Boston Surface Railroad: Worcester-Providence Commuter Rail

yup still there .

Well, this is different.. Found on Facebook..
https://www.facebook.com/bostonsurface/ ... &__tn__=-R

http://www.bsrc.com/sbonds/

I'm surprised they don't they have to have an offering prospectus, and make sure that the buyers are qualified investors. I guess it is up to Rhode Island regulators. 8-9% interest rate sounds like a good deal, but the risks are very high on this sort of project. Interesting that these bonds are issued under Rhode Island but have the name of a Massachusetts-based federal credit union. I'm guessing Goldman-Sachs wanted a larger cut.

Somebody should look up the rules for these private tax-exempt (or tax reduced) bonds. Oh, and I assume it's federal tax exempt but not state.

BandA wrote:I'm surprised they don't they have to have an offering prospectus, and make sure that the buyers are qualified investors. I guess it is up to Rhode Island regulators. 8-9% interest rate sounds like a good deal, but the risks are very high on this sort of project. Interesting that these bonds are issued under Rhode Island but have the name of a Massachusetts-based federal credit union. I'm guessing Goldman-Sachs wanted a larger cut.

Somebody should look up the rules for these private tax-exempt (or tax reduced) bonds. Oh, and I assume it's federal tax exempt but not state.

My guess would be that these things are technically issued *by* the Direct Federal credit union, not Boston Surface. That's the only way they'd be able to sell them w/out a registration statement etc.

The plot thickens.. The "bond" shown on Facebook is allegedly on Digital Credit Union (I'm a member!).. https://www.facebook.com/bostonsurface/ ... &__tn__=-R

The "bond" shown on their website is allegedly on Direct Credit Union... http://www.bsrc.com/sbonds/

So what gives?

Reading the "fine print" on the Direct CU bond, it talks about the funds being only used in a certain "Opportunity Zone".. I'll have to try to find more info..

This is a Treasury presser re: "Opportunity Zones": https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm0414

Opportunity Zone FAQs.. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/opportunit ... -questions

Whoops, I stand correkted. It's the former Digital Equipment credit union, not the former Poloroid credit union, lol.

Looks like Lowell, Nashua, Worcester, Woonsocket and Providence all have Opportunity Zones, so I assume the stations would be located inside those zones. That leaves Ayer & whatever the Manchester Airport station (Bedford NH?) not having Opportunity Zones. So investments in stations or rolling stock would qualify for federal tax exemptions and deferrals. Those links talk about investments, not leases or profits, so I am confused as to whether leased rolling stock or paying employees or consultants would create a tax exemption.

I see nothing about qualified investors, prospectuses, etc for Opportunity Zone Funds.

So, if you buy a locomotive & fix it up as long as 90% of the passengers arrive or depart stations in the Opportunity Zones that would qualify I assume. If you lease a locomotive, does that count?

5 years of smoke being blown up everyone's ass, this railroad is as fake as a $3 bill.

If you give $1 to these frauds you are a fool.

These people no nothing as to how railroads and commuter rail agencies work. And they have no sense of history as the facts clearly demonstrate none of these lanes they come up with have any demand for commuter rail. The fact that they have never approached P&W and Pan Am should also set off alarm bells.

Sounds like a shorter line variation of the fraud a few years ago with the "luxury train" scam between Portland and Montreal.

Does anyone know what the assets are that Boston Surface Railroad Company own's.

[quote="On APRIL 25, 2019 In an article entitled "Boston Surface Railroad has a transport solution for the Northeast’s underserved metropolitan regions", Mischa Wanek-LIibman of the Mass Transit staff"]
Boston Surface Railroad has a transport solution for the Northeast’s underserved metropolitan regions
The Northeast boasts some of the best transportation systems in the U.S., but underserved, tightly coupled metropolitan regions exist and Boston Surface Railroad Company (BSRC), a privately-funded passenger provider, believes it has a way to better serve these areas while making money.

BSRC was founded in 2013 and was granted authority to operate passenger rail service between Worcester, Mass., Woonsocket, R.I. and Providence, R.I., by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board in 2016.

The railroad has determined that passenger rail service could be profitable during typical commute hours in high-volume corridors and anticipates providing between 1,500-2,000 daily round trips between Worcester, Woonsocket and Providence within five years of the start of operations. BSRC says those numbers would remove nearly five percent of cars that travel on congested Routes 146 and 99 and would eliminate almost 150 million tons of carbon and atmospheric pollutants each year.

Vincent Bono, president of BSRC, explains the railroad has completed necessary engineering and environmental work, proceeded with the purchase of locomotives and secured station rights through the Worcester Redevelopment Authority for use of Worcester Union Station and leased the downtown train Depot in Woonsocket. [/quote]

Read the rest of this story at ► Mass Transit's web site◄

[quote="At 6:11 PM on Apr 25, 2019 In an article entitled "Company proposing Worcester-Providence railroad offers bonds", Telegram Staff of the Worcester Telegram staff"]
Company proposing Worcester-Providence railroad offers bonds
A Rhode Island company seeking to start passenger rail service between Worcester and Providence is offering bonds for sale privately in small amounts.

Boston Surface Railroad Co. of Woonsocket is offering five- and 10-year bonds at rates of 8 percent and 9 percent in a private sale to raise $300,000 for equipment, according to Vincent J. Bono, company founder and president.

The company has sold $190,000 in bonds to investors since about 2015-2016, Mr. Bono said. But now the railroad is offering bonds in smaller amounts – face values of $50 to $500 - to those in the community who want to financially contribute toward the startup, he said.

“We get people wanting to donate,” Mr. Bono said. “They feel like it’s a good project. It sounds crazy, but we don’t want to take donations.”

[/quote]

Read more of this story at ► Telegram.com's web site◄

From our "Things That Make You Say "Hmmmmmmm..."" Department:

I went looking on the bsrc.com "Investors" page for details about these bonds.. The "investors" page (along with all of the other sub pages on the site) is/are returning "Not Found" errors..
The link from their Facebook page returns less than stellar results, too..

Confirmed, all pages except the main BSRC page appear to be down. Wasn't it working a few days ago? There is an Ubuntu Linux Apache web server, but it seems to be broken or misconfigured. Interesting that the "cart" button links to an obviously misspelled url!

PBMcGinnis wrote:.....The fact that they have never approached P&W and Pan Am should also set off alarm bells.

That is false. It seems clear they approached P&W some time ago. As for PanAm, who knows?

Interesting that we get a T&G article and a Mass Transit on the same day, both with interviews with Mr. Bono. Parsing the articles, T&G talks about raising $300K for equipment. The MT article says they are raising $5M "first round" to go with the $2M they have already spent, that they are using founder money, venture capital, and those savings certificates.

T&G says they have been working to acquire equipment. MT says they have already acquired equipment, completed environmental & engineering, and secured Worcester & Woonsocket access. Neither article talks about PVD access, which requires Amtrak agreement.

They say they will start PVD-Woonsocket test trains in second-half 2020[MT], with Worcester to follow 12-18 months later[T&G]