deeval the Space Occupier at the State House continue to play for a choochoo from Boston to New Bedford so the home of Moby Dick can gentrify. The entire T has become a public fiasco, trending as the quoted advocate in this article says, toward driving users away from the Ride so costs can be savewd. Scandalous is what it is.

Nothing is free folks--All these RIDE services should ONLY be available Monday thru Friday 7AM to 7PM. No Weekend services!!!! WE CANT AFFORD IT--Enough already. Sorry older folks and disabled but this is reality!!!

Wanna save money? Give up on the green line expansion to Somerville and Medford. The area they are putting it in is already overserved by the T. Alwife, Davis square, commuter rail, commuter bus to Haymarket and Woburn and local buses are all within walking distance. If that isn't accessible enough, then move...because all leading the charge are renters who will likely move away when it all gets messy. Oh and the Ride is pretty subpar, so I am shocked it costs so much to run. They should look for a cheaper vendor. They stick multiple people in one car, sometimes they are an hour late and people miss appointments and I see people waiting in doctors offices who say the ride is 2 hours late picking them up. My mom, who can't drive, used the ride a few times and once the driver picked up his relatives at different locations and drove them to their destination before taking my mother to her doctors appointment. Oversight and cost controls are key, but when they can just get more money, why budget?

WTJB hit the nail on the head. Providing the elderly with necessary transportation is a noble goal, but harming public transit for the general population in order to give old people a cheap ride to the county fair on a sunday is ridiculous. There is absolutely no incentive to run the system efficiently - we've all seen vans driving around empty or with one person. And why are there fleets of vans driving around Somerville, Saugus, Lynn, etc. when everyone else has such limited transit options. If the T could get back the $160,000,000 it loses on the ride every year it could pay for the green line extension in full by 2019.

When I, personally, have a deficit I can usually list the reasons why. Can we see a list issued by the MBTA that lists their reasons for their deficit. It wouldn't reduce the deficit but we'd know why we must pay more to relieve their deficit. It's only fair to let us know why we must adjust our own personal budgets to pay for their deficit -- dontcha think?.

Around 60 percent of the elderly in this state live below the poverty line. It might be you someday. People have to be disabled to use the Ride and the MBTA is pretty stringent about having medical documentation. I agree that weekend service probably isn't necessary, but the huge increase in fares is bound to force some elderly to end or curtail their attempt at an independent life. It used to be that relatives helped those in their twilight years. That's rarely the case nowadays.

It's surprising to me the number of callous people here whose comments indicate that the elderly and handicapped should be thrown under the bus. Is that because by raising those fares more it allows their own fares to be lower? We have raised a generation or two of extremely self-centered and selfish people.