A Triple Whammy for Public Transit in Medford

– Ken Krause

They say bad news comes in threes, and that certainly was true for Medford public transit users and advocates in July.

First, the Executive Office of Transportation (EOT) announced a change to the proposed Urban Ring bus rapid transit system that would eliminate Medford from the service area, but still create a facility to store and maintain some 75 Urban Ring buses at Wellington Station.

Then, the MBTA announced that it must raise fares by 20 percent, or else make major service cuts, including:

• Elimination of the 325 express bus from the Fellsway/Salem Street area to Haymarket and the 710 private carrier bus service, which runs from North Medford through Medford Square to Meadow Glen Mall

• A 50 percent reduction of all weekday evening and weekend bus service

• Elimination of commuter rail service after 7 p.m. weekdays and entirely on weekends.

Finally, the EOT announced an indefinite delay for the construction of the Green Line station it is planning at Boston Avenue and Mystic Valley Parkway, saying it would only complete the extension as far as College Avenue by the project’s legal deadline of Dec. 31, 2014.

Each of these proposals is short-sighted and, if approved, would make traveling in Medford – either by transit or by car – more difficult.

The Urban Ring, the circumferential route around Boston that will improve access to major employment, educational and medical centers, as well as to Logan Airport, should also have been a catalyst for long overdue traffic improvements to Wellington Circle. Instead, citing “uncertainty about implementation of the proposed Wellington Circle grade separation,” the EOT simply decided to completely bypass Wellington Station, where it had projected 5,600 daily Urban Ring riders.

The MBTA fare increase – which would be the fourth since 2000 – and drastic service cuts not only would add to the financial burden of those who depend on public transportation, but would result in even more auto trips – and more air pollution – on our already congested and deteriorating roadways.

And, the Green Line construction delay, by the EOT’s own estimate, will drive up the cost of the final leg of the project by $50 million – an absurd decision in times of fiscal belt-tightening, not to mention that it would double the burden on many residents who would be forced to live through two construction phases instead of one.

We need better public transportation service in Medford, not less, and the need is going to rapidly increase over the next 20 years. Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) population and employment projections show that by 2030, demand for transit could increase by 500,000 to 600,000 trips per day.

In that same time, the population of people over age 55 in the metro Boston area is expected to increase by 78 percent. One-third of the region’s residents will be seniors, who as they cut back or retire from driving, will look to public transportation as a means of maintaining mobility and independence.

The time to act is now to ensure that adequate public transportation service will be here in the future.

Public comments on the Urban Ring project change are due on Friday, Aug. 7. Details are available at www.theurbanring.com.

Public workshops on the proposed MBTA fare increase and service cuts are being held throughout the state, including one at Somerville High School on Thursday, Aug. 13. See www.mbta.com for details on the workshops, and how to submit written comments.

Comments about the Green Line extension may be submitted on the project website, www.greenlineextension.org; there also will be a public comment period following the release of the project’s Draft Environmental Impact Report in mid-August.

Let’s make our community three times richer in public transportation, not three times poorer.