As the process to secure $275 million in federal New Starts funding for the Hartford-New Britain Busway draws to a close, advocates of the project have grown more and more vocal in their support.
Over the past two weeks, op-eds from two of the most influential Chambers of Commerce in Connecticut, the New Britain Chamber of Commerce and MetroHartford Alliance, as well as an editorial from the Bristol Press, have reiterated the point that the project is broadly supported and countered the view of a small but vocal opposition that this project is the wrong one for the region.
Writing in the Hartford Courant, Alliance president Oz Griebel (a former Republican candidate for governor) called the busway, as well as the Springfield-New Haven rail project, investments that “demonstrate confidence in the future of Central Connecticut and are critical to job retention and growth in both cities [Hartford and New Britain] and the region.”
The op-eds and editorial came in response to a paid media campaign from opponents who have argued that the busway should be scrapped in favor of a rail concept which lacks realistic estimates for ridership, environmental impacts, cost, or funding. By contrast, the busway has gone through a rigorous process that has shown it will provide the best possible level of service, be the most flexible and generate the highest ridership. It also has an identified funding plan.
Nice try. Broad support? That’s a dubious statement. You failed to mention the New Haven Register editorial from last week that supported the Central Connecticut Chamber’s position on the Busway. Keep in mind that from a membeship size the Central Connecticut Chamber is larger than New Britain and Metro Hartford combined. As to the rail plan submitted it was put together by rail professionals and not bureaucrats. The numbers are in line with nunerous other rail programs that already funded and underway. As to the Busway serving Bristol and Waterbury, if that’s such an integral part of the plan then why were alternatives only studied as far west as Plainville and why are there no stations or other cost factors built into the $570 million project? Trying to promote the Busway as a soltuion for those two cities is a red herring nothing more than political posturing to protect a hyper-inflated project with little overal return.
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/10/01/opinion/doc4ca51866752a4253903624.txt
This is a corridor that was initially served by rail. A pioneering line for the third rail, in fact, one hundred years ago, along with a sister line near Nantasket Beach, south of Boston:
Click here for more on that: http://www.bera.org/articles/nh3rail.html
Electrified light rail (using overhead catenary) is best suited to this line today. The population living within close range of the projected line more than justifies the initial capital expenses. Light rail, over time, costs FAR less to maintain than buses do. Light rail equipment can last 20-30 years – up to 60 years with overhauls, as the PCC trolleys have demonstrated admirably, coast to coast. Bus fleets must be replaced every 10-15 years.
Once roadbeds are fixed and ballasted, and continuously welded rail and concrete ties are laid, track is far less expensive to maintain per mile, over time, than roadways, which must be paved and repaired constantly.
Natural gas-powered buses are not a serious option, as they would run on resources extracted through ‘fracking’. This extraction technique is devastating to the environment and destroys drinking water irreversibly in the areas in which it is carried out.
Fracking was recently exposed for the hazard it is by the documentary ‘Gasland’:
http://gaslandthemovie.com/trailer
Light rail doesn’t require destroying the environment, or the declaration of illegal wars, based on lies, wrapped in God, mom and apple pie and fear of the Muslims, in order to extract oil from the Middle East.
Light rail doesn’t spill American or foreign blood.
One hundred years ago, this very same corridor ran on electric rail. In 2010, if the people of Central Connecticut are finally serious about rational logistics for the largest number of people without taking the rest of the world hostage in the process, they will return to electric rail.
They need to right this wrong once and for all. The future viability of the region depends on it.
I have a photograph of a trolley on Farmington Avenue in Hartford complete with an advertisement for an excursion rate to Rye Playland of $2.00 return, during the last depression. That meant that a person who wanted to get out of Hartford for the day could take a streetcar to Union Station, board a New York, New Haven and Hartford Train bound for Grand Central, and alight at Rye, New York. Then transfer to another streetcar to Rye Playland. Spend the day at the park. And return in the evening to Hartford, same drill in reverse, for a grand total of $2.00.
Busways are a pathetic excuse for transit promoted loudest by the enemies of rail, who are also the most vocal proponents of wars for petroleum, as well as lackeys for Big Gas.
Light rail can handle several times the capacity of buses, on much more even headways, with a far smoother ride. They can also eventually connect with sleek, new, ultra-modern streetcar routes to be constructed to serve the city cores of Hartford, New Britain, Waterbury and Springfield, as well as New London, New Haven and Bridgeport and Stamford. These routes could radiate out in several directions, over the routes that were abandoned and bustituted in the 40’s and 50’s.
Electric buses could certainly have their place in the whole scheme of things – as feeders to light rail and commuter rail. But bus rapid transit is not a serious option for a tangental metropolitan region as spread-out, wealthy and densely populated as Central and Southern Connecticut. It’s time to re-connect Connecticut’s rail infrastructure to those of New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The economically-depressed Greater-Hartford-Springfield/New Britain/Waterbury corridor deserves a comprehensive regional light rail infrastructure to support the needs of its workforce and relieve congestion once and for all on I-84 and I-91.
It’s time Connecticut. Get serious about sustainable development and raional logistics and watch the jobs come back and the cities revitalize. The young, the old, and the disabled will have options for mobility and economic prosperity opened up to them that haven’t been available to people in Connecticut since the forties. Do it right and do it now. Don’t even try to convince us that in the richest per capita state in the nation that it can’t be done.
Do Regional Light Rail. Do commuter rail. Do streetcars. Do it right. Do it now. Do it for the future viability of Connecticut. Or be confined to the dustbin of history as Europe, Asia and the rest of the world leave us behind at record speed.
The busway will cost as much or more to build as light rail. Look at the costs of the West and South Busways in Pittsburgh and the Harbor Freeway busway in Los Angeles. What makes you think a lane mile of busway is going to cost less than a track mile of light rail or commuter rail? It will also take as much or more space unless shoulders are eliminated (not bright if decent speeds are to be maintained). A rail solution would cost less to run because more people can be handled on a train rather than a bus. Using bus connectors to the rail station also means that at a given station the connectors will connect with each other thus giving greater local mobility. It has worked that way in Sacramento.
Why is the RPA providing graphics for and pushing this project? It falls far beyond the boundaries of the 31-county region (NYC metro) it serves. Metro Hartford already has bodies that perform a similar regional function; why not let them do their work? Get out of the picture and go back to the city!
Regarding the RPA, there is an active Connecticut division and local advisory board of the Regional Plan Association with an office in the state and the Metro Hartford region is part of their area of concern. It complements the work of the metropolitan planning organization in the Metro Hartford area.
Since nothing has been done yet on the alleged New Britain Transit way and rails are still there reuse the line as built. Clear the ROW and reinstall the switch point laying beside the New Britain Branch in New Britain.
Replace hand thrown seitch with a remote type controlled by Train Diapstcher. A two car Push-Pull train would work out fine. And since not restricted light rail line operated by electric the diesel-electric Push-Pull trainset can have service extended As service warrents and can also make possible the long planned extension of Waterbury Service through Plainville, New Britian and further with re-activation of the Newington Branch