Hingham Fights To Save MBTA Commuter Rail Line and Ferry

HINGHAM, MA—The town of Hingham is fighting to save the Greenbush commuter rail line and Hingham/Hull ferry service amidst a large MBTA budget cut due to low ridership as a result of the ongoing pandemic.

Both Hingham town officials and residents of the town and surrounding communities are making an effort to rescue the jeopardized South Shore commuter lines through advocacy, petitions, and public outreach.

"Transportation is a 'public good', a service that must be provided by the government and made accessible to all," said the Hingham Board of Selectmen in a letter to the MBTA. The letter, released on Thursday, argues that eliminating the Hingham/Hull ferry service and Greenbush commuter rail line would negatively affect public health, lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions, undermine affordable housing, and negate improvements to business and development.

"We recognize that the MBTA faces financial challenges that cannot be ignored. But those challenges could be managed through debt assistance and additional funding at the state and federal levels."

The MBTA, which is currently running on CARES Act funding, is planning to cut certain services once their funds run dry. The MBTA's Fiscal and Management Control Board stated in a presentation earlier this month that one service being targeted is the Hingham/Hull commuter ferry and the Greenbush commuter rail line, which has retained only eight percent of riders per service hour compared to 2019.

According to the MBTA website, riders rook 1.26 million daily trips in 2019. As of September 2020, riders are taking approximately 330,000 daily trips, which translates to only 26% of daily ridership compared to last year.

"We have initiated a process in response to this changing ridership and demand as well as a projected budget gap resulting from the pandemic," the MBTA writes. "The objective is to determine core essential services—the buses, trains, vans, and boats that serve transit-critical populations and communities that rely on transit—and to realign service by prioritizing and preserving those services. While we do this work, we want to hear from our riders."

Hingham residents are campaigning to keep the MBTA from potentially shutting down the Hingham/Hull ferry service with a link to a petition on the town website and an online petition called savetheferry.org, which is part of a grassroots effort led by South Shore area citizen volunteers. The campaign leaders are asking residents to sign local petitions and polls, attend MBTA hearings, leave a voicemail or submit a written testimonial to the MBTA explaining any reliance on the MBTA lines that are in danger of being eradicated, and post on social media using #savetheferry.

The MBTA plans to announce service cuts at a Fiscal and Management Control Board Meeting on November 9 at 12 p.m. and vote on the service cuts in a following meeting on Monday, December 7 at 12 p.m., with both meetings available for public online viewing through Zoom.