Cut out the overpaid administrators. Cut out waste wherever it exists. Reduce number of buses running routes that have low ridership. Cut salaries of politicians, starting with the governor and going down the line.

We can pay for them with a gas tax, income tax, sales tax, meals tax, excise tax, tolls, registry fees, hotel tax, capital gains tax, fares and estate tax. Oh I forgot we already have all of those with some of the highest ones in the land. Why can't the state live within its means??

Licenses for bicyclists for sure. "Share the Road" should include "Share the Costs"

Carbon tax on fossil fuels, rolling tolls with time of day pricing on the highways, and a congestion charge for cars entering the core downtown area. Automobiles should pay their real cost in terms of road maintenance, police protection, sprawl, and environmental costs instead of being subsidized. Leave the bicyclists alone.

The gas tax should be raised, as the Governor and business groups have recommended. Creating a whole new mechanism and associated bureaucracy to track miles driven makes no sense, would be costly, and is not fair - the vehicles that consume the most fuel also wear out the roads faster.

Richard Davey is corrupt or criminally stupid- He was in charge of the T and the price of a subway ride went from .85 cents to $2.50 a ride while the T has not only has cut back on train service and cut bus routes, they have kept a 40+ year old fleet of trains and subway trains- The T now goes through delays of several hours everyday when equipment fails on the line because it snowed it couple of inches- Davey left the T hundreds of millions in debt even though the fares almost tripled and there are more people riding the t than ever before- how is that possible without someone diverting money into someones pockets illegally? We can add a hundred more taxes but with Richatf Davey in charge we will hear nothing but the DOT is in debt, and needs more, more, more- and our roads will get worse and worse . . .

We absolutely do not take in enough to maintain the system we have—and we do not demand maintenance.

The Boston metropolitan area alone has over 300 highway construction projects in the “conceptual” phase: a basic project outline provided and paid for by the local town. Every town is convinced they were promised construction funding if they just submitted the project. So towns jockey for construction funds with advocacy. “It’s a great project! Everybody loves it! Hundreds signed our on-line petition!” We have an un-fundable maintenance backlog and bemoan our failing roads and bridges, but we continue to expand the system we cannot maintain because “the public is clamoring for it.”

The November 24 Boston Globe described the freight train bridge over the Charles River which—surprise!—has no advocacy group for maintenance. Freight plus maintenance is a real PR dud. Now MBTA commuter rail engines must be sent from Boston to Cambridge by way of Ayer. We “flex” millions every year from highway funding into public transportation—and expand the system with the $4 billion South Coast Rail. No wonder MBTA riders decry raised fares and poor service.

The Commonwealth will raise money any and every which way. Debating which method is futile; we will employ them all. We need more money to maintain our transportation system.

The question is: Will we actually maintain our system, or will we just continue our reckless expansion?

Raise the gas tax! That might let the highways finally not be subsidized anymore. The US has the lowest gas tax of all industrialized countries. It would also give more people an incentive to buy cars with lower mileage.

The people who take the trains, buses, should pay more. We pay a lot of money in this state to run our cars. Not just with the price of gas. We have to pay for insurance, inspections, registrations, titles. Running a car in this state is not cheap. What I don't understand is if we don't have money to fix the roads, bridges, transportation, etc., then how come we have the money to cut in half what illegals pay for college here? The colleges will not operate on less and the professors will not take less salaries will they. So we are subsidizing illegals now too.

No one should have to pay more in taxes to fix our roads. Isn't that what we already pay for in excise taxes? Never mind all the other taxes we pay. This mismanagement of taypayer money starts at the top. Why don't the politians stop giving themselves raises and stop spending taxpayer money like it was an endless pit. If you don't have enough money in your own checking account to pay your bills don't you try to cut out non essential items? (Oh wait no you don't, because no one is responsible for anything today.) Why don't they do the same thing for once!! And if all the illegals that are putting a strain on our resources paid taxes that would also be another great start to fixing this problem. Wakeup taxing the crap out of everyone will not stop. FIX WHAT IS BROKE DEVAL, start in your own state house.

The gas tax is the most regressive tax there is. We already tax people's incomes. Now these clowns want to raise the tax people pay to drive to work. Riders should pay for the MBTA. They are the ones that use it. But the issue isn't revenue. It's expenditure. It's the number of unnecessary political patronage jobs in these "independent authorities."

We should privatize as much of the MBTA as possible. Let people bid on repair contracts for the buses instead of hiring a bunch of mechanics. Let's try privatizing some of these routes. A profit making business will quickly get rid of dead weight.

As of the bike riders, if they want to ride on the same streets the bikes should be registered and insured just like any other vehicle. And there should be meters at the bike racks just like they have for cars.

If they're going screw up traffic with all these bike lanes, then these people should face the same rules, requirements, and costs as motorists.

Cut welfare ,EBT and the free ride. Eliminate six figure salaries for the heads of these out of control public entities like the MBTA and cut politician pay ,benefits and pensions. Why are we paying for millionaires health insurance?

We are facing a mileage tax to be calculated yearly when you go for your State Inspection. The mileage will be recorded and sent to the State, I have heard a penny a mile. The money is going to the MBTA to help keep it afloat.

Agreed. its not a big deal Steven, just saying it's what I have been hearing.

Couldn't tell you, All i hear is if you rack up miles you pay the tax. So I guess if you drive 2000 miles on vacation you pay tax on it. How could you prove they were not all driven in Mass? That's all i know about it. It may or may not happen. In Massachusetts things change on a daily basis.

If they do this, do you think they would keep it at a penny a mile? This is how new taxes are introduced. They start out low and people say that isn't all that bad. Then when people get used to paying it (like the bottle tax), it gets increased. It's a mismanagement of current revenue issue. New taxes will not make incompetent financial management issues go away. They will just make it worst.

The bottle bill is an added charge imposed by the state on certain beverages with the full and complete expectation that a sizable percentage of those fees will never be reclaimed by those paying them. That money then goes to the state coffers and the net result is effectively a tax.

If the average driver puts up 15,000 miles a year, that would be an extra $150.00 a year in state taxes to pay per car that drives that much. Ironically one of the reasons the state is looking at charges like this, is that so much of the revenue was depending on the per GALLON taxes they have on Gasoline and as the MPG of new cars continues to improve, that means that fewer GALLONS of gas are being burned and thus fewer dollars to the State from those taxes are being generated.

While it sounds like a small amount $0.01 per mile, the actual tax impact on someone driving 15000 mile a year and getting 30 MPG (using 500 gallons of gas) is about the same as increasing the Fuel Tax $0.30 a gallon!!, which is a lot less than what was being proposed and that was soundly rejected. Letting that .01/mile tax creep in will be a far bigger hit on the wallet for many drivers.

Which was a lot MORE (not less) than the old tax proposals.

wish I could edit....

I guess it's up to your own interpretation of what a tax is. To me, if any form of government is making me pay for something and it's revenue for that form of government, I consider it a tax. If it's not a tax in you view why does the state have the authority to spend it like any other tax revenue? Do you know where unclaimed deposit money goes?

I just found a reference that states Massachusetts took in $33.5 million in 2011 from unclaimed deposit revenue. It's great you spend the time and effort to return your empties. I do too. However, there are enough people who do not and the State has been dependent on that revenue. What do you think would happen if all of a sudden 100% of all deposited containers were returned? Think the State would find themselves in serious under budget situation? Think other taxes would increase to support the programs these funds are being used for?

These are the people who were voted into office. Now deal with your mistakes and understand they are going to tax us to death and try to change our way of life to their way. Everybody should have thought about this Nov 6th.

The government does not make anyone pay for lottery tickets. This is a whole other area of revenue. How did the state ever get buy without all these additional methods to receive revenue? It would be interesting to see over the past 50 years or so how many taxes have been added and now some are talking about adding more.

@David Chase.. It's perfectly sane to make bike riders insure and register their bikes and pay a meter when they park their bike.
Bike riders cause accidents, get in to accidents, they should be insured and registered. If they are going to use the same roads, they should be subject to similar requirements.

Not to mention that the funds raised, can go to pay for all the silly bike lanes that screwing up traffic!

David makes great points, add to that the costs associated with trying to enforce bicycle laws would end up costing more than we would collect. Perhaps increasing the yearly inspection fees for vehicles a dollar, with that money going to road maintenance is one answer. I doubt another dollar once a year would hurt anyone, It's one way to get some funds flowing.

David's comment, "We already collect funds for building bike lanes, from the same place that we collect funds for building car lanes -- property taxes" is incorrect.

Building bike lanes comes out of the same federal highway funds as building highways. Mostly it is funded by the federal gas tax; for the last several years the federal gas tax has generated insufficient revenue to cover the obligations of the Federal Highway Authority. The remainder came from federal general funds, taken from various sources including the income tax.

Earnhardt, I like your "with that money going to road maintenance" suggestion. However, there is no reason to believe "that money", any more than the money we already collect and plow into system expansion, would go for road maintenance.

This is, actually, the problem more than a lack of revenue.

Gotta agree with david theres plenty of road for eveybody. Seems like people dont like biker just cause there bikers. More going on here than taxes and road repairs.

Striping, I'll grant, can come from Chapter 90 (state) money--although even here the source is not the local property tax.

Reworking the BU bridge with cycle accommodations, or the $5.9 million Mass Ave reconstruction in east Arlington with the cycle accommodations, or even the $750,000 to provide the accommodations connecting the Minuteman Bikeway across Arlington Center definitely come from federal funds.

Right now a bicycle is a legal vehicle on any road in the Commonwealth except for limited access divided highways. In regard to your proposal to allow two way bike travel on one-way streets, I'm not sure I want more people on bikes if the message is, "Hey, you can ride the wrong way down a one-way street." It's hard enough to get cyclists to remember that the rules of the road apply to them as it is--and the ubiquitous although understandable lack of enforcement (why even try to ticket cyclists, since they aren't licensed or necessarily carrying ID?) only makes it worse.

The answer is obvious, put a toll booth up at 93, 95 in NH and RI. Make them pay for our roadwork, they surely abuse it the way they drive, tailgaiting/speeding.

The best way to guarantee yourself ridiculous increases in taxes and fees is to vote in a Democrat administration for a second term. Don't forget to layer on top the extra income tax that Coupe Deval wants to extort from us.