Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1150997
www.HartfordBusiness.com • August 5, 2019 • Hartford Business Journal 3 Lyle Wray | Executive Director, Capitol Region Council of Governments By Sean Teehan steehan@hartfordbusiness.com B etween transportation planning, crumbling-foundation solutions and expanding services shared by communities, Lyle Wray has a full plate. He is executive director of the Capi- tol Region Council of Governments (CRCOG), an organization of 38 mu- nicipalities surrounding Hartford. In an effort to bolster new transit options like the CTfastrak busway and CTrail train line, CRCOG recently put out a request for proposals for a regional bikeshare vendor in the area. Despite LimeBike leaving Hartford in 2018 after only a few months in opera- tion (during which officials from the city and Lime professed the program's success), Wray thinks a regional bike- share system will prove a good fit. CRCOG issued a request for proposals for a company providing "a large-scale regional private bikeshare system." How would such a system benefit Greater Hartford? Working with a dozen-and- a-half towns in the region, our hope is to have a system that can be broadly accessed across our million-person region. This would include CTfastrak and CTrail station- area access and priority areas for bicycle locations that towns are interested in. This is part of the process of extended transit from the stops and stations and in providing more options for walking and bicycling — active transportation — in the region. LimeBike seemed promising in Hartford last year but left the city. How will CRCOG make sure this would be different? We expect to have a two-year initial contract ready for next seasons use and expect it will be successful. How would you rate transportation initiatives like the busway and CTrail? Are they living up to expectations? Both are more than meeting rider- ship expectation. CTfastrak has more than 15 million rides since it opened and CTrail is above ridership projec- tions. We need to expand the CTfas- trak network and expand our rail con- nection through Springfield to Boston to further build ridership. What do you think is cur- rently the most urgent issue for municipalities within CRCOG's area? Our towns are highly dependent on property taxes that are growing more slowly than expenses in most cases so it is a struggle to provide needed services and balance a town budget at a tax rate that residents will accept. What are the biggest sleeper issues in the region that we're not paying atten- tion to now, but will be in the future? We have a good supply of freshwater in the region and state and this cannot be taken for granted in many parts of the country. Solid waste management and recycling are part of a complex puzzle we will need to pay greater at- tention to in the next 10 years. Newsmakers "With the right partner, dreams become a reality." Lynne Stanley, AVP Cash Management, Windsor Federal Savings Tony Karlowicz, Co-Founder, Back East Brewery George Hermann, President & CEO, Windsor Federal Savings WindsorFederal.com – Tony Karlowicz, Co-Founder, Back East Brewery @windsorfederalsavings @windsorfederal Lyle Wray PHOTO | HBJ FILE