The U.S. Department of Transportation announced on Friday that it is sending $2 million in stimulus money to the state DOT to buy four buses. The buses will be owned by the state. Boston Express will use one pair, and C&J Trailways will use the other -- all for free. C&J co-owns Boston Express with Concord Coach.
"These funds are creating jobs now while investing in the future of our transit systems," Administrator Peter Rogoff of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) said in Friday's news release. "The public's demand for transit service continues to grow, and these dollars will help meet that need."
That sounds nice. But it isn't true.
Two of the buses will replace C&J buses currently in service on I-95. C&J President Jim Jalbert confirmed to us in an interview Friday that his company would make no new hires in relation to receiving those buses.
The other two buses will be used by Boston Express to add new service. The number of new jobs created? "As many as four or five," Jalbert said. They will all be bus drivers.
Two million dollars to create "four or five" bus-driver jobs? That's as much as $500,000 per job.
Monday, July 27, 2009
$2 Million for 4 Buses
The Union Leader takes a swipe at the stimulus-funded purchase of 4 NH to Boston commuter buses:
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The 4 bus driver jobs created directly by the purchasing of the buses is irrelevant. You need to take a good hard look at how the new buses will effect the lives of the communters who use them. Do these buses provide service into a metropolitan area where more jobs are available. I don't know the answer. But I'm interested. This feels like a cut and paste story. No new information was given. Force your readers to learn something. Not reread a Fox News story.
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