ABC President and CEO Rick Dimino opened the forum by summarizing the points of ABC's position paper:

• A 25% fare hike, followed by smaller, more regular adjustments;
• Cuts to only the least efficient bus lines, with a commitment to Service Planning adjustments going forward;
• Minimizing ridership lost through work with the private sector and Transportation Management Associations;
• Savings from continued reform; and, most importantly,
• Outside help to close the T current deficit and a commitment to solving transportation finance statewide.

Rick then introduced a panel representing stakeholders from across the Massachusetts economy. Don Conover of State Street talked about how a major global enterprise like his incorporates proposed service cuts into its planning. Marilyn Swartz-Lloyd of MASCO, representing the Longwood Medical Area, revealed the results of an employee survey on the T issue. Rick Mattila of Genzyme spoke to the impacts on the life sciences cluster in Boston and Cambridge, and Mayor Joe Sullivan of Braintree, himself a former legislator and chair of the Transportation Committee, talked about the economic value of the T outside the hub. Our panelists' slideshow presentations are available online.

Click here for photos of the event.

Responding to the paper and panel was our current Transportation committee co-chair, State Sen. Tom McGee. Just back from a research trip to Japan, Sen. McGee connected the T's problems to the larger issue of investing in transportation across the Commonwealth. The Senator and his colleagues have been holding hearings across the state, and the message they have heard is that transportation is a local issue. Both as a matter of politics and policy, it's clear that any solution for the T is going to have to at least point towards the bigger picture.

 

To that end, Rick closed the meeting by directing the audience to an online petition organized by our friends at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, which allows users to type in their zip codes and send a message to elected officials urging them to act on transportation and the T. We encourage all of you to do the same.