Walsh: Major MBTA Service Cuts Could 'Damage Our Recovery'
BOSTON (CBS) – Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said major potential cuts to MBTA service could "damage our recovery" and he wants the agency to find other ways to save money.
The MBTA Fiscal Control Board is trying to save about $130 million due to revenue lost in the coronavirus pandemic.
On Monday, the agency proposed stopping commuter rail service after 9 p.m. on weekdays and getting rid of it completely on weekends. Ferry service and 25 bus routes would be eliminated. The T's subway lines would run less frequently and subway and bus service would stop at midnight.
Walsh said the MBTA, like many struggling cities and businesses, has a "responsibility" to find the revenue without making cuts that "could damage our recovery."
"This is not the right way to move forward - not for our immediate needs and not for our long term recovery," the mayor told reporters Thursday.
"These cuts undermine our COVID responses, to be able to have physical distancing on trains and buses. It hurts the essential and frontline worker who have the fewest transportation options. It reduces disability access. It delays our climate change goals. And they hamstring our ability to get people to jobs."
The MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board is scheduled to vote on the proposed service cuts December 7.
"We have to dig deep; we have to protect our future," Walsh said.
