It won’t last because everybody will cry about it. I used to watch them give the BC High kids literal free rides. Every day. Both ways. For years. The conductors shuffled them all into the same car, to the best of their ability, and just breezed on through when it came time for tickets and passes. Occasionally they would charge them all 1 dollar in the morning. Just the morning. ONE DOLLAR. On a fare that ranged from 3-6 at the time.
Then people complained about it. When i say people, i mean the parents of the BC High kids! “Hey why does the kid from Kingston get the same break as my kid who’s only coming one stop from Braintree?!” Type stuff
After hearing the complaints so long, the commuter rail top dogs said “ok, we will make it fair…everyone pays the normal price”
You gotta inquire about getting into the concession game.
Well, it may not last.
As everyone knows, especially those who ride the T regularly and have investigated its dysfunctional history, the MBTA has been a mess for at least 40 years.
Chronically underfunded, overstretched and comically inept in its administration, it is amazing there has not been a major tragedy, or series of them, associated with its operation.
There are, of course, many reasons for this.
Chief among them has been the willful neglect and indifference of those nominally responsible for overseeing the agency and it's effectiveness. Namely, the indra's of Beacon Hill.
They do not use our public transportation system. They do not depend upon it for making a living. They have chauffeurs or privileged passage to and fro.
Yet, I believe in new MBTA general manager Phil Eng.
Unlike his predecessors, Eng is a civil engineer with a record of proven success,
en.m.wikipedia.org
He understands the depth and breadth of the many problems that continue to plague the T.
Neither crony nor hack, he is in it for the long haul. He gets it, and early results are encouraging.
So, like a few long suffering riders, I am cautiously optimistic.
We shall see.
. Sincerely.
