The Patrick administration’s proposed transportation plan includes a near-tripling of the annual budget for state’s beleaguered Regional Transit Authorities, a $100 million annual increase that officials insist will trigger a hike in employment and economic growth in the Gateway Cities.
Transportation Secretary Richard Davey, citing a MassINC report released Tuesday, said people who live in regions that are not serviced by the MBTA face problems with buses that only operate in peak hours, do not run on Sundays, and only travel in densely populated areas, making it difficult for people without cars to obtain jobs if they can’t walk to them.
“That’s just not the kind of economy we have right now,” Davey said of the intermittent service in a conference call with editors and reporters from newspapers in the Gateway Cities. Davey said the administration’s proposed $1.1 billion in additional operating funds over the next decade for RTAs “can unlock jobs [and] economic opportunity.”
In addition to the $100 million annual increase in funding for the RTAs, Davey said the administration also wants to pump in another $400 million over the next 10 years to buy newer buses and upgrade technology to make regional transit services more reliable and user-friendly. Davey said the operating funds would be allocated in advance, a change from the current system that forces authorities to borrow money for operations until they are reimbursed by the state. The reimbursement process adds debt service costs to the regional transit authority budgets.
The MassINC report claims labor participation in many Gateway Cities lags because of inadequate regional transit services. For instance, the report indicates that Gateway Cities such as Fall River, Holyoke, Pittsfield, and New Bedford have substandard transit systems and labor participation rates below the state average of 68 percent. By contrast, Gateway Cities such as Everett, Malden, and Quincy, all with regular MBTA bus, subway, and rail service, have labor force participation rates above the state average.
The study also found that even in those cities with reliable transit service, such as Springfield and Worcester, fewer than one quarter of the jobs are accessible by public transportation, with most requiring a one-way commute of at least 90 minutes. Pumping new money into the regional transit authorities would enable them to expand hours of operation and routes, reaping benefits not only for the workers and the cities but the state’s coffers as well, the report says.
“If all Gateway City residents engaged in the labor force at the overall statewide rate of 68 percent, Massachusetts would be home to nearly 50,000 more workers, the report says. “If these additional workers held only minimum-wage, full-time jobs, it would amount to more than $780 million in annual wages circulating throughout both local economies and that of the state, adding to the tax base.”
Among the changes the report calls for are:
·Real-time information systems on arrivals and delays, similar to what the MBTA is instituting for buses and trains;
·Integrating fare payments so riders can use the same cards on different RTA services, similar to the way some systems allow T Charlie Cards;
·Adopt signal prioritization, allowing buses to change traffic lights to reduce waiting times;
·Improved branding for the RTAs.
The report also cites data from a recent survey by the MassINC Polling Group, which found support for increased service and the revenue needed to run it. Nearly half of Gateway Cities residents said increased bus service would make a “major” difference for people in their communities and three-quarters of respondents in those cities said they would be willing to pay $50 more per year for transportation improvements. Both answers were 10 percentage points higher than those from non-Gateway Cities.
Davey was asked to name any regional transit system that “does it well” and the only one he cited was Brockton, which he called “best in class.” He praised some of the new directors in some of the RTAs but admitted everyone needs to do a better job in the areas of transparency and accountability, especially if they receive the boost in funding.
“I think we have some work to do on performance metrics, both the transportation department and RTAs,” he said.