[1646] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: [Mit-talk] RE: Mandatory T passes?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Sean P. Robinson)
Fri Oct 21 16:52:20 2005
From: "Sean P. Robinson" <spatrick@mit.edu>
To: "grace" <gkenney@mit.edu>, "Diandra Lucia" <dmariel@mit.edu>
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 16:52:08 -0400
cc: mit-talk@mit.edu
Errors-To: mit-talk-bounces@mit.edu
>however, to lower our bill to $10, they'd have to have some huge
>chunk of the student population [read, everyone] sign on.
As I read it, the plan wasn't just for student but all employees
as well, who almost all commute in some way, but certainly don't
all take the T. Usually you can't both have a parking permit and
a T-pass from MIT. Employee parking permits are rationed by
departments. Some have payroll deductions with tax implications,
some don't. What about Lincoln Lab employees? [This is getting
complicated] What about people who commute using the Extra Hefty
T-Pass that's more expensive. Someone already mentioned the Silver
Line. And so forth...this plan is so premature that it's not even
a plan; it's just an idea. It's worth thinking about, but not
getting excited about.
++sean, again.
----- Original Message -----
From: "grace" <gkenney@MIT.EDU>
To: "Diandra Lucia" <dmariel@mit.edu>
Cc: <ec-discuss@mit.edu>; <mit-talk@mit.edu>
Sent: Friday, October 21, 2005 2:50 PM
Subject: [Mit-talk] RE: Mandatory T passes?
>
> as the article says, they would continue paying the MBTA people the same
> amount of money that they already pay them for the subsidized T pass
> program, which currently runs at something like $20-odd per pass [i
> think]. however, to lower our bill to $10, they'd have to have some huge
> chunk of the student population [read, everyone] sign on. if they made
> it optional, i assume that the danger would be too many people not opting
> in, leaving MIT to cover the difference. and we all know how MIT feels
> about picking up the tab for student services these days.
>
> me, i'm not sure how i feel about it - on one hand, i use the T a great
> deal. i certainly spend more than $10 on T tokens every month. $10
> for a month's pass is a fantastic deal. it's also more immediately and
> frequently useful to me than any of the other mandatory expenses people
> have been mentioning. but on the other hand, i don't like the creeping
> growth of mandatory expenses - there are too damn many already.
>
> perhaps an opt-out thing would work? i bet almost no one except the
> people really financially need it would opt-out, either because they'd
> find it useful or because they're too damn lazy. everyone wins.
>
> [fucking typical that the first time any undergrad hears about this is in
> a tech article though.]
>
> -grace
>
> gibbering like hunter thompson on a revolutionary drug, dmariel@MIT.EDU
> said:
>
>> I loathe mandatory extra expenses, and I don't think most people are very
>> fond of them, either (especially students). That said, $10/month is such
>> a
>> good deal that I suspect a decent amount of folks would _choose_ to buy
>> passes each month. Why do they feel the need to make this mandatory?
>> (Sure, some people don't get out much, but if someone wants to be a
>> reclusive tool, that's their choice to make.)
>>
>> - Diandra
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Jessica H Lowell [mailto:jessiehl@MIT.EDU]
>> Sent: Friday, October 21, 2005 12:58 PM
>> To: mit-talk@mit.edu
>> Cc: ec-discuss@mit.edu
>> Subject: Mandatory T passes?
>>
>>
>> According to the front page of the Tech, there's a preliminary proposal
>> for
>> requiring all MIT students and staff to pay $10/month in exchange for
>> universal
>> T passes. This was the first I'd heard of this, though apparently grad
>> students
>> have been talking about it for a while. What are people's opinions on
>> this?
>>
>> - Jessie
>>
>>
>>
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