Haven’t we been around this particular mulberry bush before? Remember the reform-before-revenue wars? Remember David D’Allesandro in 2009 warning how persistent MBTA funding neglect jeopardizes safety? (Our interview here.)
We did some reform. But highways don’t fix themselves. The MBTA can’t shovel itself out from under its debt and return to reliability and expand, all by itself.
And now we find that the legislature’s cowardice and uselessness may well be jeopardizing millions in federal money, to finish a project that’s already years overdue — putting the obligation to pay for it back on the state! Well that is some genius thinking.
Look, I don’t blame any legislator for being wary of a tax increase. But they should be afraid of people who drive roads and take the trains and buses to get to where they need to go. And they are crumbling. The MBTA should be a prize system. It’s not.
There’s a big difference between different kinds of spending. If you put off getting a new roof because you don’t feel like spending the money, that will cost you later when it leaks and rots the inside of the house. Yeah, you saved money. Until you didn’t. We’re on the rotting side of that story, right now.
When your train breaks down; when your suspension bottoms out; when you couldn’t get to work or to an appointment because of our congested, rusting transit system … you’ll know who to blame.