As far as I can tell, late-night services attract sufficiently few riders that they take an unusually high subsidy per-rider. The question seems to be where to get that money.
I recall seeing a proposal to increase the MBTA's subsidy from the state government. The legislature allocated an increment to the gas tax to pay for the MBTA. It was repealed on a referendum. Only recently did I realize that the tax was a really bad idea: gas taxes fall heaviest on rural and exurban people who are out of range of the MBTA and lightest on urben and near-suburban people who use the MBTA. The best way to pay for the MBTA is to increase its levy on the cities and towns within its territory -- which I notice was not the approach the legislature took.
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Date: 2016-05-28 09:41 pm (UTC)I recall seeing a proposal to increase the MBTA's subsidy from the state government. The legislature allocated an increment to the gas tax to pay for the MBTA. It was repealed on a referendum. Only recently did I realize that the tax was a really bad idea: gas taxes fall heaviest on rural and exurban people who are out of range of the MBTA and lightest on urben and near-suburban people who use the MBTA. The best way to pay for the MBTA is to increase its levy on the cities and towns within its territory -- which I notice was not the approach the legislature took.