Editorial: Smaller toll increase in Massachusetts still hurts

Mass. Pike toll-payers caught a break last week, if you consider paying an additional buck for a round-trip to Boston a bargain. The deal could have been better, and may yet be replaced by a proposal that puts more of the burden on commercial vehicles. But the damage could also have been worse - and may get worse, depending on how, and whether, the state's transportation management is restructured.

After weeks of warning that huge toll increases would be necessary for the Pike to meet bond obligations tied to construction of the Big Dig, the Turnpike Authority board went for more modest hikes: Increasing the tolls in Weston and Allston-Brighton by 25 cents to $1.25 and the one-way tolls on the Callahan and Ted Williams tunnels by 50 cents to $3.50.

Those increases, recommended by Pike Chairman Bernard Cohen, will be the subject of four public hearings and, if given final approval, will go into effect Jan. 1, 2008. They are a stopgap measure, Cohen explained, intended to keep Pike finances afloat until the Legislature acts on a mega-merger of state transportation agencies that has been widely leaked but not yet officially proposed.

But the short-term toll hikes on the Pike extension could be avoided under an alternative proposed by Pike board member Mary Z. Connaughton. She suggests the same revenue could be realized by hiking the tolls at the tunnels, which are more directly connected to the Big Dig than the old Pike extension, by $1.25 and by increasing tolls paid by commercial vehicles by 75 percent. Pike officials agreed to check her figures, and that alternative deserves full discussion at the planned public hearings.

The public also must hear more about Gov. Deval Patrick's proposal for "MassTrans," which would merge the Pike, the state Highway Department, the MBTA and regional transit authorities.

There is a logic to the idea. Independent government authorities in Massachusetts have a long history of waste and unresponsiveness. Successive governors have jousted over control of agencies like the Mass. Pike, but the imperatives of bureaucratic survival rule even when the names change. Staffs, salaries and perks grow larger. Turf battles and redundant missions proliferate. Transportation planning is fragmented, opportunities to save money are ignored.

Given a clean slate, Patrick could clear out the cobwebs that grow on any bureaucracy left untended for decades. He could find savings and efficiencies and free up resources for other purposes, putting a dent in the $19 billion gap between anticipated revenue and the maintenance needs of the state's transportation infrastructure.

As we await the details, two concerns loom here in MetroWest. Pike toll-payers are already paying to maintain roads others ride for free, notably the Big Dig and the westernmost section of the Pike. How can the governor ensure that tolls won't be raised ever further to subsidize roads and mass transit used by others? By an accident of history, MetroWest is dependent on the state's only major toll road. Will we continue indefinitely to bear disproportionate share of the burden of maintaining the state's transportation infrastructure?

Second, reports indicate the state agency will take control of regional transit authorities. Better coordination of mass transit is a good thing, but MetroWest only this year established its own RTA, which holds the promise of making up for years of being shortchanged by the MBTA. If control over mass transit resources reverts to Boston, will MetroWest and other regions suffer?

"There is a way to restructure the way we pay for transportation that will provide benefits for people across the state, including the good folks who ride the Massachusetts Turnpike," Cohen told the Associated Press after yesterday's meeting. We "good folks" appreciate the reassurance; now let's see the details.