Allan Appel Photo
A state transit official popped in on Fair Haveners to give them advance warning: Get ready to pay more to ride the bus.
Connecticut Departrment of Transportation (DOT) Assistant Rail Administrator Richard T. Jankovich delivered that warning at the regular meeting of the Fair Haven Community Management team. Fair Haveners ride the bus more than neighbors anywhere else in town except downtown, according to DOT stats, said Tiffany Garcia, the department’s equal employment opportunity specialist, who also attended the meeting.
Jankovich came to make some key — and grim — points about the ongoing crisis in the state’s transportation system.
The governor has called for raising the gas tax and creating a $3 tire tax to put needed money into the Special Transportation Fund (STF). If that doesn’t happen, capital projects will be cancelled or delayed, including, for example, the new parking garage at Union Station, and increases in fares on the trains and buses implemented, Jankovich reported..
In the absence of new money for the STF, DOT proposes raising the cost of a bus trip for an adult from $1.75 to $2. The senior fare would rise from 85 cents to $1, according to the list of proposed increases posted on the DOT site.
Here is the full list of proposed bus fare increases. The changes would take effect on July 1.
Jankovich was at pains to point out that the fare increases are proposals only, with seven public hearings across the state scheduled in the upcoming weeks.
The first hearing is in our town. It’s scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 20, from 5 to 8 p.m. at 200 Orange St. At the hearings, as opposed to Jankovich’s informational appearance in Fair Haven this past Thursday, public testimony will be taken regarding the increases and is to be considered when the department drafts its final report on the proposed fare increases and service reductions.
During the statewide hearings, public comments can also be placed electronically through March 9 at this email address.
Jankovich delivers the news to the neighborhood.
Jankovich told Fair Haveners that the State Transportation Fund— the bank account that pays the day-in and day-out operational costs of the system — is going broke. In the absence of other solutions, in addition to the bus fare increases, a rail fare increase would take effect.
The rail increased would be rolled out in three phases: 10 percent on July 1, 2018; a year of relief in 2019; 5 percent on July 1, 2020; and 5 percent on July 1, 2021.
Rail service reductions would also take effect on or about July 1, 2018. However, no bus services reductions have been proposed.
The DOT summary also proposes elimination of off-peak and weekend service as well as significant reductions in peak period service on Shore Line East.
A draft report of the fare increases is scheduled to be posted, when complete, on the DOT website, including a fare equity analysis being conducted by Prof. Nicholas Lownes at the University of Connecticut
Garcia said the point of the analysis is to determine whether the fare increases may have an adverse impact on low-income or minority populations.
Jankovich summarized Gov. Malloy’s proposed solution highlights. They include a seven-cent increase in the gas tax; the $3 statewide tire fee; a car sales tax; and tolls on the state’s highways, to be in effect by 2023.
Neither the solutions nor the dramatic fare increases elicited a comment or question from the 40 people or so in attendance at the Fair Haven meeting.
Garcia said she was a little surprised at the muted reaction. Jankovich was not. “January 30 was the first public notice” of this information, he pointed out.
He said the wave of the information had not yet fully landed, but it will. He urged folks to go to the Feb. 20 meeting at 200 Orange, where a full DOT staff will be on hand to address the whole range of issues.
I have a perfect solution to solve our budget issues. Get rid of Malloy today.