Belmont Bus Service Saved as MBTA Raises Rates
Buses through Belmont Center and late night/weekend commuter rail will continue.
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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.
Also view a pdf file of the changes on this web page.
Belmont walks away from the proposal relatively unscathed, as the MBTA is not recommending any cuts to bus routes that run through town. State Sen. Will Brownsberger told residents earlier this month 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 large numbers of Belmont commuters told Belmont Patch 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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4:03 pm on Wednesday, March 28, 2012
It should be noted that the 74/75 and the 78 bus routes that service Belmont both saw substantial cuts in service in the quarterly schedule changes that went into effect on Saturday. One Belmontian estimated that the drop in number of scheduled buses is around 25% on these lines. These quarterly changes are typically very small, and a change of 25% is very nontypical. One could argue that the MBTA managed to avoid cutting service in July but cutting some now, without much fanfare.
Franklin Tucker
5:24 pm on Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Excellent observation on how "cuts" due occur on bus service.