RE (“TAX hike on the table for roads and transit,” Page A1, Nov. 17):

In 1997, it cost $3.50 to take the train from Kingston to Boston on weekends, with free parking. Family fares were also available. Now, family fares have been abolished and the fare is $10 with a $4 parking fee — four times the 1997 cost and vastly exceeding the rate of wage increases for most riders. Meanwhile, the agency forges ahead with plans for the billion-dollar New Bedford/Fall River line.