“If public transit is a public good, then we should treat it that way," [Stacy Thompson] says. "We should fund it like schools and libraries."

We hear from WBUR Reporter Bruce Gellerman about the growing movement to make public transit free in Massachusetts. We also take listener calls with Stacy Thompson, Executive Director of LiveableStreets Alliance, Kendrys Vasquez, Acting Mayor of Lawrence, and Brian Kane, Executive Director of the MBTA Advisory Board.

“There’s this misperception that ... more folks are working from home, [and so] congestion will somehow be better,” said Stacy Thompson, executive director for the LivableStreets Alliance, an advocacy group focused on transportation innovation and equity in Greater Boston. “The reality is that you only need a small percentage of people to choose not to take the T for us to get to pre-pandemic levels of congestion.”

“Giving primarily white and wealthy transit riders a free trip, while forcing primarily Black and low income riders to jump through hoops to access similar fare-free service, is exactly what structural racism looks like,” says Stacy Thompson, executive director of the LivableStreets Alliance

Within a few months of the report, the MBTA purchased the buses, and now is working to acquire land for additional bus garage capacity, said Stacy Thompson, Livable Streets’ executive director. “So things are happening,” she said. “Not as quickly as we’d like, but they’re happening.”

The Freedom to Move Act is endorsed by the Sunrise Movement, 350 MASS, A Better Cambridge, Action 4 Equity, Allston Brighton Health Collaborative, Alternatives for Community and Environment, Bikes Not Bombs, Boston Cyclist Union, Community Labor United, Green Newton, GreenRoots, The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts, Inc, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, LivableStreets Alliance, Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition, MASSPIRG, Massachusetts Sierra Club, Massachusetts Senior Action Council, Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition, Riders Action Council, Transit Matters, WalkBoston.

LivableStreets Alliance Executive Director Stacy Thompson said the much-debated Interstate 90 Allston Interchange project was also a likely candidate for federal funding, given its advanced planning state and its transit element: a combination bus-commuter rail hub that would serve the rapidly growing Allston neighborhood.

Ultimately, the pandemic has demonstrated that a reliance on fare revenue is not a sustainable and equitable way to fund our transit system, [Kristiana] Lachiusa, said. "In order to really have a fare-free transit system sustainably work, we’re going to need longer-term changes in funding," she said.

"I can say with certainty that everyone here today wants one simple thing - a fully functioning T that supports us bringing back our economy, bringing back Massachusetts, and we're not there yet," Livable Streets Alliance Executive Director Stacy Thompson said.

“Not everyone is feeling the impact but where they are felt it is catastrophic for the people who depend on public transit,” Thompson said. “We’ve cut entire bus lines and reduced service on other bus lines. These are buses that go to health centers. That help seniors get to grocery stores.”