Last Wednesday, Tri-State and nearly a dozen other advocacy groups were joined by Connecticut House Speaker Chris Donovan and other elected officials to rally in favor of maintaining transit service and affordable fares as Connecticut grapples with an estimated $500 million budget deficit. Advocates also met with legislators throughout the day to press the case for transit.

But maintaining the status quo was not the only thing on advocates’ and elected officials’ minds.  The group also urged support for the state’s high priority transit expansion projects, the New Britain to Hartford Busway and New Haven-Hartford-Springfield commuter rail line. With both having received federal funds in recent months, the group emphasized the need to support these projects in order to secure the remaining  federal funds needed for completion.

Elected officials argued that the projects will catalyze job creation, economic growth, transit-oriented development, and greater transportation choice.

Representative Tim O’Brien (D-New Britain) said it was time to move forward on the projects, particularly the New Britain-Hartford Busway, stating, “it is long overdue for the talking and planning to give way to actually doing. We need to create jobs now—not ten years from now. We need to invest in the future of New Britain and our region by building a real transit system now.”

Also speaking in favor of continued transit investment were Reps. John Geragosian and Peggy Reeves, and State Sen. Ed Meyer.

Image: TSTC.