COMMUNITY ISSUE: PUBLIC TRANSITFOCUS ISSUE

Young people in the Greater Boston area cannot afford the MBTA. More than 1/3 of Boston’s youth live below the poverty line (Boston Public Health Commission, 2009). Half of youth have Student Link or Student Charlie Cards discounting school days but pay adult prices the rest of the time. 2/3 of youth spend $20 a month on the MBTA, and ¼ spend $60.

HISTORY 2000 Forward Funding legislation requires MBTA to finish year with a balanced

budget Sales tax is the main source of revenue, but has grown slowly since 2000 Major areas of expenses: Debt Service, Wages, Fringe Benefits, Material Supplies,

Commuter Rail Contract, Local Service, Other. MBTA transferred its $3.3 million debt but if it took it back, they would spend far

less on Debt Servies. 2007 Youth Way on the MBTA formed 2009 Youth Way on the MBTA met with Secretary of Transportation, James Aloisi,

Jr. to present survey of 1,600 youth. Agreed to 8am-11pm monthly student pass. Jan. 2012: Youth Way on the MBTA formed, held youth “March for Opportuni(T)” in

2012; Governor Patrick arranged over $60 million in one-time funding; Legislature committed to work on transportation funding in the 2013 session

7/1/12: MBTA fare hikes went into effect, but they were reduced as the result of Youth Way's efforts. Youth and elderly still bear the brunt of fare hikes.

In 2013 Youth Affordabili(T) Coalition won: $500 million in new MA transit funding, rider votes on all transit authority boards statewide, 5% bi-annual fare hike cap, mandatory Community Service Assessments, and monthly meetings with MBTA General Manager Beverley Scott to create road map to implement Youth Pass

Hearing occurred 10/31/13 for H3059/S3059 An Act establishing a more equitable public transit fare structure

June 9, 2014 - 30 youth and adults stage a sit-in at MassDOT Secretary Davey’s office demanding action on #youthpass which has been delayed 2 years. 20 people are arrested and released the same evening. #ATTNdavey

June 18th, 2014 – Youth and adults (including above arrestees) are shut out of MassDOT hearing because the room is “filled to capacity” despite there being evidence of empty chairs. Much media and social media fire on @MBTA

GC HISTORY

EXAMPLE ACTION PROJECTS

Example 1:

FOCUS The MBTA and other public transit agencies in Massachusetts are

ISSUE unreliable and inefficient.ROOT CAUSE

The MA legislature has not passed a budget that creates revenue streams to fund public transit. MA Department of Transportation (DOT), which is part of the executive branch (Executive Office of Transportation), is underfunded.

GOAL We will convince the MA state legislature to pass An Act to Explore Alternative Funding Sources to Ensure Safe and Reliable Transportation (SD691/HD1566) which will test a new revenue generating program where drivers will be charged by the miles they drive.

DECISION-MAKER

Your class’ Representatives and Senators

INFLUENCERS

Senator Jason Lewis and Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier MA Secretary of Education, Stephanie Pollack MBTA General Manager http://goboston2030.org/en/

TACTICS Attend public hearings In-person lobbying Call, letter writing

Example 2:

FOCUS ISSUE

Youth inability to afford the T to get to school and work is an issue that affects 7th through 12th grade students.

ROOT CAUSE

The MBTA, which is under the executive branch through the Department of Transportation, does not offer a subsidized Youth Pass for students who must take the T.

GOAL Get a monthly link Youth Pass: $10 per month, available for ages 12 to 21, no day or time restriction, year-round, for purchase at Charlie Card machines

DECISION-MAKER

MBTA General Manager - Beverly Scott until April 2015

INFLUENCERS

City Council Local labor unions http://goboston2030.org/en/

ALLIES Youth Affordabili(T) Coalition (YAC) (Consisting of: BYOP, REEP, TRU/ACE, CYI, CPA, BSAC/YOB/YOUNG Coalition, El Movimiento, DBYF, TFP, GWSV, Chelsea Creak Action Group, Chelsea Collaborative ECO.)

Youth Way on the MBTA (ACE: REEP, TRU, and BYOP)TACTICS Creative/public actions

Attend public hearings Call-in events Participate in WtF rally at the State House Build visibility: @YouthWay #YouthPass #TransitJustice

Example 3:

FOCUS ISSUE

Inability to afford the T to get to school and work is an issue that affects residents of the greater Boston area.

ROOT CAUSE

The Massachusetts Legislature, which is the legislative branch, has not found funding in the state budget to reduce the debt that the MBTA owes due to construction projects and daily operation overhead. (The MBTA is under the executive branch through the Department of Transportation).

GOAL We will convince the MA Legislature to pass H3059/S3059 “An act establishing a more equitable public transit fare structure” or other analogous legislation to relieve the debt on the MBTA.

DECISION-MAKER

Our State Representative and Senator

INFLUENCERS

MA Department of Transportation – Secretary Stephanie Pollack City Councils of the greater Boston area http://goboston2030.org/en/

ALLIES Youth Affordabili(T) Coalition (YAC) (Consisting of: BYOP, REEP, TRU/ACE, CYI, CPA, BSAC/YOB/YOUNG Coalition, El Movimiento, DBYF, TFP, GWSV, Chelsea Creak Action Group, Chelsea Collaborative ECO.)

Youth Way on the MBTA (ACE: REEP, TRU, and BYOP)TACTICS Creative/public actions

Attend public hearings Call-in events Participate in What’s the Fare rally at the State House Build visibility: @YouthWay #YouthPass #TransitJustice

FURTHER RESEARCH:Key Knowledge

The MA Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is an extension of the executive branch. The governor appoints a Secretary (CEO) of MassDOT and a 5-person board of Directors.

o Divisions: Highway Division, Registry of Motor Vehicles, Regional Transit Authorities

Other transportation agencies: MA Port Authority & Steamship Authority Born to Broke: How the MBTA found itself with too much debt…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXpZfWX2doU Boston Busing and Desegregation Project: bbdproject.org

Local Political Resources An initiative gathering public input on the future of public transit: http://goboston2030.org/en/

Local Community Resources This is a detailed website about a study on the green line’s inefficiencies:

http://mbtaviz.github.io/green-line-release/

Aligned Initiatives Young organizing on public transit: http://youthwayonthembta.org/yac An initiative gathering public input on the future of public transit: http://goboston2030.org/en/

How to fix the TIt won’t be easy, and it should have been done over a decade ago

By Charles Chieppo  February 05, 2015Boston Globe

Sometimes events conspire to shine a spotlight on the effects of decades of bad policy decisions. Such was the case earlier this week when the MBTA — and with it the Greater Boston economy — all but ground to a halt under the weight of record snowfall and cold temperatures.

Fixing the T will require reform, restraint, and money, and it will be far more difficult than it would have been had state leaders acted when the agency’s problems became apparent more than a decade ago.

Today the MBTA owes nearly $9 billion in debt and interest, and faces a $3 billion maintenance backlog. With the T paying nearly as much in debt service as it collects in fares, the Commonwealth, despite its own fiscal problems, will likely have to take over some of that debt. Otherwise, the transit agency will be like one of the many cars we’ve seen in the last week, spinning its wheels faster only to get mired ever-deeper in snow.

But the Commonwealth can’t solve all the MBTA’s problems. The T should develop clear, customer-focused metrics, as promised in Massachusetts’ 2009 transportation reform law, publish them on its website, and regularly update its performance against the metrics.

Performance goals in areas like on-time performance, percentage of operating costs covered by fare revenue, and a passenger comfort index based on variables like working heat and air conditioning and Wi-Fi availability, should be ambitious yet plausible given the condition of MBTA assets. Annual funding increases should be tied to achieving the goals, which should become more aggressive as the system gradually modernizes.

At first, additional funding should come from raising the state gas tax. But with the rise of high-mileage and alternative-fuel vehicles, the gas tax is at best a temporary fix. The longer-term solution lies in electronic tolling of limited-access highways in the Commonwealth’s metropolitan areas, similar to what the Massachusetts Transportation Finance Commission recommended in 2007.

Until now, residents outside Greater Boston and those who don’t use the MBTA have resisted any role in solving the T’s problems. But drivers benefit from a transit system that takes cars off the road. And a functioning transit system is critical to a metropolitan area that drives regional economic growth well beyond Interstate 495 or even the borders of Massachusetts.

The story of the MBTA’s downfall is one of underinvestment exacerbated by irresponsible expansion. For more than two decades, the T expanded faster than any other major American transit agency, yet no funding mechanism was established to pay for any of it.

Maintenance was the loser in this game of musical chairs. By fiscal 2010, things got to the point where just six of the T’s 57 most critical safety projects could be funded. As former John Hancock President and CEO David D’Alessandro wrote in his 2009 MBTA review, “It makes little sense to continue expanding the system when the MBTA cannot maintain the existing one.”

And it’s both unfair and unrealistic to think that tax- and toll-payers who just rejected indexing the state gas tax to inflation should kick in the astronomical sums it would take to simultaneously shore up MBTA finances and pay to build, operate, and maintain new lines.

While underinvestment and expansion are at the heart of the MBTA’s problems, other issues require attention. According to a 2013 study by former state Inspector General Greg Sullivan, the T pays far more than it should to maintain its buses. Even though the agency’s chief procurement officer said that performing major bus overhauls in-house cost 50 percent more, the Commonwealth’s anti-privatization law prevented the work from being outsourced. That level of inefficiency can no longer be tolerated.

Nor can the MBTA’s expensive and dangerously underfunded pension system. Unlike state employees, T workers’ pension contributions are subject to collective bargaining. The result is that they kick in about half as much as their state counterparts, leaving the beleaguered agency to pick up the slack.

Governor Baker is proposing $14 million in T cuts, although more than $8 million will come from a hiring freeze and administrative cuts, which are unlikely to have much impact over the remaining five months of the current fiscal year.

Our region needs a 21st-century MBTA that facilitates economic growth instead of hindering it. In addition to money, achieving that goal will require determination to learn from past mistakes and the urgency to prevent the problem from spinning even further out of control.

The MBTA's Real Problem: Political Hypocrisy, Not Cold And Snow

By David S. Bernstein, WGBH News

Under the unusual stress of the past week's brutal weather, the MBTA's equipment did exactly as expected: it completely failed.

Thank the state legislature.Details will be sorted out over time, but initial reports suggest more than a third of

Red Line and Orange Line trains disabled; iced-over stretches of third rails; broken down buses; and a variety of switch, signal, cable, substation, and HVAC problems. MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott has already indicated that it will take several days for service to return to normal.

Well, duh. As one Twitter user noted, about a third of Red Line trains in the fleet during the 2015 blizzard had also been through the 1978 blizzard. The “useful life” of those trains, as officially defined, expired 20 years ago. Every Orange Line train in the fleet is past its useful life date. Hundreds of buses have reached or are about to reach their useful life dates.

The vehicles are only the most obvious, and well-documented, problems. The

decades-old mechanical infrastructure is so poorly looked after, officials reviewing a 2009 fire essentially conceded that they weren't even aware of a wiring problem requiring a $200 million system-wide repair.

You can cast a lot of blame in a lot of directions for the sad state of affairs, but the big culprit is pretty clear: state legislators, particularly those from outside Boston, who have spent the past 20 years whistling past the disaster.

They have known, for many, many years, that the state needs to spend a bunch of money on maintenance and upgrading of the MBTA. They don't care.

Sure, there are other financial strains on the authority. Saddling it with old debt service was ridiculous. The Carmen's Union and other labor contracts have placed additional burdens. Voters just shot down an automatic source of funding. Redundancies and inefficiencies have been rampant, although significantly reduced since a major Department of Transportation restructuring early in the Patrick administration.

Howl at those issues if you wish, as many of us have for years. And, certainly, debate the need for spending on other transportation needs, including the new projects and expansions that tend to get more favorable treatment from lawmakers.

But those discussions, and those dollars, are all separate from the warnings that endlessly emanate from study after study – not to mention grouchy Twitter users on a daily basis.Maintenance and upkeep is a basic, essential part of having a public transportation system. I mean, I assume that for these new projects, we wouldn't determine a need, spend billions meeting it, and then refuse to spend the millions required to keep it from all falling apart. Right?And, for all the potential value of those other projects, none of them – by a very wide margin – are as vital to the good of the Commonwealth as the need to efficiently get people to and from jobs, leisure, and other activities in Boston.

And yet, the state legislature refused for years to spend $3 million to build platforms to put Green Line trains on, so engineers could do repairs. They quite literally asked the MBTA to prioritize which threats to public safety it would repair each year.

The Globe reported a few years ago that those old Orange Line trains were all in danger of wheel bearing failures, which could derail those vehicles – and apparently the only early-warning system is for the crew to notice a strange odor.

After the 2009 disaster I mentioned above, the state dawdled on fixing those wiring-system problems until another fire, nine months later, prompted the MBTA to fast-track the project. As Brian Kane of the MBTA Advisory Board was quoted at the time: “basic infrastructure catching on fire should be within their control.” But wasn't.

Some help is on the way, thanks to an $800 million funding bill and a $13 billion bond bill passed in the 2013-'14 legislative session. But that was hacked down from Governor Deval Patrick pushing for a huge transportation infrastructure investment. The legislature hacked it down (eventually passing), in no small part because they were pissy about the way Patrick unveiled the proposal without briefing them.

More importantly, lawmakers outside the city remain stubbornly opposed to spending that they see as money vacuumed from their constituents toward Boston. Patrick, attempting to play to that sentiment, overloaded his proposal with initiatives all over the state. And still I had more than one lawmaker tell me directly that they were in opposition until their own district's project got added to the menu.

Now we have a cost-cutting new Governor, Charlie Baker, who is no more likely to invest in MBTA upkeep now than he was with the Bill Weld and Paul Cellucci administrations. At least this week's fiasco might prevent him from trying to stop the transportation bonds, as he is doing with the one for convention center expansion.

Nor can we expect House Speaker Robert DeLeo to ask his members from outside of Boston to come around on the issue. And I somehow doubt that new Senate President Stan Rosenberg will be touting it on his upcoming “Commonwealth Conversation” events in western and central Massachusetts.In other words, don't expect anything to change. We'll be experiencing MBTA malfunctions for many years to come.

The YAC Story

The Youth Way on the MBTA campaign formed YAC in January 2012 in response to the MBTA’s proposal to raise fares and cut service. With more than 20 participating groups, we called on State House leaders to fix the MBTA funding crisis and Big Dig Debt. YAC got the word out to tens of thousands of youth, testified at tons of public hearings, held 15 creative actions, led the “March for Opportuni(T)” with over 700 youth, and joined with riders and seniors to hold the “Opportuni(T)/Mobili(T) 24-hour Vigil.” As a result of our work and the work of our partners, the fare hikes were drastically reduced, the Governor stepped up with over $60 million in one-time funding, and the Legislature committed to work on transportation funding in the 2013 session.

In 2013, YAC came back to fight another round of MBTA hikes & cuts – and won! Together we put in thousands of calls to the State House; joined the Green Justice Coalition’s Public Transit Public Good campaign (and filed legislation for a Youth Pass, increased transportation funding, equitable fares, and rider input on transit decisions statewide); held public actions; and debuted the Equi(T) Superhero League! In June we launched a city-wide Listening Tour to hear about youth transit justice issues & engage young people in our fight, and in July we met with MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott to continue our work on winning a #YouthPass! 

In 2014, we have won:o Over $500 million in new funding for transportation in Massachusettso Rider votes on ALL transit authority boards statewideo 5% bi-annual fare hike cap on all transit systems in MA (no more threats of 200%

hikes!)o Mandatory Community Service Assessments for all transit authorities in MAo Monthly meetings with MBTA General Manager Scott to create a road map to the

Youth Pass!

Sending school kids on public transit is the wrong choiceParents rightly fear increased exposure to bullying, harassment, and violence

By Michael A. Curry and Rahsaan D. Hall - June 18, 2014

The Boston Public Schools system plans to eliminate bus service for its seventh and eighth grade students next year. Instead of boarding school buses, 4,500 12- and 13-year-olds will receive passes to ride the MBTA to school.

This plan requires budget approval by the Boston City Council, and several councilors have raised significant concerns about its shortfalls. Since the MBTA is not planning to increase service, T riders may find themselves acting as de facto chaperones on more crowded buses, trains, and subway platforms. The most significant problem, however, is one of educational opportunity. This transportation plan, coupled with the new student assignment system, will force some families to choose between the school to which they want to send their child and their child’s safety getting there and back. This is a choice no parent should have to make.

Parents rightly fear their children would risk increased exposure to bullying, harassment, and violence on public transportation. City Councilor Tito Jackson, for example, has said he has broken up after-school fights between youths at Dudley Station. And there are tragic examples of more serious violence on the T. In 2012, a man in his 20s was fatally stabbed exiting a bus near the Dudley library in mid-afternoon.

While all seventh and eighth graders would be affected by this plan, our most vulnerable students will feel the greatest burden. Residentially, Boston is a racially and socioeconomically segregated city. The majority of BPS students are children of color living in Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan, neighborhoods with the highest concentrations of poverty in the Commonwealth. The new student assignment plan was intended to give students more options for attending high-performing schools closer to home. However, children in high-poverty neighborhoods must travel much farther than children in more affluent areas to attend a high-performing school (due in no small part to the district’s school closure decisions), often through areas with comparatively higher crime rates.

Asking these students to rely on public transit puts them at unnecessary risk. This risk is not alleviated by the promising attendance statistics on middle schoolers currently riding the T. Many of these students attend Boston Latin or Latin Academy, often using “supplemental” MBTA buses that bring them right to the school’s door. Nor is the risk limited by simply placing more police on the T. MBTA police should not serve as after-school disciplinarians of adolescents, not when a first-time arrest doubles the odds that a student will drop out of school.

BPS representatives have said that other major cities, including Chicago, rely on public transportation for their students. But last December a 15-year-old in Chicago was raped and beaten while walking to a bus stop. Violence on school routes is so bad that the state is trying to impose busing on certain routes so that children can get to school safely. Chicago represents a failed experiment, not a model for Boston.

Last month was the 60th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. In filing Brown, parents fought to secure a quality education for their children, which was being denied them in “separate but equal” schools. Boston’s transportation plan creates a new barrier between low-income families and high-quality schools: their child’s safety. Forcing families to choose between school quality and student safety will only serve to further separate our children into racially isolated schools as families opt to keep their students close to home rather than send them on the T.

The City Council has the opportunity to stop this plan from going forward. If it values the safety of Boston’s children, it must reject the BPS budget proposal. BPS estimates its transportation plan will help save $8 million amid $107 million in cuts. Our children’s well-being is worth far more than this.

Michael A. Curry is president of the Boston NAACP. Rahsaan D. Hall is deputy director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/06/17/sending-school-kids-school-public-transit-bad-choice/iDZy8kwfOZ7UczKeKxlqVK/story.html

Protesting MBTA fare hikes

Thursday, March 29, 2012, 8:17pm(NECN: Peter Howe, Boston)

Calling themselves the Youth Affordability Coalition and Affordabili-T, about 300 young people marched from the Park Street T station up to the State House to protest a planned July 1 fare hike and demand discounted fares for students.

The protest came as the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority board is set to vote April 4 on the package of service reductions and fare increases, which would boost the Charlie Card cost of a bus ride from $1.25 to $1.50 and subway or trolley fare from $1.70 to $2, and add $50 or more to the cost of many monthly commuter-rail passes.

But MBTA officials have said the plan only solves their budget problem for a year, and come next spring, they are looking at deficits of $100 million, $150 million, and $230 million in the next three years in the agency’s budget of about $1.7 billion.

The crushing expense for the MBTAT is its $5.2 billion debt, which sucks up about 30 percent of its budget, including about $100 million a year to pay interest on and pay off bonds taken out for projects put on the MBTA from Boston’s $14 billion Big Dig construction project in the 1990s-2000s.

Governor Deval L. Patrick said the T is the most urgent example of a pressing need to address a statewide crisis of funding for roads, bridges, and mass transit throughout Massachusetts.

“Everybody has a stake in getting this right, and we’re going to get this right,’’ said Patrick.

Three years ago, Patrick called for an increase in the state’s gasoline tax, the first since 1991, to pay for the MBTA and other transportation problems. 

Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-backed fiscal watchdog group, said “the number-one candidate is the gas tax” as a funding solution to the MBTA problem and transportation funding. 

It’s been 21 cents a gallon since 1991, and hasn’t been adjusted for inflation, and it’s estimated each 1-cent increase in the tax rate per gallon would yield about $25 million a year in revenue. 

“I think we’re talking about a 5 to 8 cent a gallon increase, directed to the T” to solve the T budget woes for several years, Widmer said, but added that if there is a gas-tax hike coming, “We can’t keep asking taxpayers to bail out the MBTA. Something has to be done with the cost structure of the T that has never been done before” to prevent the current funding crisis from just re-erupting once any interim fix of new gas-tax revenue, or other revenue, is outstripped by debt, energy, health-care, and other costs at the MBTA.

Dozens Camp Out At State House In Protest Of MBTA Fare Hikes

By Jim Armstrong, WBZ-TVApril 3, 2012

BOSTON (CBS) – The 24 hour vigil currently underway on the steps of the State House  is being maintained by several different groups, all of whom are affected by the proposed MBTA fare hikes. But the night shift belongs to the kids.

Like so many people who rely on public transportation, young people are outraged over proposed fare hikes and service cuts designed to help the cash-strapped MBTA.

“I live in Somerville, I go to school in Cambridge, and I work in Boston. It’s a really, really long commute every day,” and an expensive one for 16-year-old Akeira Parker, one of the 30-plus people who plan to camp out here all night long.

Any fare increase is “coming out of my pocket,” she explains, “so if they raise the prices it’s going to affect me big time because I rely on the T.”

The protesters are targeting the State House since they are holding out hope that elected officials will use their authority to take the financial pressure off the T.

“We’ve actually over the past two months given them alternatives to cover the Big Dig debt that the state put on them and they’re trying to put on us,” says community organizer Modesto Sanchez.

And even if Wednesday’s vote is seemingly a done-deal, these protesters promise to keep their voices up.

Youth leader Caroline Casey explains it this way: “We’ve been meeting with them for months, visiting them. We’ve rallied — 500 young people marched last week. We’re not going to stop just because they’re not acting. We’re not going to give up just because this is too important.”

Students Rally At MassDOT for Better MBTA Funding Plan

By Steve Annear | Boston Daily | April 3, 2013

Groups of Boston students fed up with fare increases and talks of possible cuts to MBTA bus and train service stormed the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s headquarters on Wednesday, asking officials to implement an affordable plan for young riders, while at the same time maintaining critical services for all passengers.

Dressed as superheroes with names like “Mobili-T,” “Affordabili-T,” and “Accountibili-T,” hoping to save the ailing transportation

system, members of several activist groups armed with megaphones and banners converged on Boston Common by the Boylston Station Green Line stop and prepared to lodge complaints with state officials.

“The T is the lifeline for youth in this city. I believe MassDOT should fight for the Youth Pass because the youth are a critical rider group who depend on the T to go to school and SAT prep, to work, [and] to thrive by getting to health appointments, and to contribute by getting involved in extracurricular like sports … and after school programs,” 18-year-old Stanley Gourgue said during the rally.

Gourgue and other student activists are recommending the MBTA implement a more affordable pass plan for students between the ages of 12 and 21, for $10 a month, something T officials have shot down in the past due to cost and the potential for lost revenue. Currently, students ride the T for 50 percent off the price of standard T fares and are eligible for a Monday through Friday pass for $25 per month as well as seven-day pass for $28 per month. Gourgue says if prices to ride the T increase, however, some students in Boston who rely on the system will be forced to choose between their jobs and going to school due to lack of affordability. “It’s hard when you have to spend your paycheck on a monthly pass. You are giving your entire check to the T just to get to where you need to go.”

The rally was comprised of members from the Youth Affordabili-T Coalition, the Chinese Youth Initiative, the Boston Area Youth Organizing Project, andAlternatives for Community and Environment. The groups also demanded the transportation officials consider a tiered fare structure as well as rider and worker votes on all transit authority boards, such as MassDOT. Members said in a statement that the MBTA needs a better revenue plan than a $500 million option floated by the Legislature recently.

On April 2, members of the Senate and House of Representatives released a joint proposal to help fund statewide transportation. The proposal would put costs on the backs of drivers by increasing the gas tax, and add a $1 fee to the price of tobacco products in order to raise revenue. The same day that the idea was presented to the public, similar transportation advocacy groups denounced the plan, saying it wouldn’t fix the larger problem in the Commonwealth.

The youth groups on Boston Common Wednesday agreed that the state needed a better plan. “We are calling on the MBTA and the legislature to support equity now,” the group said, adding that the T should steer clear of future fare hikes and service cuts.

Most Recent Youth Affordabilit(T) Coalition (YAC) statement:

The power of YAC and Youth Way on the MBTA lies fully in the energy and dedication of our youth members and in its youth-led philosophy – and we couldn’t ask for more amazing youth to lead this fight! Thank you to all who have made 2013 a huge success!

Southie petition seeks better MBTA bus service

By Morgan Rousseau, July 16, 2014

A Southie blogger is trying to get 2,000 people to sign a Change.org petition urging the MBTA to improve bus service in the rapidly growing neighborhood.

“I started the petition because this is a real problem that residents face on a daily basis. It is a known problem and it’s just wrong,” said Darren Smith, 37, whose blog Savekstreet.com focuses on neighborhood improvement.

Smith points to a lack of bus dependability that forces residents to rely on Uber or their own cars to ensure they get to work on time, which adds to traffic congestion.

Demands include that the T:-Put more #7 and #9 buses into circulation during rush hour so riders aren’t passed over due to overcapacity.-Convert buses to the Silver Line concept and consider using longer accordian-style buses to increase capacity.-Ensure that buses keep to their published schedules.-Make near real-time performance statistics available to the public.

“The root cause is the lack of response to the rapid growth in Southie’s population over the last several years, and it’s only getting worse. The issue is being completely ignored by the MBTA and Southie’s elected officials,” he said.

The petition was approaching 100 signatures as of Wednesday evening.What Southie is saying:Chad Gaughan, who signed the petition Wednesday, said, “I live in, work and enjoy

all that Southie has to offer. The transportation problem is severe and also effects the incentive to ditch the car- which isn’t helping the parking situation.”

Kimberly Hampton, who also signed the petition, said it is not uncommon for two or three completely full buses to pass her by.

“It makes predicting my commute time difficult and the ride itself frustrating,” she said.Annie Lin described the bus service in Southie as “unacceptable.”

“The buses are unreliable and always full. The MBTA must do better,” said Lin. “The fares keep raising every 6 months, and we get no improved service. Southie is neglected by the MBTA. The MBTA does not provide the same level of service as in other areas of the Boston.”

The T responds:MBTA Spokeswoman Kelly Smith said the transit agency has added service as

resources allow and continue to look for creative ways to make improvements. The T is also working with elected officials to investigate route and bus stop changes in Southie, she said.

“The MBTA is always happy to hear input from our customers and while we are constantly looking for ways to improve service throughout the system, there are many constraints beyond our control that can sometimes limit improvements we would like to make,” she said, pointing to the following strides in Southie service:

-In December 2013, the T added two peak morning round trips to Route 7 which increased capacity by 7 percent.-Starting in September, every other peak morning Route 7 trip will end at South Station which will allow for more frequency and a 10 percent increase in capacity; however, some people will need to walk further to the Financial District or use only the trips which continue to Otis and Summer; these are the difficult tradeoffs in order to alleviate overcrowding; the T recently surveyed Route 7 riders about this change and there was overall support.-Starting in September 2014, there will be one additional peak morning round trip on Route 9.-For off-peak service, the T recently reallocated weekday trips on Routes 7 and 9 from the 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. hours to the 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. hours, in order to better match demand.

-Starting in September 2014, Route 9 Saturday afternoon service will be improved in order to alleviate crowding.-The MBTA is participating in a study of long-range transportation needs for the South Boston Waterfront.The petition can be viewed at Change.org.

Follow Morgan Rousseau on Twitter: @MetroMorganFollow Metro Boston on Twitter: @MetroBOSSource: http://www.metro.us/newyork/news/local/2014/07/16/southie-petitioners-seek-better-mbta-service/#sthash.6CbRdCc6.dpuf