We commend leaders of the Five College Consortium who this week lobbied the governor and legislators to provide more money for regional transit authorities.
That effort comes as the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority is threatening for the second straight year to reduce routes while raising fares for the first time in a decade, because of a projected $3.1 million shortfall in its budget for the year beginning July 1.
That gap in part results from Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposed state budget that would provide just $80.4 million for regional transit authorities, rather than the $88 million that public transportation advocates say is needed to avoid service cuts.
The consortium’s letter urges the state to provide the full $88 million, with regular cost-of-living increases in subsequent years. It was signed by Neal Abraham, executive director of Five Colleges Inc., and Jonathan Lash, who heads its board and is president of Hampshire College in Amherst.
“Multi-year, level-funding of these crucial transportation systems has already had a corrosive effect on the commonwealth as it requires service cuts that directly degrade our economy, our quality of life, the lives and budgets of poor and working families, and key sectors, such as higher education, that depend on a robust public transportation system,” states the letter sent to Baker, legislative leaders and lawmakers representing the 24 communities served by the PVTA.
Five Colleges spokesman Kevin Kennedy said such a letter is unusual, but it is critical that legislators understand the importance of preserving public transportation. “In this situation, the need to increase budgetary funding for PVTA and (regional transit authorities) was really essential.”
We believe that a combination of more state money and regular, smaller rate increases by the PVTA is the best solution to preserving affordable public transportation that is essential for many riders and more environmentally friendly than personal vehicles.
The across-the-board 25 percent fare hike proposed by the PVTA, its first adjustment since 2008, would be a blow to the pocketbooks of riders who depend on the buses to get to work and essential appointments. Under that increase, the $1.25 cost per trip for adults would rise to $1.60, and a 31-day pass would go up from $45 to $56.
Last year, the PVTA considered extensive route reductions, including the elimination of some serving the Five Colleges. After protests by students and college officials, the PVTA ended up dropping just four of its 63 routes and reducing service to nine more.
Among the reductions the PVTA is considering now are eliminating the Crosstown Northampton route, dropping the 8:15 a.m. and 4:15 express trips on the B43 route between Northampton and Amherst, reducing the frequency of evening service and cutting back Saturday buses to match the Sunday schedule. All told, that would affect 43 routes and eliminate an estimated 1.1 million passenger trips annually.
Students and other protesters made their displeasure clear last month at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Ways and Means held a hearing on the state budget. “The reason we’re out here today is because Gov. Baker’s budget proposal seriously underfunds public transit throughout the state,” said Patrick Burke, rider representative to the PVTA advisory board.
James Cordero, a UMass student organizer for the Center for Education Policy and Advocacy, added, “This is an issue of the vulnerable. When we raise fares, poor people pay for it the worst. When we reduce services to public transit, disabled people are most disenfranchised, working people are most disenfranchised. Public transportation is an investment in working people and working economies.”
Those concerns were echoed in the letter from leaders of the Five Colleges, whose students, faculty and staff ride the PVTA buses for free during the academic year. “Working together to keep this economic engine running well is important for the entire Valley,” Abraham and Lash wrote.
They also pointed out that route reductions would lead to more students and staff at the colleges and university using personal vehicles, adding to congestion on the roads and carbon dioxide emissions.
We urge local legislators to take the lead in convincing their colleagues and the governor that affordable public transportation is an essential service that deserves full funding by the state.