Officials from Lynn, Massachusetts are pushing for cheaper and more convenient public transit in their city amidst growing traffic congestion and commuter costs. The proposal would add more trains to the commuter line that passes through Lynn and make commuter rail fares cheaper.
This initiative is currently in place on most of the Fairmount Line that crosses through low-income neighborhoods without subway lines. The round trip cost on one of these lines is $5.40, while to get to Lynn and back it costs $14.
The population that would take most advantage of a program like this are likely those commuting nearly every day to get to school or work. In their case, a monthly pass on the commuter rail costs $232, compared to the $90 it would cost after this program is implemented.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation released a report last month calling the current traffic congestion situation “a tipping point” and stated plainly that “congestion has worsened to the point where it reduces access to jobs.”
The program Lynn is suggesting would clear up more space on the roads by making commuter rails more frequent and reliable as well as considerably cheaper. Boston holds many job opportunities as a city that people may not be able to access without a solution to highway congestion, or for lower-income residents without cars in the first place, a solution to expensive commutes.
This goes hand-in-hand with Boston’s ongoing housing crisis that is forcing rents and mortgages to skyrocket to the point that many have left the area and commute to work. Shoving people out of living in an area only to ask them to come back in for work each day is a recipe for transportation disaster.
Cheaper commuter rails for nearby residents is only a short-term solution to this very long-term problem in the Commonwealth. It is a necessary step toward mending the broken housing and commuter systems in the state that disproportionately affects people of color and low-income residents.
We recognize this would not be cheap for the MBTA, but Governor Charlie Baker committed to the reduction of Boston’s contributions to climate change by expanding public transportation use just last year. If the state is serious about its goals to get congestion and emissions down, the people of Lynn should not have to beg for affordable commutes.
The zoning issues that have caused the housing crisis in tandem with increased congestion on long and pricey commutes will drive residents away from living in the area. When it is hard to live in Boston and hard to work in Boston, people are left with few other options.
