The announcement that the T is raising fares so it can meet its obligations does not come as a surprise.
For those who use public transportation it is simply another sign of the times and one that will make transporting oneself slightly more expensive, especially if you use public transportation five days a week to go to work and then to return home.
The T’s predicament is something of its own making. The transit giant owes so much money to creditors that almost no amount of money coming in is enough to meet its expenses.
It also has a vast under-funded pension liability because its pensions are so generous to the point of outrage.
And there is always the need for new and extremely costly equipment and for infrastructure maintenance with thousands of busses, trains and many smaller vehicles.
In recent years, the T’s excesses have been brought under control.
Ridership is way up. Quality of service has improved. Outrageous pensions have been eliminated. The excesses that used to occur in hiring have also been eliminated, though not entirely.
Everyone who is a T user will have to pay more to ride the T. Exactly how much has not yet been established. The T will be holding meetings in various neighborhoods to hear out T users about the fare increase.
Suffice to say, the price for just about everything we buy is going up. Sadly, this includes the T. If only the T had been able to control itself and to limit all the wasteful spending, we wouldn’t have to pay for the T’s excesses today.