[adamz]

Originally Posted by MrGompers

I don' t know if your trying to be funny or not, but the Fed Govt picked up 80% of the busway's cost. The state picked up the remaining 20%.

The breakout was According to DOT, the final capital cost is $567,053,000, of which $454,842,399 (80.2%) will be paid by the federal government and $112,210,601 by the state.

This should just be stickied at the top of the CT forum from now on.

The busway is projected to need an annual operating budget of $10 million of which fares cover 25% ($2.5 million) which means the busway will be subsided by $7.5 million per year. That amount is minuscule in comparison to what interstate highways receive in subsidies each year.

When they start to rebuild i-84 thru Hartford every one here will be thankful for the busway.

I didn't know that the feds were picking up part of the tab. Still, $112 million is a lot of money in a state that is in- we are told- such dire straits that thousands of people will have to be laid off.

I still think the idea is stupid.

[adamz]

Originally Posted by BobNJ1960

Relatives live in Ct, and Ct has a huge deficit which spells big tax hikes for them if Malloy does not cut personnel costs.

He was a fool to rescind all 6k layoffs a few years ago.


This move will also serve Ct well in retaining private employers- a sign they get that past corp tax hikes were stupid. They see the light.

That's very altruistic of you, to be so concerned on their behalf.

[ACollegeStudent]

As mentioned before in previous posts before they were unanimously censored/deleted for the sake of pro-CT idealogy... though being a resident of this state for many years, i'm not surprised by such mentalities. This is the same state that has issues when it comes to certain topics after all. Thankfully, our world is much more global than it has been before, and not everyone relies on FN.

CT is broke economically. One of the reasons? Overspending. Great for the established making $70,000 with full-time jobs, retired with pensions paid in full, degrees 6 years ago and inner-circles, pretty bad for anyone up-coming generations, especially the single ones and our students who will be inheriting these problems left for us.


Any residents remembers when Blumethal was in office? Complete opposite of Malloy. The governors recent actions just proved more interest in favoring corporations and certain interest groups, yet he keeps getting voted in. See the recent HB2 state funding cuts to CT residents, again.

I'm seeing more pointless idle-handling and future generation mish-mash projects that are not helping the current situations, in the state other than burning tax dollars and widening the financial rich-to-poor gap in CT. The residents that know, including my generation from across the country have been speaking out about this. There also has been an increase of greed and corruption and several underlying issues across campuses that aren't meeting student needs. I'm seeing holes in state flags on certain campuses and buildings with equipment so old it's quiet pitiful.

I've posted about this before in a previous thread, but when truth comes out it gets censored out. Also, the semi-silent sneakiness of sheering college students alive with tuition increases, debt-for-life deals, sexism, racism, rising food prices and corrupt company tactics and targets to students on Financial Aid is disgusting. Even the colleges that know are finally opening up about what i've seen and predicted 3 years ago. The banks are still a mess, if anyone recalls CountryWide Scam.

There has also been an increase of white-collar crime and other activities. It seems though however, a pattern of CT having white-collar crime epidemia ever-since Blumenthal left office. As an indirect result When jobs get tough, things get ratty. Crookedness gets rewarded and it's very sad to see the state become this way

As for my fellow students...those that can't own homes right or living wages now thanks to the low-income job runt pandemic and the degree-barrier walls for barnes and noble type jobs, consider it an ironic blessing. Your free to go anywhere you want without getting eaten up by high-taxes and getting trapped in the tax hikes. Take this as an opportunity to see outside the box.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by adamz

Could he be talking about some of Malloy's pet projects, like the idiotic busway?

That "idiotic" busway is carrying thousand of travelers a day. More than they were projecting. And ridership is growing and will be expanding. Not so "idiotic" when you look at the facts. Jay

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by MrGompers

I don' t know if your trying to be funny or not, but the Fed Govt picked up 80% of the busway's cost. The state picked up the remaining 20%.

The breakout was According to DOT, the final capital cost is $567,053,000, of which $454,842,399 (80.2%) will be paid by the federal government and $112,210,601 by the state.

This should just be stickied at the top of the CT forum from now on.

The busway is projected to need an annual operating budget of $10 million of which fares cover 25% ($2.5 million) which means the busway will be subsided by $7.5 million per year. That amount is minuscule in comparison to what interstate highways receive in subsidies each year.

When they start to rebuild i-84 thru Hartford every one here will be thankful for the busway.

So true. I wish I could stick it so it can be referred to every time a naysayer comes here complaining about the cost of the busway. It should also be noted that the $454+ million the Feds provided could NOT be used on highways. It is money from the Federal Transit Administration (not the Federal Highway Administration) so that money would have been completely lost to the state, along with more than a decade of planning. Also note that the decisions made leading up to the busway construction were part of a well advertised public information program. Anyone who says the project was not made known to the public, including some completely uninformed politicians, does not read the newspapers or watch the news. There were numerous, well advertised meetings on the study that lead to the project including major articles in the Hartford Courant and segments on all of the state's major news stations. The project was way past due finally bringing a first class mass transit system to greater Hartford. Jay

[CTartist]

Originally Posted by BobNJ1960

Amen. It would have been easy to switch employees with say 10 or less years to a 401K when he issued 6,000 layoffs in exchange for rescinding say 4,000 layoffs.

Was there suppose to be 6,000 layoffs a few years back under Malloy?

If this is correct who proposed the layoffs and how did it get stopped?

Thanks

[adamz]

Originally Posted by JayCT

That "idiotic" busway is carrying thousand of travelers a day. More than they were projecting. And ridership is growing and will be expanding. Not so "idiotic" when you look at the facts. Jay

I admit I didn't know much about the busway when I made the comment. Perhaps "idiotic" was a bit strong, but I've done some checking, and frankly I'm still not very impressed. It's 100 million CT taxpayer dollars for some busses. What makes this so special- that it's built on a railroad right of way? Seems like an awful lot of buck for not a whole lot of bang.

It seems to me that Malloy never met a construction project he didn't like. Here at UConn, where I teach, they're building new dorms, new science buildings and a new tech incubator. But at the same time as all these hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent, the situation is SO VERY DIRE that state employees are supposed to once again make concessions.

It doesn't add up.

[MrGompers]

Originally Posted by adamz

I admit I didn't know much about the busway when I made the comment. Perhaps "idiotic" was a bit strong, but I've done some checking, and frankly I'm still not very impressed. It's 100 million CT taxpayer dollars for some busses. What makes this so special- that it's built on a railroad right of way? Seems like an awful lot of buck for not a whole lot of bang.

It seems to me that Malloy never met a construction project he didn't like. Here at UConn, where I teach, they're building new dorms, new science buildings and a new tech incubator. But at the same time as all these hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent, the situation is SO VERY DIRE that state employees are supposed to once again make concessions.

It doesn't add up.

That price is a bargain. Hopefully, in the future the busway will be expanded to other areas especially west of Hartford, perhaps as far as Waterbury.

How much would it cost to build one extra lane on i-84 between New Britain and Hartford instead ? Probably over 1 billion dollars. The Govt has already estimated that rebuilding the i-84 viaduct in Hartford will cost 6+ billion dollars.

Also, 112 million is minuscule in a budget that is $20 billion. That only equals half of one percent. (0.56) and the construction cost is a one time cost. The state only needs to provide maintenance and subsides for the fares now.

Keeping cars off the roads also decreases emissions and wear and tear on the highways, which will lead to lower maintenance costs.

[BicoastalAnn]

Originally Posted by adamz

I admit I didn't know much about the busway when I made the comment. Perhaps "idiotic" was a bit strong, but I've done some checking, and frankly I'm still not very impressed. It's 100 million CT taxpayer dollars for some busses. What makes this so special- that it's built on a railroad right of way? Seems like an awful lot of buck for not a whole lot of bang.

It seems to me that Malloy never met a construction project he didn't like. Here at UConn, where I teach, they're building new dorms, new science buildings and a new tech incubator. But at the same time as all these hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent, the situation is SO VERY DIRE that state employees are supposed to once again make concessions.

It doesn't add up.

I think it's hard to compare school projects to public projects... schools get other sources of funding than tax revenue, like tuition, donations, grants, sports sales, etc. Who knows where the funding really came from for those projects you mentioned.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by adamz

I admit I didn't know much about the busway when I made the comment. Perhaps "idiotic" was a bit strong, but I've done some checking, and frankly I'm still not very impressed. It's 100 million CT taxpayer dollars for some busses. What makes this so special- that it's built on a railroad right of way? Seems like an awful lot of buck for not a whole lot of bang.

It seems to me that Malloy never met a construction project he didn't like. Here at UConn, where I teach, they're building new dorms, new science buildings and a new tech incubator. But at the same time as all these hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent, the situation is SO VERY DIRE that state employees are supposed to once again make concessions.

It doesn't add up.

Remember that good chunks of the busway costs were fixing things along the corridor. This includes eliminating the at-grade rail crossing at Flatbush Avenue in Hartford and replacing the Broad Street Bridge over the rail line and I-84. These likely would have had to be done using highway dollars that now could go to other projects. Also note that the busway has an important role in the future of transportation in greater Hartford. The state is in the process of planning for the replacement of the aging and expensive to maintain Aetna Viaduct. When that project is under construction in several years, traffic getting in and out of downtown will be a nightmare. The busway will offer commuters a mass transit option for commuting and that will be vitally important, just like Shoreline East service was to New Haven area during the reconstruction of I-95.

The money that has been spent at UConn has done a lot for the college and the state. It has brought the university into the 21 Century and made it more prominent which in turn brings in more jobs. The projects you mention have been in the works for a long time and are funded by bonds that were approved back when the state felt it had the money. I believe future projects will be looked upon less favorably but that does not mean they should stop. Actually they can't be. The tech incubator will be particularly important to bring research and development to the area which will hopefully grow into greater businesses and more jobs. This plan has been in the works for decades now and is long overdue. I happen to know a few companies that are looking to move there already when it is built. Jay