Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu called for more dedicated seats for municipal leaders on the MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board (FMCB) during an interview with Greater Boston on Monday, while reiterating her disapproval with the T fare hikes that just went into effect.
Wu has been vocal in her criticism of public transit price increases since they were first proposed earlier this year, and on Monday morning she led a group of activists in protesting the fare hikes at different stations along the subway network and several commuter rail stations.
Wu said that engaging with everyday commuters helped her see what she views to be a key problem: that the FMCB, one of two boards that oversee the MBTA, is made up of five people appointed by the governor.
"So not just there's a sense that, 'They don't care about us, they're not going to change it, this keeps happening,'" Wu said. "But when you clarify who the 'they' is — that it's five people appointed by Gov. [Charlie] Baker with no direct voice for riders, for cities — that's something we could change, and we have to in the next year before that structure expires.”
Chris Dempsey, the director of Transportation for Massachusetts, a coalition of organizations that aim to improve transportation across the state, said he thought Wu raised "a very good point about how do we make sure that's representative of the entire city and the entire region." But he added that the five board members are unpaid volunteers.
"They are not paid. They're putting their own time in," Dempsey said. "And by and large they've made some good decisions and advanced the T, from a governance perspective."
Wu acknowledged that "we have seen progress in just a short span," but said she wants to see public trust in the T "earned back faster and more boldly."
Baker pledged last year to spend $8 billion over five years on infrastructure improvements. Last week he proposed a bill that would make $50 million more immediately available to the T to pay for costs associated with repairs needed to the Red Line following itsrecent derailment.
Many elected officials, including Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, argued that fare hikes should not have gone into effect until after the Red Line is completely restored.
Wu and Dempsey both agreed that MBTA buses are a critical part of commuters' frustrations.
“Buses are actually the poorest performing service of any part of the MBTA,” Dempsey said. “Their own standard is that if they're on time 75 percent of the time, they call it success. They're normally in the high 60s or low 70s.”
Bus fares were not increased with the other price hikes that took place on Monday, though they were originally included in the first fare hike proposal earlier this year.
“It was only after a lot of public pressure that the bus fares were exempted from that increase," Wu said. She also called for the implementation of dedicated bus lanes in Boston.
"It is the single fastest, most effective, and also the number one focus when it comes to equity, should be on prioritizing our bus lanes and moving riders who are stuck in buses in traffic a lot faster and more reliably," Wu said.
WGBH News intern Kenya Hunter contributed to this report.
