Pressley Vows to Fight for Public Transit Equity as November Election Nears

Skyler Stark-Ragsdale - Nov., 2022

BOSTON —  U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D – Boston, vows to fight for public transit equity as the November general election nears. 

“Transit is a disability justice issue, it’s a racial justice issue, it’s an economic justice issue, and again it’s a sustainability issue,” Pressley told Somerville GovTV in a congressional update last month. “We need to be focused on increasing ridership given the stressors of climate change, not decreasing it.”

Pressley, the U.S. Rep. for Massachusetts 7th congressional district, said she and Sen. Edward Markey advocated for the MBTA lines to be free – at the very least – during the recent Orange and Green Line shutdowns, if not all the time. She said in the update the federal government had residual funds from ARPA, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, they could have used to reduce MBTA fares during the disruption.

Former Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation Jim Aloisi said Pressley should work on the national level building coalitions to support funding transit operations. 

“But you know, it’s hard,” said Aloisi. “Her job is to figure out not just how to get her colleagues from the East Coast to support her but people across the country who have very different ways of looking at things.”

Should Pressley keep her congressional spot in the Nov. general election, she said in the update she hopes the new Massachusetts governor will take seriously her recommendations to make the MBTA equitable.

Pressley, the co-chair of the Future of Transportation Caucus, secured $20 million this past August in federal funds to improve Roxbury transit corridors. 

Aloisi said he is thankful that Pressley supports “COVID relief money” — funding provided by the federal government to revitalize transit systems in the wake of the pandemic. However, he thinks congress could do more. The federal government stopped funding operating expenses for state transportation systems during the Reagan administration, he said.

“If congress wanted to do something really impactful,” said Aloisi. “It would be supporting renewal of federally funded operating expenses.”

Transit operating expenses include expenses related to hiring people, training people and doing maintenance, according to Aloisi. Aloisi believes, though, Pressley will do well to advocate for transit equity on a national level. 

“Being an advocate is an important… roll and I think [Pressley]’s a highly respected national figure” said Aloisi. “She can at least make her points heard and that's a chance for something.” 

Regardless, Aloisi believes there is much to be done to improve equity. 

“If the state believes, as we should, that transit is a public good, I think it’s a given that they should pick up the tab for it,” said Aloisi.

Aloisi said Massachusetts has enough funding to realistically fund a free bus system – a fee of about $120 million per year — and to reduce fares for other modes of public transportation. 

“Having a better bus system,” said Aloisi. “It’s important for equity, it’s important for reducing carbon emissions, it’s important for giving people access to opportunity.”

Tufts Professor and user of the MBTA train system, Tim, who declined to give his last name, said like Aloisi, he supports Pressley’s action toward improving public transit equity and thinks the MBTA could be improved.

“But, if we could increase the access both to the T but also to the other… modes,” said Tim. “Then we should… let’s get some of the cars off of the road.”

Tyrone Myers, 54, a user of the MBTA trains, said funding for MBTA could be put to better use. 

“What [are] they really doing with this money?” said Myers. “The trains are still getting caught up in the tunnels; folks [are] still having to walk out [of] these tunnels.”

He wants to see accountability in Boston’s transit system and believes those funding the MBTA need to be more proactive. 

“If you say you’re going to do something. Do it. Don’t play with it,” he said. “Because I think the money is going somewhere else, other than what they say the money is for.”