How Much Commuter Rail Can We Afford?
With a little luck, President Obama will save us from ourselves and derail the train project we can’t afford but are eager to pursue.
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17 search results for: commuter rail
Rail Back on Track in New Hampshire?
Yesterday’s approval by the Capital Budget Overview Committee to use Turnpike Credits to help fund a transportation study of the Capitol Corridor has revived hopes of commuter rail in New Hampshire. The Corridor project, if completed in its entirety, would see passenger rail service run from Concord through Manchester and Nashua, continuing south into North Station in Boston.
JBC Press Release: Train Study Optimistic and Overstated
Assumptions significantly overstate revenue Josh Elliott-Traficante, Josiah Bartlett Center policy analyst covering transportation policy, commented on the Capital Corridor study released today. Elliott-Traficante described the study’s revenue estimates as rosy and out of line with the experience of every other commuter rail system in the country:“The study paints a rosy picture but its revenue assumptions are significantly […]
Trains are Shiny But the Numbers Don’t Work
Public policy is not about bright shiny objects. Too often politicians are so distracted by the shininess of an idea that they forget what their policy goal is. The classic example of this is the glassy eyed fascination so many people have with the romance surrounding trains. People think trains are really cool so let’s get one. It doesn’t really matter why.
Politicians need discipline forced on them by budgets
Charlie Arlinghaus September 26, 2012 As originally published in the New Hampshire Union Leader Budgets are a discipline we force upon politicians who have trouble controlling themselves. Left to themselves, politicians will promise you the moon without telling you about the new moon tax they have to impose to pay for it. On Earth, the […]
Highways Pay for Themselves, Trains Don’t
Charlie Arlinghaus September 19, 2012 As originally published in the New Hampshire Union Leader In a few weeks, Maine will finish a $44 million project to extend a money-losing commuter train and lose even more money. Fortunately, retiring Sen. Olympia Snowe got them money in the federal budget to fund their profligacy. Some politicians in […]
Requiring U.S. steel in N.H. public projects would hurt taxpayers and workers
With inflation at a 40-year high and March approaching the highest one-month gas price increase on record, this would be a strange moment for legislators to purposefully inflate public works costs for taxpayers. But that could happen, started by a Senate vote this week. Senate Bill 438 would raise costs on New Hampshire taxpayers for […]