Straphangers Bemoan Looming T Fare Hike

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) is considering increasing subway and bus fares starting in January 2007, a proposition which has upset many straphangers, including Harvard students and staff.

Last week, MBTA General Manager Daniel Grabauskas suggested that there would be a 25 percent increase, raising the subway fare to $1.55 and the bus fare to $1.15.

Many commuters are upset that the MBTA is continuing to increase fares. In January 2004, subway fares rose from $1.00 to $1.25 and bus fares increased from $0.75 to $0.90.

“It’s too much,” said Adams House dining hall worker Blondell Newbon. But, she added, “I don’t have a car, it’s the only way.”

Others plan on finding alternative transportation to work. Leverett dining hall worker John Martin, who lives in Somerville, said that he will walk to work more often if the MBTA increases fares.

Some students said they were more annoyed with the extra change they would have to carry around than the actual price increase.

Jeremiah L. Lowin ’07 said, “55 is a ridiculous number. Who carries nickels?”

MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo defended the increases as necessary, noting that the MBTA’s fares are among the lowest in the country.

“Be it water, electricity, or food, no one likes to pay more for it. But without additional revenue, the MBTA would be forced to consider significant cuts in service,” he wrote in an e-mail.

The increased revenue from the fare hike will be used to “keep the transit system running at optimum levels and pay the interest on the MBTA’s enormous, multi-billion dollar debt,” Pesaturo wrote.

Not all T riders were irked by the looming fair hike.

“Everything else is going up. The people who work here [at the MBTA] need a raise so they can buy more expensive things everywhere else,” said Paul Broyles, the father of a Lowell House resident, as he emerged from the Harvard Square T stop on his way to Junior Parents Weekend activities.

The MBTA faces a “pretty significant budget shortfall next year,” said the executive director of the MBTA Advisory Board, Paul Regan.

An official proposal will be presented to the MBTA Board of Directors later this month. If the Board of Directors decides to set the process of adopting a new fare structure in motion, the MBTA will then solicit public opinion on the increases. The actual vote over the fare increase will take place in November or December, according to Regan.