Radical Ideas for the T and Housing Affordability (Boston, Orange: apartments, rent)

[BostonBornMassMade]

The MBTA can only be helped with a popular governor willing to use his political capital and will to force through change. Deval should have just kept running till he was voted out. He would have been more responsive than Baker and could have pushed through more change.

The T should be free and we should more than make up the difference via graduated income tax.

The millionaires tax could be implemented to help electrify the commuter rail.

Rent control that would tied to home improvements should be implemented inside 128, so landlords would be incentivized to improve their properties (you bring in receipts of work and get to charge much more additionally to the tenants for a number of years). Still rent control inside 128 would make gateway cities served by ELECTRIFIED commuter rail more attractive

The approval process for new construction in towns and cities should be reduced to a simple majority (Baker is tight here) so it’d be easier to build large apartments near these newly electrified commuter rail stations.

Host Community Agreements should be waived for Economic Empowerment marijuana companies and only need CC approval. Earmark a large portion of their revenues for public transit improvement studies, oversight or maintenance. This would provide more opportunity and economic stimulus to gateway cities and make them somewhat more vibrant.

All of this could be achieved with a succession of democratic governors but I doubt it will happen.

[GeePee]

I agree mostly with your home improvement incentives and electrified rail.

I'm still a bit iffy on the free MBTA thing. I don't mind paying for service that actually works well. As it currently is we should not be paying the asking price. The transparency of the tax money and fare collections should be voted on. Your host community MJ argument is a great one I also agree on, and think the same should be true for artificial liquor licensing. We need more people to have a chance to play ball, and let the free market control who stays and goes.

I think one thing here is clear though. Barker needs to go.

[CaseyB]

A graduated income tax is unconstitutional.

[mp775]

Originally Posted by CaseyB

A graduated income tax is unconstitutional.

Correction, a graduated income tax requires the legislature to pass a constitutional amendment.

[chicagoliz]

I think these are all valid ideas worth considering.

The T doesn't necessarily need to be completely free, but it should be low cost.

[Boston Shudra]

Originally Posted by chicagoliz

I think these are all valid ideas worth considering.

The T doesn't necessarily need to be completely free, but it should be low cost.

Coverage and frequencies need to be better, though. We shouldn’t be paying almost as much per trip as NYC for a severely worse system.

[BostonBornMassMade]

The fares in the T make up a tiny tiny portion of the operating budget. I don’t recall the figures but it’s basically negligible/tokenism. Why bother with tokenism? We’re beyond that-or at least should be.

[chicagoliz]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

The fares in the T make up a tiny tiny portion of the operating budget. I don’t recall the figures but it’s basically negligible/tokenism. Why bother with tokenism? We’re beyond that-or at least should be.

Even so, every extra bit of revenue helps. I would be fine with free passes for people below a certain income level or who had some other need for it.

[masssachoicetts]

The Fares only supply about 20% of the revenue for the T and them lowering it to $1.00 one way, $2.00 roundtrip would be VERY smart. Everyone would use it.

[masssachoicetts]

Originally Posted by iAMtheVVALRUS

Coverage and frequencies need to be better, though. We shouldn’t be paying almost as much per trip as NYC for a severely worse system.

Living in NYC... the MTA is MUCH worse. Much worse On time performance, cancellations, older trains.. etc. MTA trains are often too crowded to board. Yes its more extensive, but NYC is 4x larger than Greater Boston. So it should be... Tell a New Yorker that the T is worse, theyll laugh at you and say youve never been to the city. lol

The Quality of the MTA trains are way below the T ... dont kid yourself please.

Also, NYC trains have showtime. Entertaining the first time, man that gets old.

MTA On Time Performance: Dropped, yet again, to 65%
MBTA On time performance: Rose, once again, above 97%


https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/...rcent-on-time/

And to top it off, the MBTA is getting new Red and Orange trains while expanding the Green Line ... with a 10 Billion Dollar service enchancement project. The MTA is nowhere near the scale of providing 4-10x this work to keep up with Boston's rate of improvement. (Since the MTA is 10x more travelled and 4x as large)