Public Workshops on MBTA Fare Hikes Cease in Wake of Grabauskas Allegations

We went to the first of those MBTA fare increase workshops yesterday, and tweeted a little about it. As Dan Grabauskas alleges his opposition to fare hikes and Deval Patrick and Jim Aloisi rush to put the blame on the MBTA for the proposed fare increases, it's not clear whether any fare increase proposal will go forward anytime soon. But if you've been thinking of going to one of the workshops anyway, we have a couple of tips.

• Don't go. Really. No one important from the T will be there. Jonathan Davis, the T's CFO, was the only T official who stuck it out yesterday. (We definitely didn't see any of these faces in the room.) Davis droned on in a Charlie Brown voice in response to all comments. He didn't take notes. He didn't promise any kind of action on the part of the T (in that sense, at least, he was honest). If the T doesn't care enough to show up to its own meetings, it's not likely they'll care enough to take action in response to anything that happens at these meetings.
• If you do go, have something to say. Yeah, we all know the T sucks and shouldn't cost more or run less. That's why we're here. If you get your jollies from a room of strangers cheering your proposal that the T should be free, by all means assert that, but don't expect anything to come out of it. Have a brief, specific complaint, and—if possible—propose a solution. The T probably won't listen, but you can dream that they will.
• Realize that attending one meeting isn't enough. Join the T Riders' Union (fairly well-represented at the meeting last night). Get involved with the Conservation Law Foundation or another organization that works to promote public transportation solutions. Davis proposed that concerned riders join the MBTA Rider Oversight Committee, even though it apparently rarely meets or does anything. (Maybe you can be the one to whip it into shape.)
• Bottom line: The T doesn't care about its riders, and it won't until it has to, which it will never have to, because people need the system so much that they have to put up with what it offers. And even if the T did care, its hands are tied by Big Dig debt and political infighting. These factors are strangling our public transportation system, and the MBTA will have no flexibility to respond to rider needs until that's taken care of... in about 100 years, by which time we will hopefully be teleporting rather than riding the T.

UHub has more from the depressing meeting.

Update: Deval Patrick has canceled the rest of the hearings. Given how useless the first one was, it's probably not much of a loss.