New Haven’s top state legislator, State Senate President Martin Looney, added his voice Tuesday to local opposition to a planned 17 percent fare increase on CT Transit buses.
Mayor Toni Harp has already blasted the increase. So did speakers at a Department of Transportation (DOT) hearing held in New Haven on Sept. 16.
The DOT is proposing raising a one-way bus fare from $1.50 to $1.75. It is also proposing a 5 percent rate increase on Metro-North trains. The increases would take effect the first week of December.
“The DOT should prioritize its spending and cancel this fare hike. Rail and bus service is the lifeblood of economic development. Connecticut’s hardworking men and women depend on timely, reliable, affordable service,” Looney stated in a release issued by his office.
City officials pointed out recently that ares are going up higher on buses, whose riders tend to be lower-income. DOT Commissioner James Redeker responded that the fare that bus riders are subsidized far more heavily than train riders. Current bus fares cover about 24.2 percent of what it cost to keep CT Transit running; train tickets cover 55 percent of train service.
Senator Looney is absolutely correct.
I applaud his leadership and sympathy for those who would be most affected by this price hike, the poor.
It is often said that those who are elected to high positions seldom if ever speak up for the poor. To those I say, New Haven has a senator in that of Martin Looney who refuses to forget where he came from. A senator that has an innate goodness for the welfare of others.
Again I say, thank you Marty.