Health, Safety & the Environment

More Money For Mass Transit!

May 14, 2009 at 9:37 am by William A. Ruskin

For mass transit to work along the U.S. 95 corridor between Greenwich and New Haven, it must be quick, reliable and reasonable in cost.  Commuters who presently drive to work are not going to lured from the expressway if there isn’t plentiful covered parking at the trains stations (for inclement weather) where they park and reliable bus service on the other end to convey them to their office buildings.  I agree with Lile Gibbons, Greenwich’s state representative, when she offers her support for installing EZPass tolls along Connecticut’s highways.  But I part company with Ms. Gibbons when she urges that toll monies collected be deposited into the state transportation fund to improve our highways.  Well-maintained highways are certainly necessary to the public welfare and Connecticut’s highways could use the money.  But imagine what it will be like 10 years from now sitting in traffic on U.S. 95 if there is no improvement in mass transit!  No matter how much toll money is collected, U.S. 95 will remain a nighmare until drivers find another means of getting to work.  Toll monies should be placed in a fund dedicated to improving mass transit and getting us off U.S. 95.  If the State is going to tax drivers  for using the highways, it might as well put the money to judicious use.  It will take enormous political will and leadership from Hartford to commit to improving mass transit, but as conditions increasingly worsen on the roads, what alternative do we have?

William A. Ruskin

Bill Ruskin is a litigation partner at EpsteinBeckerGreen. Practicing in both Connecticut and New York, Bill represented chemical manufacturers and drug and medical device manufacturers in products liability cases for over 25 years. Bill is also the author of the toxic tort litigation blog (www.toxictortlitigationblog.com). He enjoys drinking and talking about wine in his spare time. Click here for Bill's full biography at EpsteinBeckerGreen's Web site.

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Posted in General | 3 Comments

1. Great points. Improved mass transit options are sorely needed given our already bad, and worsening, traffic conditions throughout Fairfield County.

   Comment by Sue — May 15th, 2009 @ 2:33 pm

2. Any improvements in mass transit will have only the most minor impact on I-95 traffic – the railroad system is almost at capacity now – we can’t really schedule more trains – no one is going to build more stations south of Fairfield, or provide substantially more parking -

   Comment by kantrowitz — May 20th, 2009 @ 11:19 am

3. So glad you brought up this topic.

   I’m not sure why you insist that parking lots be covered. In case you haven’t noticed, all but the Plaza in Greenwich are not covered, nor are Darien, Port Chester, Rye, Noroton and on and on. And they all have waiting lists. I don’t agree that the lots have to be covered.

   As far as tolls, look more closely at what Lile Gibbons said. She said she would support tolls if something could be done to ensure that diversion would not be a problem. (For example, according to the Transportation Strategy Board Study, 14,000 cars/day would divert through local streets in Byram if a toll goes up at the NY/CT border on I-95). I can’t imagine what she was thinking, but how do you stop drivers from exiting the highway?

   You should read the 500 page Electronic Tolling study. It is available at http://www.ct.gov/opm/tsb

   The tolling idea is a loser. After spending one million dollars on a study of 8 options, the Transportation Strategy Board announced last week that they could not recommend any of them without….. more study.

   Now, with that out of the way, you’re mostly right. I commute by train and it is a great alternative but I commute to NYC, and am supported by workable infrastructure. What Fairfield County needs is, as you say, train station parking and fast transport on the other end to and from offices. With a good shuttle to someone’s office on Long Ridge or in Glenville, the trip by train from Trumbull to Stamford or Greenwich would be quicker by train/shuttle – and a lot less stressful.

   I’m quite sure that tolls are not needed to convince people to use mass transit if there are viable options – traffic backups do that job nicely without ruining neighborhoods with diversion traffic.

   And P.S., we will have more train capacity soon. Those old cars that are being replaced will still be in-service.

   Comment by John Bowman — May 23rd, 2009 @ 11:30 pm

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