Two Instructors Slam Peabody's MTA Proposals

Governor Peabody's proposed revision of the Boston area transit system will add to the MTA deficit, slow economic growth, and increase traffic congestion, Martin Wohl, lecturer on Public Administration, said in an interview yesterday.

Wohl and John R. Meyer, professor of Economics, demanded immediate professional review of the program in a letter to the Boston Herald Thursday. They said the program was designed by "well-meaning but unqualified persons."

Wohl called the governor's plan for financing his $200-million program "ludicrous." The governor proposed a two-cent increase in the cigarette tax to pay for the MTA deficit. Wohl said that taxation for public utilities should be limited to people who use them.

He suggested that any MTA deficit be charged to towns in proportion to the number of riders from each.

Peabody's program would divide the operating deficit among all 78 towns that will be included in the system without regard to frequency of use.

An alternate program devised by Wohl and Meyer would divide the capital deficit among the cities and towns according to the number of track miles in each. The operating deficit would be charged according to the number of passenger-miles covered in each town.

The Faculty members also proposed that an express bus service replace the rapid transit system. Buses would eliminate the necessity for commuters to provide their own transportation to subway stations, and take them directly downtown.

They also suggested that the MTA system be "rationalized" immediately, making it possible for example, to go from Harvard to the Museum of Fine Arts without transferring several times.