Two State Senators and State Senate Candidate Call for Moratorium on Late Night T Suspension

Two State Senators and State Senate Candidate

Call for Moratorium on Late Night T Suspension

Boston, MA – Today, after the MBTA voted to impose huge fare hikes on its customers, Senators Linda Dorcena Forry, Sonia Chang-Diaz and Senate-candidate Diana Hwang called on the MBTA’s Fiscal Management Control Board to place a moratorium on the planned suspension of late night service until the required equity analysis can be completed in compliance with federal civil rights guidelines. 

“I believe the equity analysis will show what we already know, that the suspension of late night service will disproportionately impact low income riders,” said Senator Forry. “Late night service is not a luxury for many people in my district.  It is unfortunate that the fiscal control board would move to end this valuable service without first completing the equity analysis required by federal civil rights guidelines.”

“The MBTA has moved forward in an unwarranted way to suspend service that is vital to so many of the hard working men and women here in North Suffolk,” said State Senate candidate Diana Hwang.  “East Boston is ground zero for this concern.  It is physically impossible for late-shift workers who work downtown or in other parts of the city to walk home to East Boston after their shift ends.  And a cab ride can cost them hours of pay.”

Late night service, which was added in 2014, for Friday and Saturday evenings was to be cancelled on March 18, 2016.  On Friday, March 4, federal officials said the MBTA had failed to follow civil rights guidelines that required the agency to fully examine whether the cancellation of late-night T service approved this week would disproportionately hurt minorities and low-income riders.

“It is deplorable that, even after an incomplete initial analysis showed disparate impact, the MBTA proceeded to eliminate service,” added Senator Chang-Diaz.  “The MBTA must complete the analysis and take action in light of it, not in spite of it.  The poorest members of our community should not bear the burden of decades of neglect by MBTA management.”

Linda Dorcena Forry serves as the State Senator from the 1^st Suffolk (representing Dorchester and South Boston) and serves on the Transportation Committee.  Sonia Chang-Diaz serves as the State Senator from the 2^nd Suffolk (representing Mattapan, Roxbury and Jamaica Plain).  Diana Hwang is a candidate for State Senate for 1^st Suffolk and Middlesex representing Chinatown, Downtown, Cambridgeport and North Suffolk including East Boston, Winthrop and Revere.