NICHOLAS DAGEN BLOOM, the author of The Great American Transit Disaster, takes a long view of the current problems at the MBTA.
In a new episode of the Codcast, Bloom, a professor of urban policy and planning at Hunter College in New York City, said public transit in Boston is currently at a low point, but he said that’s nothing new.
“Episodic financial collapse and also managerial issues are part of the Boston story, going back to 1918 when you have the trusteeship created, the original MTA in the 1940s, the MBTA in the ‘60s, financial reorganization in the early ‘70s, future funding systems,” he said. “If you really look at it, it’s been a series of responses to crises. What stands out for me in Boston’s history is that in each case you see a kind of deeper engagement of state government, some kind of funding that can basically re-establish some kind of equilibrium. That’s an important difference from most American cities.”
Bloom said there are no guarantees, but he believes the MBTA will reach some kind of equilibrium again. “I would say have hope because this is something Boston has gotten through before,” he said.
In his book, Bloom traces the rise of American transit, initially as a largely private enterprise, and its dramatic fall. “The true disaster in the longer picture is that America goes from being, if not the world’s leader, certainly one of the leaders in mass transportation in 1900 to really being just in a terrible situation where in most regions transit riding is a very small percentage of total miles traveled. To me that is just a complete and total disaster.”
Bloom also weighed in on the calls in Massachusetts and elsewhere for doing away with fares. (He also wrote a commentary on the subject.) “It plays very well in cities right now, but when we see the financial reality of city budgets and state budgets … I think it’s really a distraction,” he said.
“We’ve been charging fares of some kind for over a century and if you take that out there’s some political liability. Long term, I don’t really see cities doing it.”
“The emphasis should be on how can we build better systems,” he said.
Bloom sees room for some optimism about the MBTA if it receives financial support, if policies are implemented to increase housing density, and if more colleges and universities follow MIT’s lead and buy T passes for their employees and students.
He said the key is to improve service and keep the system operating and not get distracted by what he calls the “shiny object of transit” – the latest vehicles, expansions, electrifications, etc.
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About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
“What saves transit is not the shiny object. Let’s save it, let’s keep it running,” he said. “Let’s be strategic about maintaining it and seeing what happens after the crisis. Because it could turn out that we really need it. Maybe we’re going to get really serious about climate change, put a gas tax on things really high. That is likely to happen.”
