BOSTON (SHNS) - Activists who have long pressed for state government to invest more in transportation view Gov. Maura Healey's spending plan as a solid "stopgap measure," but they argued that lawmakers still need to consider longer-term reforms to prevent problems from recurring. Healey proposed spending about $780 million in already-collected surtax dollars on the cash-strapped MBTA, and using the same revenue stream to boost the agency's funding through the annual state budget to $687 million, part of a broader plan that could total $8 billion in investments over a decade. Reggie Ramos, executive director of the Transportation for Massachusetts coalition, backed the governor's plan while saying the surtax surplus "cannot carry through in the years to come." "The crater is deep. It is $25 billion looking at just the MBTA," Ramos told the News Service, referencing the T's 2023 estimate of how much it would cost to fix all assets not in a state of good repair. "But the whole of Massachusetts is not just the MBTA. We're talking about RTAs that still have-- they still need to increase their service and span. We also have microtransit. Folks are trying to fill the gaps on their own, and we need to fund that in a more rational manner and an institutionalized manner." "We support [the governor's proposal], but it's also not a time to relax. It's not going to buy us much time," she added. "It's going to stave off severe service cuts, but it's only going to buy us -- I don't know, I mean, we don't want to be in the same place in two years' time." Lawmakers are poised to dive into the surtax surplus portion of Healey's plan Thursday, when the Joint Ways and Means Committee will convene a hearing about her bill (H 55) proposing to spend $1.3 billion in available funds. Under the constitution, surtax money can only be directed toward education and transportation uses. The surtax on wealthy households, approved by voters in 2022, is regularly spinning out hundreds of millions of new dollars available for transportation investments. And while state leaders are searching for ways to make life more affordable in Massachusetts, activists say the debate over new funding sources should continue. Transportation funding reform has proven a tricky topic in recent years. Legislative leaders have not signaled if they will embrace the governor's plan to steer hundreds of millions of dollars more to the T as the agency approaches a sizable budget gap starting July 1, but risk retreating on service improvements if they don't. Ramos pointed to recent poll results that found interest in change. About half of survey respondents said they would support phasing out the state's gas tax and replacing it with expanded roadway tolling or mileage-based fees. "We have to raise revenues, new revenue sources. When we tested road pricing, congestion pricing, there is a consistent openness towards it. Last year, we also did a poll and asked that question, and we're seeing a consistency," she said. "People are experiencing horrific congestion, and they know they can contribute. I feel like the poll reflected this common mindset of residents of Massachusetts that we can step up to the challenge, that we can meet the moment." Members of Transportation for Massachusetts and the group's allies fanned out Wednesday across the State House to pitch legislators on bills, including measures that would pilot fare-free buses at the MBTA (H 3623 / S 2397) and end the practice of suspending driver's licenses over unpaid fines and fees (S 2368). Sen. Robyn Kennedy of Worcester joined attendees to call for investment in 15 regional transit authorities, which provide bus service in communities not served by the MBTA. Kennedy also touted a bill she filed (S 2400) with an idea that has proven controversial in the past: expanding roadway tolls to the state's borders. "As somebody who paid for the privilege, like maybe others in this room today, of riding and sitting in two hours of traffic on the Mass. Pike, the Mass. Pike riders have paid our dues for long enough, and we need equity in tolling," Kennedy said. "We should toll everywhere because we do need to pay for our transportation. We do need to pay for the miles that we travel on the road to make sure that those roads can sustain us, and we all have to pay our fair share of that." Kennedy and other lawmakers who represent communities along Interstate 90, including Senate President Karen Spilka of Ashland, have long argued that their constituents should not be the only drivers in Massachusetts who face regular roadway tolls. Legislators in districts with non-tolled roads feel differently. The idea of expanding highway charges has proven to be a political third rail. Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt set off a conflagration last year when she said a transportation funding task force might recommend the idea, a suggestion Healey quickly shot down. The Senate rejected a fiscal 2025 budget amendment Kennedy filed that would have instructed the governor to seek a federal waiver to allow tolling at the state's borders on interstate highways that do not currently have tolls. As has been the case in policy debates in the past three months, the specter of federal funding cuts hung over Wednesday's advocacy event. Multiple speakers suggested Massachusetts cannot rely on the federal government for transportation dollars. Ramos said the Trump administration has made "a dramatic pivot from previous commitments to acknowledge and rectify land use decisions that polluted our air and disconnected and divided our neighborhood." "'Uncertainty' is kind of a euphemism at this point," Rep. Steven Owens of Watertown said. "What we really have is an administration that will gleefully attempt to kill projects for unrelated political reasons, and that seems untethered by norms and laws, including contract law, is beholden to the fossil fuel industry and is barreling forward with a trade policy that is likely to increase infrastructure costs." "The cavalry is not coming. The good news, though, is that means we get to solve our own transportation problems," he added. "It's on folks in this room, advocates, to help us in government build the case that investments in transit, mobility and infrastructure will save us money in the long run." ...read more read less