MBTA Board Says Its Budget Plan Avoids Service Cuts

The MBTA Advisory Board is suggesting a new budget-balancing option amid public outcry over two earlier MassDOT proposals that would make deep service cuts and hike fares by at least 35 percent.

The executive director of the advisory board, Paul Regan, says his group has come up with a plan that includes no service cuts and would call for fares to increase by 25 percent.

"One of the main thrusts of it is to buy time for the Patrick-Murray administration and legislative leadership and transportation advocates to get together and come up with a comprehensive solution," Regan said. "Our plan is a one-year fix, just like the T's plan."

The plan would save money by having State Police take over transit security and Massport take over the commuter ferries.

Regan also says T workers should forgo raises for a year. "And then, we get kind of creative," he said. "We're talking about having a special event surcharge — basically a 50-cent-per-ticket charge on athletic events like the Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins, as well as some of the larger venues."

-- Here's the MBTA Advisory Board's report on T proposals (on Scribd):

http://www.scribd.com/doc/81747258/MBTA-Advisory-Board-Review-Of-MassDOT-T-Proposals