This has been sitting in my draft folder for two days while I awaited further confirmation from the two sources I talked to, but it is looks like reporter Tom Evans of The Hour Online has let the cat out of the bag.

Wording in a document from the state Department of Transportation has rail commuters concerned about an impending fare hike — and a local analyst and a state legislator believe that is true.

According to Department of Transportation — HB 6802 (DOT 57000), line item 6000, “Reduction in subsidy is equivalent to a 10 (percent) fare increase effective October 1, 2009.”

Jim Cameron from the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council says this is NOT the same fare increase to pay for the newly DELAYED M-8 Railcars – that’s right, there is ANOTHER fare increase on track for that starting January 1! It starts at 1.25% and slowly grows at 1% a year to 7.25%!

If you thought that was the punchline to ConnDOT’s joke, sadly you are mistaken.

Despite BOTH fare hikes, bus and rail subsidies still come up $15 MILLION short!

The Hour quotes State Representative Larrence Cafero (R-142) as saying:

“Where’s that other $15 million coming from? I asked the author of the budget that very same question, and he didn’t have an answer.”

Jim Cameron also told StationStops that due to the amount of political procedure needed to legally implement a fare hike, his sources have expressed doubt on whether it would even be technically feasible to enact the 10% hike by Oct 1.

Read more in Tom Evan’s story in The Hour Online.