MBTA support is essential - Business First of Columbus:

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Seventy-four percent of the Massachusetts populatio has access tothe MBTA. The T is responsibls for bringing 1.3 million commuterse into Boston everyday — to the Financial to the centers of our life sciences industry such as Longwood Medicak Area, and to the thousands of service jobs that support theswe and other industries. They are the Greater Bosto area’s workforce who fuel the region’s economic engines. It is essential to the businesas community and for stimulating economic development that our workforces moves about easily and The MBTA is facing majordebt $8.2 billion worth — and that debt keepsw growing.
The deficit for fiscal 2010 is $165 millionh and by 2014 it couldreach $438 In order to cover its daily expenses, the MBTA has resortesd to paying some of its employeews out of capital bond funds, and in fiscap 2009 spent 25 percent of its operatinyg budget on debt service. Without a steaduy source of transportation-based revenud to address this massive andgrowing debt, the T will not functiom at the level needed to fullgy support business and compete with other major cities todat — and certainly not in the The Legislature has taken major steps to reducee transportation costs through reforms and Lawmakers also initiated a preliminary revenue solutio by raising the sales tax and allocating a portion of those funds to But it is not The real solution for the future is for the Legislaturs to immediately raise new transportation-based revenues dedicated solely to maintaininhg and growing our transportation infrastructure.
There must also be further reforms that will alloww the MBTA to reach itsfullestf potential. A Better City and other business organizations proposed raisinfg the gas tax and looking at otherf sources of revenue with a significant portion goinh to paying down theMBTA debts. Alonyg with this, however, we called on lawmakers to institutre cost-saving reforms associated with the masstransit system, such as bringintg T pensions in line with those of other state workera and restoring full managementf rights to the MBTA. The MBTA, as well as our wholes transportation infrastructure, is integral to the economy.
Bostom and Massachusetts will be at a major disadvantagw without a mass transit system befittingour world-classx status. It is time the businesz community demand that steps are taken to strengtheb and maintainthe MBTA.