U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano is disappointed that the MBTA approved a pilot program to extend Commuter Rail Service to Foxborough, saying the agency’s service boost to the suburbs better not come at the expense of Fairmount Line customers.
The T will launch regular weekday service to Foxborough in 2019. The agency’s decision takes advantage of an offer by the owners of the New England Patriots and the team’s adjacent Patriot’s Place entertainment complex to provide 500 parking spots and subsidize the cost of each ride.
The MBTA’s pilot plan, which was approved by a 4-1 vote Monday, calls for several trains per day from the Fairmount line to travel beyond Boston to Foxborough and back. Neighborhood activists, who have lobbied the T for decades to improve service to the Fairmount line, fear sending the trains to Southeastern Massachusetts could cause delays and crowding once the trains reach Boston on the return trip. The T’s proposal for the service extension said there will be no schedule or service impact on current Fairmount riders.
Capunao says he wants the T to be clear about who is riding the new route and if it will at all affect riders in Roxbury, Dorchester and Hyde Park.
“Both myself, and I think the community, want assurances that it will be objectively measured and that the measurements will be fair and reasonable and transparent,” Capuano told WGBH News Tuesday.
“They had plenty of time between now and a few months to meet again with the communities and try to work out whatever they could work out,” Capuano said, emphasizing that he doesn’t oppose the added route as long as it doesn’t harm Fairmount service.
“I just got off the phone with [Transportation Secretary] Stephanie Pollack and reminded her that we needed to discuss further the whole Fairmount line extension. Again, I’m trying to be supportive,” Capuano said.
