Student organization advocates against proposed MBTA fare increases, service cuts

Boston University Against T Cuts and other students around the city are joining the fight against the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s proposed fare hikes.

The MBTA’s debt is at its peak, set at about $5.2 billion, and the authority will be working under a $161 million operating deficit this fiscal year.

The group united with Students Against T Cuts, a coalition of five other colleges dedicated to derailing service cuts.

“[The] MBTA has come out and said that cuts will only cover them for two fiscal years,” said Students Against T Cuts Leader Zack Tucker, a freshman at Emerson College. “We could see future cuts, which could end up including cuts to the B Line.”

The group’s Facebook page, which encourages membership from students, staff and alumni, cites its mission as “actively trying to maintain and promote the MBTA’s services and its ability to operate responsibly and efficiently.”

Tucker said students and community members should pursue “short-term and long-term” goals.

The group’s immediate goals, he said, involve stopping the proposed cuts, price increases and other changes from happening right away.

The different changes the group opposes include raising bus CharlieCard fares from $1.25 to either $1.50 or $1.75 and rapid transit CharlieCard prices from $1.70 to $2.25 or $2.40. Changes could also eliminate Commuter Rail service after 10 p.m. and the Green Line’s E Branch on weekends.

Long-term goals for the group include working with T officials and state legislators to change the MBTA’s operation efficiency, Tucker said.

“Its not all the MBTA’s fault,” said Justin Bensan, a junior at Northeastern University and the policy advisor for Students Against T Cuts.

He said Massachusetts state law is another obstacle to the MBTA’s performance. Measures that force the state to “step in and help” would be best, he said.

BU Against T Cuts and the groups from other universities drafted a petition that will be brought to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and MBTA Board of Directors committee meeting on Wednesday.

The group is organizing what Bensan calls “a huge petitioning drive” in which signers will support the mitigation of T cuts and advocate for “state legislature [to] make a comprehensive transportation funding reform.”

“As students we are part of this community,” Bensan said, “and we really should be against all T cuts.”

The group also seeks to educate students and community members about the MBTA’s fiscal problems, Bensan said.

“People either don’t know about the proposed cuts or don’t know how it will affect them,” Tucker said.

Some BU students said the proposed cuts could motivate them to use other means of transportation.

“I already try [to] not use the T as much as possible,” said BU College of General Studies freshman Julia Slesarchik. “Boston is such a walk-able city, so if the T is even more expensive, then I will definitely be walking more.”