The Connecticut General Assembly recently set aside $3 million of an estimated $224 budget surplus to forestall a 5.5% New Haven Line commuter rail fare increase until January 1, 2005.  The hike, proposed as part of Governor Rowland’s 2005 budget, would have taken effect July 1, 2004.

  Some called the move a political ploy to put the fare hike off until after the November elections, but the delay was welcome for commuters who may now have more time to persuade Connecticut lawmakers to put off the fare hike altogether.  Hopefully, the postponement is a sign that, following the disastrous service outages experienced on the New Haven Line last winter, politicians in Connecticut are becoming more sensitive to the years of neglect and underfinancing they have visited upon mass transit. It is now up to pro-transit and transportation reform advocates in the state to increase pressure to win more of the state surplus for mass transit, shift the general emphasis of ConnDOT spending toward upgrading and expanding transit over construction of more sprawl-inducing highway capacity and challenge politicians who claim little can be done to change transportation policy.

Putting the fare hike off indefinitely would cost $6 million, State Senator Andrew McDonald (D-Stamford) told the Stamford Advocate. v