A report from the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation found that the MBTA will be as much as $400 million short on its operating budget by mid-2023 and $13 billion short on its plans for maintenance and modernization over the next decade. Advocates and policy watchers say the findings should serve as a call to action.

“This is a fundamental, existential question that keeps having Band-Aids put on it year after year after year,” said Brian Kane, the executive director of the MBTA’ s Advisory Board.

As COVID-19 relief money and one-time state and federal funds start to dry up in 2023, the MBTA won’t be able to maintain its current system without $1.25 billion in additional revenue each year, the watchdog group found.