There is a word in the lexicon of public transportation that nearly everyone understands but very few actually know: farebox recovery ratio. This number is calculated by taking the amount of money received by the several mass transit services (buses, trains, subways, etc.) and divided by the actual cost it takes to run the system.
According to the National Transit Database, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority hovers around 43 percent, and the California Bay Area’s Bay Area Rapid Transit stands at about 51 percent. Boston’s much-maligned Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, unfortunately, usually runs about 32 percent. The blame behind such a budget shortfall rests on two parties: the riders and the management.
As a group, Boston University students and students in general represent a plurality of “fare-dodging” when riding the MBTA (most notably the Green line). Busy hours in the morning, packed trains in the evening and the lack of turnstiles on above-ground stops all contribute to missed payments. Even operators who attempt to follow their rulebook and open only the front door so riders have to interact with the farebox (much to the chagrin of monthly pass and Charlie Card holders) are privately chastised when they are out of earshot. Our entitlement to “free rides” has become so ingrained that we feel slighted when we actually have to pay a fare to ride the T. The MBTA provides a service and cannot run without us actually paying for that service.
On the other side of the coin is a management structure that has allowed the institution’s debt to grow to insurmountable levels. The MBTA’s budget is proportioned according to certain revenue levels that were established in the heyday of Boston’s computing boom. Tax revenues &-&-specifically, capital gains &-&- funded the T sufficiently during the 1990s and through the newest decade. The MBTA simply put the budget together and sent it to the state government for payment. Needless to say, the fall from microprocessor grace has hampered the ability of the T to expand and repair. Adjustment from a swathe of tax revenue to a veritable trickle of it in the span of a few years has left the T, for lack of a better word, broke.
I have a feeling that many of you may have that sense of urban entitlement &-&- that is, that since we live in a big city, we deserve a cheap, accessible and efficient mass transit system.
Well, it is cheap &-&- according to the NTD, the average rider on the T pays $0.90 for a ride on a bus or subway car (if you’re confused about it just remember that there’s a limited demographic that pays full fares), and it’s relatively accessible due to the overwhelming number of bus and subway stations. Yet we all complain about its efficiency, don’t we? We make arguments at the pub that center around increased service and smarter fare collection policy, but never do we bring up the taboo: simply increase the fares. The debt the MBTA faces is not negligible and it will not simply vanish when the operating budget starts to buckle under the pressure. We will lose our mass transit system.
The system that many of us depend on everyday (cyclists need not make amends) is battered, and the burden has to be placed on both the individuals that oversee it and the masses that utilize it. There is, of course, considerable room for improvement on the side of T management; they have to make paying fares easier and more accessible. But since many of us will never work for the MBTA, I say that it is our responsibility as citizens of Boston to pay our fare whenever possible, and to be comfortable with a fare hike. In the words of a high-ranking MBTA official, “I thank God every time I step outside and the T is running.” I pray I’m not around when God finds more important things to do with his time.
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