Riders: Fare Hikes Add Insult To Injury

The state’s ready to cut train service and raise the cost of riding the bus, which will fall particularly hard on disabled people, riders testified Tuesday night.

And when a state official compared Connecticut public transit favorably to that in New York and Boston — they called that just insulting.

Dozens of New Haven residents delivered that message to staffers from the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CT DOT) during a three-hour public hearing about proposed fare increases and service reductions to the state’s buses and trains.

Local activist Wendy Hamilton asked officials if they’re joking — ​“or are you on drugs?”

The meeting took place in the basement of the municipal building at 200 Orange St. It was the first of seven such hearings that the DOT will be hosting throughout the state over the next two weeks as it looks to shore up a looming budget deficit in Connecticut’s Special Transportation Fund (STF).

The STF funds the construction and maintenance of state roads, bridges, trains, and buses, as well as the day-to-day operations of the DOT and the state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

As state public transit chief Richard Andreski explained at the beginning of Tuesday night’s hearing, the STF’s projected expenses, particularly towards debt service, are rising much more quickly than the revenue it brings in through such sources as the state gas tax, oil company taxes and DMV fees.

Andreski said that 42 percent of the STF’s current $1.51 billion budget is dedicated to debt service — that is, to paying off bonds for past and current capital projects, some of which date back two decades.

He said that the budget passed by the state legislature in October 2017 does not support the current level of capital investments and normal operations of the DOT, and would result in an accumulated STF deficit of around $380 million by 2022 if left as is.

“The Department of Transportation has no control over the source and amount of income to the Special Transportation Fund,” Andreski said. Only the Connecticut General Assembly can determine how best to go about balancing the STF’s budget.

But what the DOT can do, Andreski said, is make recommendations to the governor as to how to reduce the STF deficit within the current confines of the state.

That is: increased fares, reduced service and postponed projects.

Andreski said that in order to bring this year’s STF budget into balance, the DOT is proposing that the following measures are set to be enacted on July 1, 2018. (He noted that, even if these proposals are adopted, they would just help patch up a $60 million deficit in this year’s budget. Looming deficits going forward would require even more severe cuts in the years to come).

• A 25 cent, or 14.3 percent, increase to CT Transit bus fare. That would would bump the standard, adult two-hour fare of $1.75 up to $2.
• A 10 percent rail fare increase to Metro North, Shore Line East and Hartford Line fares (to be followed by additional 5 percent increases in July 2020 and July 2021).
• The elimination of all weekend and weekday off-peak service on the New Canaan, Danbury and Waterbury train lines, and significant reductions in Shore Line East train service.
• A 15 percent subsidy cut to state transit districts (to be followed by a 50 percent subsidy cut in July 2020).
• The indefinite postponement of $4.3 billion in engineering, construction and other public transportation projects over the next five years.

On Par With Beantown?

Andreski said that, although the fare increases and service reductions are severe, the current and proposed fares for both buses and trains compare favorably to those in Boston, Rhode Island and New York.

For example, Connecticut’s proposed bus fare of $2 would be on par with Boston’s $2 charge for MBTA access, Rhode Island’s $2 charge for RIPTA access, and New York’s $2.75 charge for MTA access.

He also said that, if the transportation funding measures in the budget that Gov. Malloy proposed earlier this month are adopted, then none of the aforementioned fare increases and service cuts will need to take effect.

The governor’s proposed budget includes such measures as a seven cent increase to the state gas tax, a $3 tire tax, and the implementation of statewide tolls by Fiscal Year 2023.

After Andreski’s 15-minute presentation, the next two hours were filled by over 20 New Haven and New Haven-area residents taking the microphone and sharing their frustrations with the DOT’s proposal.

Many of the speakers expressed concern for how the fare increases and service reductions would disproportionately impact residents with disabilities.

Nearly all of the speakers lambasted the public transportation director for making any sort of comparison between mass transit in Connecticut and that in New York and Boston.

“Connecticut is a small state with a lot of disconnectivity,” said Lisa Barney, a New Havener who said that she is legally blind and therefore cannot drive.

She said that she uses Connecticut train service often to visit family in Bethel, and that the elimination of the Waterbury, Danbury and New Canaan lines would effectively box her into her current home.

“Dear DOT,” Wendy Hamilton read into the microphone. ​“Are you joking, or are you on drugs? If you want a 10 percent increase, I want a 10 percent increase on my Social Security.”

Robin Tousey-Ayers and Kurtis Kearney, both of whom serve on the city’s Commission on Disabilities, said that this proposal would hurt their constituents the most.

“We get poor service, man,” said Kearney, who also serves as the chair of the Quinnipiac East Community Management Team. ​“I invite you to pay some people to ride the buses in wheelchairs or scooters. You get very bad service, being disabled.”

Alberta Witherspoon, a former Downtown alder who lives in the Charles McQueeney Towers public housing complex on Orange Street, said that half of the 150 residents in her building rely on a fixed income.

“To up the fare would really hurt the residents in the building where I live and in greater New Haven,” she said.

Many speakers pointed out that paying more without receiving an increase in service (and, for train travel, paying more and receiving less service) would negatively impact the quality of life for working people throughout the state.

“There have been job interviews that I’ve had to miss,” said New Haven resident Yaraliz Dippini, ​“only because of the bus route. Honestly, waiting in the cold for hours is not fun, especially when you have to carry your daughter with you. Having to miss a job offer because the bus was late or never showed up [is not fun].”

Rodney Slaughter, who manages parking and transportation for Yale-New Haven Hospital, said that this proposal would make hospital staff that much more likely to get to work by car instead of by train or by bus.

The hospital is a 24-hour operation, Slaughter said, and no one he works with can rely on the current public transit system to get them safely and efficiently from home to work and back home late at night or early in the morning.

“I just don’t understand how we can raise fares and lower service, and still expect to generate more income,” he said.

Wooster Square Alder Aaron Greenberg and Newhallville Alder Delphine Clyburn said that raising fares and reducing service would dissuade future developers from investing in New Haven as a site for ​“transit-oriented” projects.

“The future of cities like New Haven will depend on our ability to attract and retain residents and good jobs,” Greenberg said. ​“An excellent, accessible and above all affordable public transit system makes communities vibrant and democratic. The changes proposed by the DOT would be an obstacle to becoming, and staying, this kind of city.”

And New Haveners like Dawn Bliesener and Elizabeth Doiron scoffed at Andreski’s comparison of public transit in Connecticut with that of its neighbors.

“What I want to pay for is to get from Point A to Point B and do it in a respectful and fair manner,” Bliesener said. She said that there was no comparison between Connecticut transit and that in Boston, New York or Rhode Island.

“You’re comparing us to Boston and New York, which have mass transit down pat,” said Doiron, a retired nurse who now lives at Bella Vista. ​“We do not.”

“I don’t have a problem if you raise the bus fare by 25 cents,” said Hamden resident Nicholas Battaglino. ​“Just give us service that’s worth paying for.”

Stephanie Upson, a local transit engineer who said that she generally appreciates the state DOT for being open to investing in mass transit, said that this proposal would be anathema to millennials looking to set up homes and businesses in a part of the country where they would not need to own a car.

Hausladen: ​“You Heard A Lot Of Pain”

“A lot of folks who really need our transportation services will find this to be a hardship,” city transit chief Doug Hausladen told the Independent after the hearing.

“We just saw a 17 percent increase on the general fare a few years ago, and we’re going to see another increase without an increase in service? These are not optional services. You heard a lot of pain from folks who testified tonight.”

Hausladen said that, while there are limitations on what the city transportation department can do to affect bus fares and rail service, his department did work earlier in the day to get as many people to the hearing as possible.

He said that city staffers printed hundreds of notices about the DOT hearing earlier on Tuesday, and handed them out throughout the day to people waiting at the ten bus stops located around the Green downtown.

He said that the city wanted to make sure that as many bus riders as possible were aware of the proposed fare increases, so that they would show up and testify on Tuesday night.

Find out more about the DOT’s proposed fare increases and train service cuts at http://www.ct.gov/dot/cwp/view.asp?a=1386&q=442328. That site also contains information about upcoming public hearings about the proposal. You can email the DOT with your thoughts on the proposal at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). They are accepting comments from the public until March 9, after which the comments will be reviewed by DOT Commissioner James Redeker.