Let’s take a look at it from a couple of perspectives, since it seems to be a done deal.
First, from a ridership perspective. Sounds like it was designed to address a commutation issue. So, let’s say three hours morning primetime and three hours evening primetime, serving essentially the same group of commuters. The buses run every “three to six minutes” according to the DOT. Figure, what, 50 people per bus? Let’s say 75 just to be sure. 180 primetime minutes, divided by one-bus-every-3-minutes is a total of 60 bus runs during primetime. Times 75 people per run. That’s a total possible primetime ridership, one way, of 4500 people. Those same individuals will be coming home at night, so we’ll double it to 9000 primetime per day. Add another, what, 2000?, non primetime riders and we get 11,000 riders each day. 11,000 into $500 MILLION gives us an expenditure of $45,454 per rider. Hmmmm.
We could also look at the jobs created. The CTDOT website indicates that the project will be completed by 2014, so the construction jobs created would last a total of 2 years. Other jobs, like maintenance of buses and drivers will continue, but won’t be counted in the $500 MILLION. Gov. Malloy indicates the creation of 4100 jobs due to the project. Figure 1/3 of the project expenditures are materials, and profits at 10%. That leaves us 57% of $500mm, or $285 MILLION for “jobs”. $285,000,000/4100/2 years = avg $34,750 per job per year. Whoops! Forgot things like Insurance and Taxes and Union Dues...looks like those 4100 “jobs” are going to pay a lot less than that.
This is absurd. The bridges and roads that serve the other 3.5 MILLION citizens of the state are falling apart, and we would ALL benefit a lot more that the few who ride the bus between New Britain and Hartford...
They only broke ground, so don’t say “done deal” just yet. People thought that the “Access To The Region’s Core” rail tunnels from New Jersey to New York, including the new six-track deep-level station, were also a “done deal”, and there was even a groundbreaking ceremony for the project—right up to the point when Chris Christie canceled it.