UPDATE: MBTA GM Jon Davis To Visit Hingham Shipyard

UPDATE:  Richard A. Davey, Mass Department of Transportation Secretary and Chief Executive Officer will not visit the Hingham Shipyard on February 3.  He has other meetings already scheduled that day and MBTA GM Jon Davis will be there instead.

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Commuter boat riders will have the opportunity to address their concerns directly to MBTA General Manager Jon Davis, after he agreed to visit Hingham Shipyard on February 3.

Davis will take the early morning commuter boat from Boston to Hingham and then be given a tour of the Shipyard before being driven to Hull where he will board a boat back to Boston.

The MBTA is currently considering the elimination of the commuter boat subsidy along with a reduction in service in commuter train and buses on the South Shore, all of which could make commuting into Boston much harder for Hingham residents.

At Tuesday’s Selectmen meeting, Representative Garrett Bradley (D-Hingham) said he has continued to have discussions with Mass Department of Transportation Secretary Davey and his visit to the Shipyard on February 3 would be “important for him to see what it looks like down there, rather than just reading numbers off a page.”

Davey has since confirmed he will no be at the Shipyard but Bradley originally thought he would talk to commuters and see the Hingham Shipyard and the investments have been made.

Bradley also addressed a proposed elimination by the MBTA of the 220 bus service, an essential route for commuters who travel to Quincy to take the Red Line into Boston.

“It’s a private company that operates the Hingham and Quincy boats but there is a significant state subsidy,” said Bradley. “Should that subsidy be cut, it would probably lead to a doubling of fares.”

Public hearings have already been scheduled by the MBTA and Hingham residents will have the chance to make their voices heard on February 8 when members of the MBTA board will be at the Town Hall. Both Bradley and the Selectmen feel that residents should be “constructive and positive in their comments.”

“I know we dealt with this in 2009 and we pushed it back, but folks shouldn’t take this lightly,” Bradley said. “ If we can understand that there is a significant problem at the MBTA, if we can understand that there are potentially some ways that riders and users can suggest ways to cut back, then those things should be put on the table.”