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Boston Subway Collision : We Need A
Fight-Back Against Transit Cuts
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Dec 11, 2012
By Joshua H. Koritz and Ryan Mosgrove
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On November 29
in Boston, two subway trains crashed into one another at the Boylston stop
downtown, sending around 35 people to the hospital. Thankfully, none of these
injuries were life-threatening, but the incident raises serious concerns about
the state of the public transit system here in Boston.
This is the second accident on the Green Line in the past two months, with
the last one, which injured three people, occurring in early October near
Brigham Circle on the E Line. The increased frequency of accidents has occurred
against the backdrop of the service cuts and fare increases last spring. The
Boston transit service is not just the oldest in the country, but also the
deepest in debt, saddled with over $5 billion in debt and a deficit of nearly
$160 million dollars (see the 2009 study "Born
Broke").
The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) has made it
clear that paying this debt is their highest priority. Yearly budgets hold debt
payments – over $300 million per year – as untouchable; instead, they propose
cutting bus routes, hugely raising fares, cutting employee health care, and
making mass layoffs.
Austerity measures - such as the T fare hikes - will continue, as any
economic recovery will be diverted into the pockets of big business. Already the
MBTA debt is owed to big banks and rich investors. Everywhere across the U.S.
and internationally, public services are cut and unions attacked while the debts
owed to multibillion dollar banks are off the table. 2013 promises to be a year
of struggle and fighting back. The fight for public transportation to be
affordable and well-funded is shaping up to be a major battle here in Boston.
In the spring of 2012, softened by a one-time payout from the state
government, the MBTA instituted a 23% fare increase on riders across the board,
a plan far less severe than its initial proposals. This came with the warning
that this was a stopgap, and that they would be back for more next year. Richard
A. Davey, the transportation secretary for the city, has already been discussing
the need for fare hikes and service cuts if the city doesn’t find a “long-term
solution” to the deficit. Last year the MBTA held public meetings on the budget
cuts in communities across Boston. Roughly 6,000 people attended these meetings
where the anger of the community against the attacks was on display.
Unfortunately, these hearings amounted to a pressure valve for the community to
let off steam and feel like the MBTA was listening to their concerns, when in
fact it was all just a smokescreen.
The Transit Riders’ Union (TRU) advanced a strategy of directly petitioning
state politicians, along with publicity stunts. While these actions may have had
some impact, they did nothing to harness the anger and energy that the thousands
of ordinary people had.
Once these cuts had taken effect, Socialist Alternative united with activists
from Occupy Boston, Common Struggle, and the IWW to form a coalition to organize
fare evasions as a tactic to resist the fare hikes. This tactic, even with small
numbers, attracted the attention of many people, including media outlets.
The MBTA is already preparing to attack working people again through service
cuts and fare hikes, but this time we can be ready. We cannot accept cuts and we
cannot accept attacks on transit worker pay or benefits. The excellent work from
the summer of 2012 building for fare strikes and evasions should be taken up
again: We have to start laying the groundwork immediately and creating a
coalition between riders and transit workers if we want to win!
Workers and activists in Boston should organize meetings across the city to
prepare people for what is coming and how to act. When the MBTA holds their
meetings this time, activists should be prepared to intervene in these meetings
and, if possible, even shut them down and turn them into a discussion about how
the T can be made sustainable without selling out the community.
Debt held
by big corporations and the 1% should be canceled. The major employers in the
Boston area could not exist without public transportation and should be taxed to
improve and expand it. We reject any additional taxes on working people, such as
a “gas tax” or any other regressive proposals.
We should organize meetings to coordinate fare strikes across the city,
reaching out to the workers who operate the T to support fare strikes and to
consider workplace actions themselves. In 2006, public transit workers in New
York City showed the power that transit workers have when they go on strike.
The reality is that there is a “long-term solution” to fixing the MBTA. Debt
should be repaid on the basis of real need. There are hundreds of wealthy
businesses and institutions like Harvard that receive tens of millions of
dollars in tax breaks or subsidies and give back very little to the community.
These businesses need the T because they need the workers in order to make a
profit, and those workers can’t get to work if the T doesn’t run. Also, Forward
Funding legislation should be repealed, which would put funding for the T back
into the state budget, and further funding should come from the top 1%, not
working people.
Whatever we win from the bosses is only temporary unless we can provide an
alternative to capitalism altogether. Until these cuts are seriously addressed,
accidents like the one last Thursday will be a regular occurrence. No service
cuts! No fare hikes! No cuts in transit worker benefits and no layoffs! Cancel
the MBTA debt and make big business and the 1% pay!
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