The MBTA’s Advisory Board, the body responsible for reviewing the annual budget, didn’t have much to say when they were told the troubled transportation system is looking at a nearly $700 million hole in future spending plans.

In receiving the proposed fiscal 2025 budget from the MBTA on Tuesday, the Advisory Board was remarkably silent when told that in the coming year the T would spend over $300 million from their “rainy day fund” to cover a hole in their operating budget.

“We are reliant on the funding in the governor’s H.2 budget request as well as, I would say very-significant utilization of the deficiency fund to balance our expenses,” Joe Regan, senior operating budget director at the MBTA, told the board.

Part of the problem is that the T is playing catchup on maintenance, some of which has been mandated for safety reasons by the Federal Transit Administration. Safety and service initiatives will cost the T $446 million in fiscal 2025, and that cost will climb to $565 million by fiscal 2029.

At the same time, Regan told the board, the MBTA continues to pay down debts related to the Big Dig and other capital projects to the tune of $517 million in 2025 and $467 million in 2026.

All the while, ridership on the MBTA has not yet recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. Using pre-pandemic ridership as the scale of what “full” use of the system would look like, the service has seen just 69% of riders return to the trains and buses.

Board Member Debra Roberts asked Regan what he thought as to blame for the decrease in ridership.

According to budget writer, the MBTA is not alone among transportation networks in seeing this trend, in fact the T tracks almost exactly with the return to ridership seen by other major systems. People just aren’t going into work as often, Regan offered as one reason, the other is that the MBTA’s customer service has not incentivized riders to return, he said.

“In my opinion there will be opportunities for increased ridership at the conclusion of the track improvement program, which is scheduled for December,” Regan said.

The advisory board voted to send the budget to their budget review committee for consideration, with comments due to the MBTA Board of Directors at their June regular meeting.