@CRGonzalez @chrisjrn c’mon #Boston what are we waiting for?!
In particular, what’s going on with the bus system that was supposed to be updated in ‘23?
@CRGonzalez @tsyum @chrisjrn good transit systems actually do recoup serious money from transit fares - to remove fares in those cases would result either in cut service or additional taxes (that would probably be better spent on additional service)
for example, King County Metro (Seattle) covers 25-30% of its operating expenses with fares; that would mean making fares free would result in a cut to service of a quarter to a third
@CRGonzalez @chrisjrn @tsyum MBTA has a farebox recovery ratio of 45%.
are you willing to cut service by nearly a half in order to remove fares?
@streganil @CRGonzalez @chrisjrn @tsyum
Revenue for fares for 2024 is projected to be $418 million. Sales tax covers $1463 million.
We also have over $500 million in debt service annually. Spend the $935 million on some of that instead of a whole new fare collection system, and pay for the rest by reverting the regressive portions of the recent tax cuts.
(This includes commuter rail, by the way.)
Carmen Gonzalez
ts 🚇
Nicole
Matthew Miller