Newly touting support from every Boston mayoral candidate, activists pushing for reduced fare or free rides for low-income MBTA users are ramping up pressure on state lawmakers as the issue gains more prominence in Massachusetts.
All six major candidates vying for Boston’s top job signed a petition, along with more than 600 other residents, demanding that the Legislature intervene and require the T to offer reduced-cost trips for riders who struggle to pay full price, create new progressive revenue streams for public transit, and ensure representation for riders and workers in MBTA oversight.
The Public Transit Public Good Coalition, which circulated the petition, linked its latest effort to the pandemic, saying the economic upheaval over the past year-plus exacerbated inequity and exposed the importance of affordable and accessible transit for front-line workers.
“Even before the pandemic, many riders were struggling to afford bus and train fares,” the petitioners wrote. “Structural racism and economic exploitation have created deep inequalities in Massachusetts as elsewhere, leaving working families and communities of color struggling to make ends meet. Covid-19 has thrown even more of us into economic insecurity, as nearly one million people in Massachusetts have lost their jobs.”
Backers have been arguing for low-income fares for years, and for much of that span, the idea struggled to gain traction outside of labor and rider groups or politicians who stand to the left of Beacon Hill leadership.
In recent months, though, the T has crept toward embracing at least a test run, and reduced or free fares hae emerged as a point of consensus in the high-profile mayoral race.
Boston Mayor Kim Janey, currently serving in an acting capacity and seeking election to a full term this fall, in April suggested using federal aid to make some bus routes entirely free of charge. Fellow City Councillor and mayoral candidate Michelle Wu has been advocating for fare-free transit, and another councillor vying for the mayorship, Andrea Campbell, supports offering free buses for passengers.
Every mayoral candidate — Janey, Wu, Campbell, City Councillor Annissa Essaibi George, John Barros, and Rep. Jon Santiago — signed the Public Transit Public Good petition urging lawmakers to create a low-income fare option, according to the coalition.
“Massachusetts residents need a MBTA low-income fare system now,” Community Labor United Executive Director and coalition member Lee Matsueda said in a statement. “Low-income communities have suffered disproportionately during this pandemic, and the public transit system is a critical piece to our recovery. We urge our Legislature to create access and affordability for all, and make the low-income fare a reality.”
On June 7, the Fiscal and Management Control Board voted to instruct staff at the agency to draft plans for a low-income fare pilot program that would run in fiscal year 2023. The FMCB expires this week, though, so the final decision on whether to implement the pilot will rest with whatever entity succeeds the board as the T’s governing body.
