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The Boston Globe is reporting that the MBTA may lose promised federal funding of the final phase of the Silver Line due to the agency’s inability to show it can afford to operate the busway if built.
The $1.4 billion project, which will connect the two existing Silver Line routes, involves constructing a mile of underground travel lanes beneath Tremont and Essex Streets, three bus stations, and a turnaround area. It currently is ranked by the Federal Transit Administration as a medium-importance project and qualifies for 60 percent federal reimbursement.
However, with the MBTA spending more to pay down its $8.2 billion in debt than to actually operate its system of rail and bus lines, the federal government reportedly is concerned that the MBTA won’t be able to operate the bus line without having to cut service elsewhere. This point was highlighted this past Tuesday when MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas told the Joint Committee on Transportation that the agency was losing $12 million annually operating the one-year-old Greenbush commuter rail line. Grabauskas also said he could not guarantee that the MBTA wouldn’t be back before the Legislature next year asking for a bailout.
“We should not be considering any more expansion projects until the MBTA, Governor Patrick, and the Legislature partner up to pass a comprehensive transportation reform plan that places the MBTA on solid financial footing,” said Senate Minority Whip Robert L. Hedlund, the ranking member of the Committee on Transportation. “And as part of that reform plan, we need to place a higher priority on mass transit projects that will serve our population centers and are financially self-sufficient, rather than suburban-oriented projects that require substantial operating subsidies.”
