Comments sent via email following Finance Committee Hearings on October 18, 2007.
Gentle Alderpersons (Messrs Goldfield, Jackson-Brooks, Perez, Rodriguez, and Shalek):
I had successfully restrained myself from commenting on this topic during the public hearings last October 18th, but I can resist the temptation no longer and have succumbed. I trust you will be understanding of this human frailty.
You will also excuse my lack of information about the genesis of this project. Foolishly, I had hoped to hear much more details from the presenters and those testifying for this proposal — details such as how the $350 K + requested from the City would be spent. There was no such breakdown in the Powerpoint presentation handed out.
I will assume the the cost of the trolley (s?) is not included in this $350K+ being requested. So the money must be necessary to pay for ongoing operations and maintenance. With the proposed 11 AM -6 PM, Monday to Saturday schedule can I assume that this can be accomodated by the use of one (1) driver/conductor for this vehicle?
If this is a valid assumption then I estimate vehicle operating and maintenance costs, including gas consumed, is about $2-3,000 per week or $100-150,000 a year, of which payroll and benefits may represent $50K a year and gas/maintenance to be $100K a year. Therefore, there must be other cost elements in this scheme that I am not properly estimating. After our discussions about Pensions and Benefits perhaps this number will be insufficient to cover fully loaded payroll costs if the trolley driver is to be a City employee)
What are the costs of operating this service? And what will the ridership be? What will the ridership be?? Commuters? Tourists? Seniors?? ( I thought I heard 60,000 rides a year which comes to about 200 rides a day at a cost of $6+ per ride. Please correct my numbers if I err. If the actual ridership is 60,000 people (not rides? although unlikely in a City of 125,000 souls) then this trolley cost amounts to $6/person/year. A taxi, of course, might be cost effective but will lack the charm of this trolley)
One inconvenient truth. A school bus gets about 3.1 miles per gallon. An average car/taxi gets about 15. So if the trolley has fewer than 5 riders on average it will generate more carbon emissions than the cars/taxi’s it displaces!!! One gallon of gas generates 20 pounds of greenhouse emissions.
ALTERNATIVES
1) OTHER SHUTTLE SERVICES I believe there already are other shuttle services in New Haven. I think Yale has one and there may be others, quite apart from the City’s regularly operated bus services. Since one of the attractions of the trolley is to allow some of us to indulge ourselves in nostalgia without the nuisance of paying for such, perhaps the City can negotiate with either the Yale shuttle or City bus service to donate the trolleys to them and obtain their agreement to use the trolleys during the prime nostalgia hours of 11-6 PM for shuttling people along a circuit that the City can define. Why can it not be one of the regular routes or some modified route that satisfies those who wish to have this service?? Why not replace our existing bus fleet with trolleys when they need replacement?
2) THE BICYCLE OPTION. Another alternative may be for the City to provide about 2,000 bicycles parked in strategic locations for the free use of anyone. Sign a maintenance contract with the Devil’s Gear (full disclosure — I know the folks there and would like to get them some of the action) to keep these bikes in fine fettle. Assume a wastage/pilferage rate of 50% a year. $350K will get you about 3,500 NEW bikes, many, many more if bicycle donations are solicited (I hereby donate two bikes that I don’t need). Of course it will be hard for seniors and stroller pushing mothers to benefit from this, but Thursday’s Powerpoint presentation did not break down the composition of the anticipated ridership. Perhaps we can have both a bicycle program AND a trolley run by an existing bus service? But I slip into social engineering here.
3) If the ridership is 60,000 a year as projected , then this amounts to around $6 a ride. Even allowing free rides for seniors offset by some interior advertising revenues, this project could still be self-sustaining at a modest $5 per ride. Isn’t it interesting that a trolley service costing $6+ per ride cannot count on ANY paying fares from the ridership? For $6+ per ride -$24 if we can squish 4 riders in a cab — we might just be able to interest Yellow Cabs to do the job and pay them up to $24 per trip to any destination, with the rider paying the balance. I think $6-24 per ride –assuming 1-4 persons per cab –will get anyone anywhere in New Haven. But this is getting fanciful and the sound you hear is just me slapping down my own hand.
CONCLUSION
One reason I restrained myself from commenting last Thursday is the futility of it all. Someone most high must favor this project and these public hearings gave those who want the service a chance to make their case. Gary Doyens and Ken Joyner of our group — New Haven Citizens Action Network speaking in their personal capacities — were so tepid in their support for this proposal that I got the impression they were not in favor!!! Given the pull senior citizens and exhausted mothers with strollers have on the heartstrings of the Board I would predict that this proposal will muster a majority from the stolid sixteen. Alderman Perez and a few others tiptoed gingerly around this proposal so as not to offend anyone but he may not find 15 other Alderpersons to vote this down. I really thought the presence of the three seniors at the hearing, one with a walking stick, a rather nice touch.
I trust you will do your best to mitigate the costs of this project and spare our parking garage peddlers some of the 0.08 mils equivalent this proposal will cost them. We should prepare a list of other non-voting constituencies to get in line for other similar projects that we don’t wish to burden the taxpayers directly with.
I am all in favor of adding charm and nostalgia to a City much deprived of same. I just wish we could find someone else to foot the bill.
With best wishes,
I remain respectfully,
Harry I David.