The MBTA would run until 2 a.m. on weekends, replacements for 1960s and ’70s subway cars would be assembled in Massachusetts production plants, and passenger trains would run regularly to Springfield and the Berkshires, if the Patrick administration wins support for the transportation plan the governor unveiled this week.
But that agenda comes with a steep cost: an average of $1 billion more a year in taxes and fees to pay for revitalizing the state’s decaying transportation system. And that price tag means it’s far from a done deal.
Comments
This plan is the smart move: keeping the transit going until 2 AM will give restaurants MORE business and it will reduce the number of people driving under risky conditions. Plus more good jobs building subway cars in Massachusetts! Plus reducing the sales tax which hits the working class hardest.
If it's such a smart move, you can pay my $3000 in added taxes.
Richstan, you've got a deal. But you have to pay all of the taxes that I currently pay to support your lifestyle. Let's see, road maintenance, I don't want to pay for that since I don't drive. The inefficiency of extending and maintaining utilities to whatever godawful exurb you live in, I'm not paying for that either. Oooh, how about the police that we pay for all the suburbanites who come in to see the Sox at Fenway. I'd like tyou to cover that.
Oh wait, that's not how the world works? I pay for all the garbage that makes your life better and don't complain, because I understand logic. Try to follow.
Great Plan! Our Transportation Infrastructure, (Roads, Bridges), are a mess. Restart the Old Colony Line on weekends! Lower the Sales Tax. What's wrong with that? Slapdash, that's Conservative Speak for: WE should get the Lion's Share of Benefit from the Government. Let the Working Poor fend for themselves.
Do we need rail to Springfield and the Cape?
"Do we need rail to Springfield and the Cape?"
Yes.
The south coast rail is a debacle. The estimated building cost of 1.8 BILLION is conservative and after the big dig we all know it will cost a lot more. Once it is built it will run at a deficit of $100 million a year, as stated at a public meeting by the lead engineer. On top of that it will increase ridership by only 2000 riders a day. The cost for building this comes to over $2700 for every person in the state including children. That's a lot of money. I don't mind fixing what we have and building improvements but the South Coast Rail is just waste of money.
Although I am, in general, a supporter of extending the public transportation network in general and rail in particular, I'm afraid that I must agree with anziman here. The price tag and the ridership projections speak against it. Was there any attempt at finding a less expensive routing that would be environmentally sound? My suspicion is that there was not, given how the T ostentatiously rejected using the old trolley tunnel connector in the now-abandoned Silver Line Connector, preferring to opt for a new and technically dubious tunnel costing several times the price of using the existing, unused Tremont tunnel connection to Boylston--not to mention the planning, contracting, and execution of the Big Dig. And has anyone done a thorough analysis of current daily commuting patterns between the South Cost and downtown Boston or, for that matter, a real cost-benefit analysis? I would suspect not. A projected $100 Million annual operating deficit for transporting only 2,000 passengers on a weekday is indefensible, as it is about a sixt of the operating deficit that the Commonwealth currently covers for the entire system.The plan proposes $674 Million for GRX, slightly over 37% of the state contribution to the proposed commuter rail line, is far more defensible, as it will serve many thousands of daily riders, who currently have a long and tedious trip via infrequent buses to their jobs, shopping, and events in the city. Unless the T can propose a less expensive construction option and realistically promise a larger daily ridership, it will be hard to argue in favor of South Coast Rail.
“There were many folks who were disappointed this wasn’t a bigger package,” he said. Yes, union guys, politically connected contractors and tree huggers.
Let me know if you ever meet a union basher who worked anywhere besides behind a desk. If such a creature exists, I want to meet him.
@ocschwar - unfortunetly there are folks out there who have worked "anywhere besides behind a desk" are are not pro-labor rights.
@HarryRPitts - Well, I'm not in a union, am not a politically connected contractor, and do not hug trees. Yet I am all for this transportation plan! How can that be!?
Glad to see the GLX covered in the governor's plan. That's infrastructure that's sorely needed in Somerville and Medford, and that was promised by the state back in the 80s in return for land for the T and living with pollution from I93. Not so sure about the south coast line, although it would be a huge boost to the communities it serves.
This is a strong vision put forth by the Patrick administration. Anyone in the Commonwealth can see that our infrastructure is crumbling. Riding the T, for example, you just see so many delays and problems caused by ancient trains and track, and so many parts of the region where bus service could be vastly improved.
Better, modernized transporation makes for a better function state economy, and I'm happy to pay my fair share for it.
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Have Barney Frank run the T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!