MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak says the T is facing a $580 million-dollar budget gap and cuts to service will be considered to reduce that deficit.
Those cuts include elimination of the Hingham/Hull ferry service as soon as March of 2021. The T hopes to save at least $130 million dollars in cuts that include ending subway service after midnight.
Poftak says the MBTA has been running service at pre-COVID levels, but with lower ridership, those levels are not sustainable.
“On the Commuter Rail, ridership is currently 12 percent of pre-COVID levels. We are proposing to end all weekday service at 9 p.m. We also propose no weekend service and a reduction in service levels,” said Poftak. “We are looking to lower the amount of peak service and also eliminating some midday service on all lines. This will result in a reduction of trains from 505 daily trips to 430.”
Based on the latest budget update, they’re projecting a $44 million net decrease in fare revenue.
Public meetings are planned for people to weigh in on the proposed cuts.
“This effort will run through December and includes a series of virtual public meetings and a public hearing to gather feedback directly from riders,” said Poftak.
“The T wants to hear from transit riders about the services people are using now, how often they’re using them, and what their transit priorities are in order to shape the T’s decisions about which transit-critical services to prioritize and protect, and which may need to be cut back until ridership and revenues return.”
More information can be found at MBTA.com/forging-ahead.
