More Reader Comments on GreenLight Pinellas

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Jack - commented on your article "Reader Comments on GreenLight Pinellas" in Doc Webb's Bay Post:

Here's another comment for you, Doc:

This is from the Greenlight financial analysis on their website: The train is budgeted at $2.5 BILLION actual cost at time of expenditure (when they actually pay the bills).

The "bus enhancement" is estimated to cost $300 MILLION (only 10% of the total).

Check it out here, read all about it here": http://www.psta.net/PDF/Greenlight%20Pinellas%20Preliminary%20Financial%20Feasibility%20Analysis.pdf

 Table 2: LRT Sources and Uses of Capital Funds (millions of year-of-expenditure dollars) Sources of Funds

 Federal New Starts Grants $938M                         37.6%

 State New Starts Transit Program $300M              12.0%

 Local share $1,256M 50.4%

       Pay-go funds from sales tax revenue $250      10.0%

       Senior bond proceeds $156                             6.3% 

       TIFIA loan draws $822 33.0%

       TIFIA loan capitalized interest $27                    1.1%

       Total Sources of Funds $2,493 is                 100.00% train

 (Note that they are planning to get 50% of the money from state and federal grants - still more of our tax dollars at work).

Estimated BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) capital costs total $147.8 million and estimated costs for an intermodal center total $45.0 million.

Revenue vehicle expansion costs total $150 million in year-of-expenditure dollars. ($297.8 million total).

Bus enhancements" total $150 MILLION new buses (about 20 buses). $148 MILLION for BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) and, get this, a $45 MILLION "intermodal center" . A big building where riders change from one ride to another, bus->bus or bus->train or train->bus, in other words, a very fancy bus/train station.

There you have it - $130 MILLION a year from us from the sales tax increase, $2.5 BILLION for a train and $250 MILLION for "bus enhancements.

All this for the 2% of our population who need a ride.

Maybe we should consider providing taxi vouchers so people could go where they really want to go without waiting for a bus.

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Disclosures: Contributor to No Tax for Tracks