caspa10152 t1_ja8fa9r wrote on February 27, 2023 at 4:49 PM

Reply to comment by Doctrina_Stabilitas in MBTA won’t roll out $935M automated fare payment system in 2024 by weallgettheemails2

They might collect $450 million in revenue but that number is far below the MBTA's operating budget. Last year they had a budget gap of about $400 million. Don't think spending an extra billion on this is really going to improve their budget

Doctrina_Stabilitas t1_ja8l7e4 wrote on February 27, 2023 at 5:26 PM

well i mean not collecting fares would mean 450 million bigger hole? Also implementing this will improve service by reducing dwell times and overall make transit more attractive

the alternative of course is to do this, then throw it out right away by passing a 1% sales tax increase for the MBTA, because the contracted money is spent already, it's not like we'll get it back

AeuiGame t1_ja8ptyd wrote on February 27, 2023 at 5:55 PM

Bigger hole, but bigger improvement on the city. Getting cars off the road helps actively the cities budget. Infrastructure shouldn't generate revenue.

Doctrina_Stabilitas t1_ja8q8qy wrote on February 27, 2023 at 5:58 PM

yeah sure, but it wouldnt be a bigger improvement if you have to cut 30% to match the new revenue. We could do it if we increased the MBTA sales tax from 1% to 2%, but i highly doubt that would ever happen, and a reduction in service (like to 20-25 minutes between trains) would be a disaster given that trains now are already 15 minutes apart and packed to the gills (or at least the orange line is at sullivan)

caspa10152 t1_ja8tjxx wrote on February 27, 2023 at 6:19 PM

I'm curious to see what the total dwell times are. Whenever I am Downtown I almost never see a line of people waiting to pass thru the turnstyle, whereas, when I used to work in Rockefeller center, especially during the holidays, it could take 10 to 15 mins just to get in, so there it made sense. I guess you can say I am struggling to understand the efficiency gain, in regards to dwell times, because I almost never see any. I'm also curious to know how many "free riding" passengers the MBTA believes currently exists.

Doctrina_Stabilitas t1_ja92jkb wrote on February 27, 2023 at 7:15 PM

Bus dwell times mostly, green and buses are most likely to see improvements by allowing all door boarding