By Robert Trigaux, Times Business Columnist
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
For mass transit fans, the November rejection by Hillsborough County voters of a light rail plan eventually destined for all of Tampa Bay was a tough loss.
But there's fresh buzz criticizing the high-speed rail project linking Tampa and Orlando. The link — a separate project from regional light rail — is mostly paid for with federal funds and would serve as a first leg of a statewide high-speed system.
Recent coverage questioning potential ridership on the 84-mile Tampa-Orlando line has speed rail backers nervous. An analysis by the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank with ties to Florida Gov. Rick Scott, warns the link could suffer cost overruns and require taxpayers to subsidize its operations.
That's the type of conclusion likely to earn the rail project a thumbs down from a budget-pressed Gov. Scott.
A double whammy loss of ...