Politics & Government

Belmont Bus Service Saved as MBTA Raises Rates

Buses through Belmont Center and late night/weekend commuter rail will continue.

The good news: Belmont commuters will continue to have their buses through Belmont Center and their late night and weekend rail service.

The bad news: those same commuters will need to dig deeper into their pockets for that extra quarters to pay for those trips.

The MBTA announced a series of recommended fare increases, service cuts and administrative changes Wednesday morning to close its $185 million budget gap in fiscal year 2013.

Find out what's happening in Belmontwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

[See the full proposal]

Also view a pdf file of the changes on this web page.

Find out what's happening in Belmontwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Belmont walks away from the proposal relatively unscathed, as the MBTA is not recommending any cuts to bus routes that run through town. that cuts were unlikely to occur.

That being said, Belmont residents, like everyone else, will be paying more to ride the T if the proposal is approved. But that they were willing to pay more rather than lose service.

Here are the recommended fare increases for buses and subways:

Single Ride Fares Existing Planned Increase Local Bus (Charlie Card) $1.25 $1.50 25 cents Monthly Bus pass $40 $48 $8 Subway (Charlie Card) $1.70 $2 30 cents Bus+Subway "LinkPass" (Charlie Card) $1.70 $2 30 cents Monthly "LinkPass" $59 $70 $11

Commuter rail riders will have to pay a bit more also from Belmont and Waverley stations which are Zone 1 stops:

Monthly Pass Existing Planned Increase Zone 1 $135 $173 $38

MBTA staff members are scheduled to present the recommendations to the MBTA’s board for approval on April 4, according to the release. The changes would go into effect July 1, the beginning of fiscal year 2013.


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