Bostonist: The Death of Heath Street: More on the MBTA Cuts

p0larbare

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 14:47:18 -0500

I frequently use the D line to Riverside or the commuter rail to get in/out of Boston. I can't comment on the B/E line cuts as I just don't enough about what the real effects would be, but the commuter rail plan is ridiculous. No weekend service? No service after 7pm? Thank the gods that everyone works M-F 1st shift and there aren't thousands of hospital workers using those lines working 2nd and 3rd shift. The asshat-ery of some of the things done here is staggering.

central squared

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 11:28:44 -0500

The e line cuts are insane, especially for the MFA and Northeastern.

fr1p

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:20:40 -0500

The way to fix the MBTA is pretty clear, but the unions are standing in the way. The MBTA really hast to stop offering its generous pension package. Find a way to grandfather in the current batch of workers (perhaps with some reductions) and just stop offering the incentive to new employees. Maybe work out some kind of savings plan that will contribute to a retirement account but not continuously cost the MBTA money. The current system is a pyramid scam in many ways; it requires continuous hikes, continuous injections of money, and will collapse. There's nothing mysterious about this. The math is simple. Sure, it sucks, but there's Happy Lollipop Dreamland and then there's the real world where accounting and bookkeeping matter. You can't keep sending more money out than you bring in. Period.

jeffclark

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:18:23 -0500

People have been asking for those B-Line cuts to be made anyways for as long as I can remember. I'll vote for that. Agreed 100% on every Rick says above.

Rick Sawyer

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:37:40 -0500

I am 100% down with the B line cuts. Cutting E line service from Brigham Circle to Heath Street makes sense, too, but only if there is no reduction in 39 bus service. (Of course there's something to be said about the neighborhood where they chose to cut stops: Mission Hill/JP on the E line rather than, say, Riverside on the D.) I am also down with eliminating dumb bus routes. Everything else is looney tunes. This is simply not a credible public transportation strategy. 52 million annual rides cut? Really? That is 8 rides a year for everybody who lives in Massachusetts. I can only imagine that the Commuter Rail cuts are a bid to threaten the suburbs into supporting the gas tax. Where did they get the people who drew this up, and can they be fired in some publicly humiliating way?