PEABODY - Dismayed by the recent announcement by Massport that it would stop its Peabody Logan Express service, Senate Majority leader Fred Berry has filed legislation calling for a review of that decision.
"Eighty-seven-thousand riders may not be as many as other areas, but that's still 87,000 riders," Berry said, referring to the number of LoganExpress users from Peabody, as opposed to other Logan Express stations, which service three times as many.
The legislation that Berry filed calls for an independent review of the Massport decision, and also requests that the Port Authority's board of directors, which is appointed by the Governor, be restructured to include two representatives from the North Shore.
"We are paying a lot of Massport's fees at the bridge and the tunnel, every time we commute into Boston," Berry said Wednesday. "That's essentially taxation without representation." Should the board be restructured, it would increase its size from seven to nine members.
Richard Walsh, a spokesman for Massport, said that the port authority is willing to work with the legislators about this issue, but did not want to speculate about how the legislation would impact Peabody's service prior to a vote on Beacon Hill.
The legislation Berry filed would appoint an independent commission to review Massport's decision, as well as block the sale of Massport's property on Route 1 South for 60 days after the commission's review.
This would prevent a potential sale of the property forcing the service to stop. Walsh declined to comment on any future plans that Massport has for that property.
Berry said that although Massport is serving a lower number of users in Peabody, he isn't trying to force the port authority to continue with a service that is losing money; however, he's not convinced that stopping the service altogether is the answer.
Recently, Massport contracted with C&J Trailways, a tour bus company, to provide service to Logan Airport from Portsmouth, N.H.
The senator said that adding a Peabody stop in that route may be one solution, as well as re-evaluating the location of the Logan Express station - Route 1 South may not be as convenient as other places in Peabody or surrounding towns, especially for users who live just south of the existing stop, who will have to drive several miles on Route 1 to turn around and travel to the Massport station.