Sure, it was sleazy
of Governor Malloy and the CDOT to release news of a proposed
5% fare hike on Metro-North on a Friday afternoon in July,
hoping nobody would notice. But the
It’s the
Connecticut legislature that’s really responsible for this fare hike.
Lawmakers this
session left the Governor with a $192
million budget shortfall and every other branch of government
has taken budget cuts and layoffs
as a result. Now it’s transportation’s
turn to feel the pinch.
Pol’s on both sides
of the aisle tell me Malloy could have saved millions by facing down the state
employees’ unions and their rich benefits package. Could’ve, maybe should’ve… but didn’t.
So now we’re
looking at a 5% hike in train fares on Metro-North and Shore Line East and a
16% boost in bus
fares starting in December. Plus closing ticket windows, reduced
maintenance and fuel savings. And that’s
just on the transit side.
Highway
work will also be cut, hiring postponed and less salt
purchased for the winter. Service areas
will be closed overnight and the volunteers who work in the Visitor Centers
will be fired. Welcome to Connecticut!
So when you
calculate the impact of all these cuts on your commute, by road or rail, call your
State Rep and Senator and ask “why”?
Why are they
allowing the Special Transportation Fund to run dry due to the dwindling
revenues from the gas tax?
Ask Senate Majority
leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) and the usually pro-transportation Senator
Toni
Boucher (R-Wilton) why they have opposed alternative funding mechanisms like
the VMT (Vehicle Miles Tax), calling it “dead
on arrival” before it was even explained, let alone
studied.
 |
| Senator Bob Duff |
Ask your elected
officials what their plan is to pay for our existing transportation network,
let alone expand it by the $100 billion Malloy has suggested. They won’t have an answer.
Why? Because they are running for re-election this
November. And none of them has the guts
to tell you the truth: we will all have
to pay more to drive or commute by rail… as you’ll find out after the election
when they approve new taxes.
What can we do in
the meantime (aside from holding them accountable during the campaign)? There will be public hearings in September on
the fare hikes and we should all turn out.
It will be
political theater, but cathartic.
Commuters will rant and the folks from CDOT will listen and then do what
they proposed. Aside from cutting train
service, a fare hike is about the only option.
And, of course as
upstate lawmakers constantly remind us, those of us living on the “gold coast”
are all millionaires, and we can afford it, right?
No comments:
Post a Comment