Government Center is officially shut down. Late-night service starts Friday. Fare hikes may be on the way. The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority has more than a few changes in store for Bostonians.
Starting Friday, the MBTA will run late night service for all its branches and select bus routes until 3 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The T has stated that this is simply a one-year pilot program, however. If not enough people take advantage of the extended hours, the service could be axed.
Honestly, it’s about time the T tried this approach. Boston is often regarded as one of the nation’s most notable cities but unlike New York and San Francisco, getting around without a car past 12:30 a.m. tends to be a struggle. If the late-night service is successful, Boston citizens will be able to enjoy the later hours of their weekends much easier and it could lead to more than a few happy business owners as well. It will be interesting to see how Boston reacts the first few weekends this service is available but it’s great that the city is finally extending its proverbial bedtime.
The T lost all its brownie points from making the service happen when it proposed raising its fare prices, however. The MBTA finance committee proposed raising bus and subway rides by 10 cents, its monthly link pass for the two services from $70 to $75. Monthly commuter rail passes could be raised anywhere between $5 to $17.
Obviously running one of the main transportation options for a city costs plenty of money. As a consumer though, it seems a bit unfair to suggest a fare hike when it took this long to make late-night service become a reality.
So many orange and green line trains look like they have been on the front lines of war. Several months back, it seemed as if the red line was suffering massive rush hour delays every other day. The MBTA would argue that reasons such as there are why it needs more money. That’s a fair standpoint but it’s just as fair for Boston T riders to say that they’re not getting enough “bang for their buck,” so to speak.
It doesn’t seem logical for the MBTA to ask for more money two years after raising prices and still having very obvious drawbacks. If the late-night service eventually becomes more than a trial though, at that point it might be a good time to pass the forced donation basket around the city.
