Greater Bridgeport Transit’s efforts to improve and expand public transportation services have greatly benefited residents who live and work in our 20 town region. Without the ability to respond to increased demand for transportation services, the clients we service would encounter considerable difficulty in their efforts to obtain training and to seek/maintain employment.
Sustained Economic Growth
Long Term Benefits in Economic Activity
The Benefit Cost Analysis prepared for this project reflects a positive community return on investment of 9%. In addition to the direct benefits of this investment, the services provided over the life of the project will have a positive impact on the health of communities in the service area, significantly increasing access to jobs and essential community services. It will facilitate more dense infill development as it is the only transportation capacity expansion currently envisioned in the Bridgeport region.
Immediate and Long Term Benefits in Employment Growth
During the construction phase of this project, more than 250 construction related jobs will be created or sustained. This number includes quality construction positions and does not include ancillary positions created in the surrounding community and throughout the country as materials are manufactured and transported to the construction site.
The project will also lead to long term job creation. Providing the GBT with the capability to expand its services over the next 20 years at a modest (3%) growth rate will create more than an additional 42 jobs for GBT bus drivers and support staff – positions averaging approximately $40,000 each in salary/wages annually in the economically distressed Bridgeport region. It is noteworthy that the center of the GBT service area has a poverty rate that hovers at 18.5% within a County with an overall poverty rate of less than 7%.
