TESTIMONY
Before The
Connecticut Dept. of Transportation
Bureau of Public Transportation / Office of Rail
Darien CT June 3rd 1999
My name is Jim Cameron. I am a resident of Darien and serve as Vice Chmn of the CT Rail Commuter Council. As you know, our group was formed by the CT Legislature to represent the interests of riders of Metro-North and Shore Line East railroads in the state. We do this by meeting each month with representatives of CDOT and Metro-North to address concerns of riders.
The turn-out here this evening shows that there is possibly no greater concern among riders than ticket prices. As CDOT has requested a 5% fare increase for the third time in as many years, the Council reviewed your proposal this Spring and voted unanimously to oppose it.
The commuters here this evening will give you their own reasons to oppose this fare increase. I wish to raise some different issues.
CT commuters already pay the highest fares in the US, because the state's subsidy of fares is among the lowest. We cannot keep our fares tied to subsidies from the Transportation Fund as it is financed by the unpopular gasoline tax. Lower gas taxes means less subsidy, and in turn, higher fares. This is just bad public policy.
I invite the Governor and members of the Legislature to drive I-95 during rush-hour in Fairfield County. I suggest they try calculating the lost man-hours caused by traffic congestion. Then, I'd like them to explain why they send this mixed message. It's great to call for less traffic congestion. It's a lie to then prevent it by making gas cheaper and train tickets more expensive.
Rail fares should be lowered, not raised. And yes, the gas tax should be increased. Additionally, we need more parking spaces at railroad stations. CDOT's initiative in Bridgeport where you offer thousands of free parking spaces is a good start. What's happening right here in Darien is not. Our Town Fathers have recently voted to raise day-parking rates at the Noroton Hts and Darien stations.
Those who commute by car should be willing to pay for the privilege. In my view, Fairfield County employers should not be allowed to offer workers "free parking", because in reality, those spaces are not free... they come with a huge social cost. Today is another ozone alert day. The polluted air we are all breathing today was not created by commuter rail riders.
We hear rumbling this week from Hartford that "creative accounting" may come up with the funding needed to prevent this proposed fare increase. This is both good news and bad: good, because fares won't go up... bad, because it doesn't solve the real problem. We don't need a Band-Aid approach to funding this crucial public service. We need the Legislature to do a complete overhaul. This fare hike proposal won't be the last. But you cannot keep going to the fare-box to find the revenue you need.
To the lawmakers who will grandstand this week and claim that they "saved the fare" I offer this challenge: give us real reform, not a quick fix. Get this railroad out from under a dependence on the gas tax. Fund our trains the way we fund any other vital public service... not year to year, but decades at a time.
The Commuter Council knows that CDOT needs additional revenue because you are the tail being wagged by the MTA dog. It is CDOT's contract with MTA that is really the problem. The Council needs to, and we think the public deserves to, know more about this contract. For that reason, at our meeting next week, I will ask that the Council use its legislatively-mandated review powers under Sec.13b-212b to require you to provide us with a copy of the MTA contract so that the Council can conduct a thorough review of its terms.
In closing, I would like to repeat something I said before this body three and a half years ago when I testified on behalf of the Council in favor of a fare increase. In October 1995 I said...
The Council would like to take advantage of this public hearing to commend Metro North, Conn. DOT and its employees for their continuing improvement of service on the lines. The trains run on time, are clean and well maintained and with a few exceptions our research and yours indicates that riders feel they are getting good value for their money. As one of those services its customers often take for granted, Metro-North seems newsworthy only in its absence. The Commuter Council thanks you for the opportunity to voice opinion on this proposal and for the continued high standards you have set for the operation of these railroads in serving their riders.
Those sentiments remain as true today as they were then. All of us on the Commuter Council respect your work, in good times and bad. You run a great railroad which supports the economical vitality of this region and makes possible the quality of life we all enjoy here. We just want to find a better way to fund it into the next century.
Respectfully submitted,
Jim Cameron
Jim Cameron
Vice Chairman
