James Aloisi

As Metro Boston continues to enjoy strong growth, a consensus appears to have formed that the area must have more reliable and sustainable mobility system to support and maintain that growth.

Legislative leaders and business community leaders appear to be aligned with transit advocates about the need to step up investment in both repair and modernization projects and strategic connectivity projects like the Green Line Extension and the Red/Blue Line Connector. In addition, the development of a modern “regional rail” system has gained widespread support as people understand the critical need to provide people with access to jobs and affordable housing throughout the region.

MBTA Investment Is Vital

A landmark report last year from the business group A Better City estimated that the MBTA, functioning at less than optimal efficiency, was nevertheless saving Massachusetts residents and businesses upwards of $11.4 billion annually in travel cost and travel time savings, as well as avoided crash costs. The report also noted that the disproportionate amount of private sector investment being made in Metro Boston is happening in and around “Transit Growth Clusters” – those places where jobs and housing are being grown in proximity to subway and rail stations.

We also know that Metro Boston is suffering from worsening chronic traffic congestion. Nationally respected data analysis group INRIX recently reported that, when measured by the percentage of peak hour time spent in gridlock, Boston is the most congested city in America. That’s an eye opener, or it should be. Having worse traffic congestion than Los Angeles is simply not a platform for the kind of economic growth and momentum we all want the region to experience.

This is all taking place against a backdrop of an MBTA system that is struggling to provide Metro Boston residents with a consistently reliable and responsive transit and rail system.

The T needs more resources to keep up with its own targets to advance state-of-good-repair work, to undertake strategic connectivity and completion projects, to introduce transformative bus rapid transit on key bus routes and to transition from its failing commuter rail service to a modern, electrified regional rail service.

The transition to regional rail is especially vital to our future, and our ability to improve connections between Boston and major cities and job centers like Providence and Worcester. Metro Boston cannot advance into the 21st century as an economically competitive, socially equitable region if it is held back by a public transportation system that cannot respond to changing demographics, changing mobility preferences and the demands of private sector investment.

Capture the Costs of Too Many Cars

The needs are clear. How do we pay for them?

I’ve long held the view that transportation revenues should come primarily from transportation sources. In this century, those sources ought to be technology-based, and regionally and socially equitable. That’s not to say we shouldn’t consider raising the gas tax – we should. But as cars inevitably become more fuel-efficient and less reliant on fossil fuels, the gas tax will be less and less potent as a reliable, steady source of revenue in the long term.

A short list of approaches to raising net new transportation revenue should include a carbon tax on gasoline at the wholesale point of sale (Massachusetts and other states along the East Coast are currently negotiating the terms of a regional carbon price for fuel); road pricing (what some people call “congestion pricing” or, differently deployed, “cordon pricing”) and pricing on non-residential parking to fully capture the social and environmental impact of too many cars on the road.

Legislation is currently pending to revise the fee structure on transportation network companies (Uber and Lyft) in order to assess these companies appropriately for their negative impacts like traffic congestion and carbon emissions, especially in inner core urban communities.

Finally, the legislature is considering enacting into law regional ballot initiatives that would empower municipalities to place a surcharge on certain taxes, and to use the new revenue generated for sustainable mobility projects. Many states across the nation empower municipalities to raise revenue for important local transportation projects; Massachusetts should do the same.

While we are raising net new revenue, we can also re-deploy money that is targeted to ill-advised projects. For example, we could save $2 billion to $3 billion by foregoing the proposed expansion of South Station and utilizing instead global best practices to implement a cost-effective combination of operational reforms and targeted investments.

We cannot take advantage of the state’s potential without a regional and urban transportation system that is able to respond effectively to the mobility demands of such an economy. Our public transportation system came to a grinding halt in the winter of 2015 because of decades of underinvestment. We have come a long way since then, thanks in large part to the dedication of the MBTA’s Fiscal Management and Control Board. Now we must commit to taking the next necessary steps to increasing revenue and providing the resources that will provide us with a highly functioning, modern, reliable transit and rail network.

James Aloisi is a former Massachusetts secretary of transportation, a principal in TriMount Consulting and a board member of TransitMatters.

How to Pay for the Transit Investments Metro Boston Needs

by Banker & Tradesman time to read: 3 min
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