On Beacon Hill, talk again turns to transportation revenue

BOSTON (AP) — With another MBTA fare hike looming this summer, talk on Beacon Hill and beyond is again turning to additional ways to help pay for the state's aging transportation system.

At a meeting this week during which the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's Fiscal and Management Control Board voted to boost fares an average of about 6 percent, critics of the hike, including Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu, said the state needs to find other sources of revenue to tap.

Wu and other transit advocates said lawmakers should look at raising the state gas tax, increasing fees on ride-hailing companies like Lyft and Uber, and so-called congestion pricing, essentially a toll placed on cars driving into dense urban centers at peak hours.

Ultimately, Wu said, she would like to see free public transit, which she said needs to be inclusive, accessible, reliable and affordable.

"This fare hike will not get us there," she said. "It is nowhere near the funding needed to reach that vision."

Environmental groups also opposed the fare increase, saying it could force some riders back into cars, which could increase pollution.

The MBTA opted to moderate their toll plan by exempting bus fares from hikes. Student and senior fares will also be exempt. The fare hikes are scheduled to kick in July 1. The T says they would raise about $29 million annually.

Those calls for additional non-fare sources of revenue may be reaching some key sets of ears on Beacon Hill.

During a speech this week to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Democratic House Speaker Robert DeLeo spoke about the need to improve the state's transportation infrastructure and the need for the money to pay for those improvements.

DeLeo alluded to a 2014 ballot question that repealed a 2013 law meant to tie...