As fares for train service go up this week, it's not only transit advocates and elected officials pushing for dramatic improvements to the T — Boston's business community is also demanding change.
But considering how much businesses are profiting from Boston's hot economy, how much are they willing to contribute to solving the problem?
C.A. Webb, president of the Kendall Square Association, represents some of the most successful high-tech businesses in the area. She says the commonwealth’s mass transit system is in crisis, and the Red Line derailment earlier this month is only the latest evidence of its deterioration. Webb believes Massachusetts needs a full comprehensive plan for transportation, rather than the incrementally funded, project-by-project approach, which she says has not produced the needed results.
Webb's organization recently sent a letter to Gov. Baker, Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Robert DeLeo calling on them to provide the billions in long-term funding needed to make a real difference, and that means more than the $8 billion that Gov. Baker has committed.
When asked where the money should come from, Webb cites several possibilities, including carbon emissions taxes, congestion pricing, various user fees like the gas tax, and broader options like a massive transportation bond bill that taxpayers would eventually pay for. And businesses contributing to improving the T, she says, should definitely be on the table.
Jim Rooney, president and CEO of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, says some businesses already are spending their own money on transportation workarounds.
”If you look over at the South Boston waterfront, there's about 20 private bus shuttles that are running around. Companies started shuttling employees on their own dime. They’re also implementing flexible work schedules," he said. "It is all adaptive behavior to make their businesses work and to make sure they don't lose their employees.”
Rooney says his members want to contribute financially to solving the transit problem, but that doesn't mean writing a blank check.
Jesse Mermell, president of the Alliance for Business Leadership, says businesses have to "think big and bold — we're talking about tens of billions of dollars worth of new revenue over the course of decades, supported by and significantly paid for by businesses and the most fortunate among us," she said. "That's what I think the business community of Massachusetts needs to do, if we're really going to put into place the transportation system our economy demands.”
But the real question is what happens in the short term. Even if businesses invest billions in modernizing the T, it will take years before commuters see any real results. Can we — and the business community — wait that long?
