MASSPIRG Promotes “Big Dig Debt Relief” for MBTA

In January, MASSPIRG spearheaded the effort to address serious funding problems at the MBTA—the state’s largest, and the nation’s fifth largest, transit authority—to improve and expand public transportation. Since 2000, the MBTA has dramatically increased fares and experienced stagnant ridership growth. “If we want Massachusetts to grow without diminishing quality of life, then a thriving transit system must be part of our future,” said MASSPIRG Advocate Eric Bourassa. The T’s debt is now the highest of any transit agency in the nation, with payments and interest of $370 million eating up 27 percent of the T’s annual operating budget. Some of that debt came from Big Dig transit commitments. As a result, T riders are paying down debt from a project that primarily benefits drivers. To make matters worse, receipts from the sales tax have declined, which is 55 percent of the T’s revenue. It was projected to grow by 5 percent annually after 2000. MASSPIRG joined with other transit advocacy groups to draft legislation, jointly filed by state Reps. Alice Wolf (Cambridge) and Carl Sciortino (Somerville), and state Sen. Jarrett Barrios (Cambridge) to relieve this debt.