BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is proposing 2019 fare changes that amount to a 6.3 percent increase and would take effect July 1.
If approved, the changes would be the first since 2016 and the fourth since 2012. By state law the agency is allowed to increase fares no more than 7 percent once every two years.
One-way commuter rail fares by zone would increase from 15 to 75 cents, while monthly passes would increase in a range from $5.50 to $27.75, depending by zone. A full list of the fare proposals is available here, with a PDF version here.
The agency has scheduled a series of meetings about the fare proposals, as well as community meetings on the fares and other topics. A list of those meetings is available here.
The MBTA will waste every nickel they take, like every government agency in Massachusetts.
Used to be a good deal, riding the commuter trains. A ride that cost me 50 cents as a kid is now over $12.
Back then the RDC’s were called Buddliners. I rode them up and down the Fitchburg line.
My first ride, from West Concord to Kendal Green, was when my dad drove me to W.C. to catch it.
The engineer gave me a ride in the cab then, and explained the signals and the spring switch where the ride began.
The B&M and the Budd cars were beaten up and rickety, but I loved them. All the windows were cracked, and sometimes rain or antifreeze would partially fill the space between the 2 panes of glass. You could judge the rate of acceleration by the angle of the fluid surface between the glass.
MBTA has taken the fun and economy out of commuter trains. Glad I don’t live in Mass. anymore!
February 1967, my uncle fixed me up with a Simmons College student and gave me a 20-cent MBTA token to get to the campus at Back Bay – Longwood. That 20 cents was all the date cost and I didn’t even pay it myself.
At the end of the delightful day with the young lady, I walked back to downtown saving the fare.
I thought the 20-cents was expensive because at the time I was a college student in New York City where the fare was 15-cents.
Fifty-two years later, no, I’m not that cheap. I actually buy lunch for my wife (no, not the same girl).
Sounds like Charlie needs to put that extra nickel in his pocket, for sure!