Boston 2024 announced last Friday Richard Davey, the former Secretary and CEO of the state Department of Transportation between 2011 and 2014, will become the new head of the non-profit organizing committee currently spearheading efforts to bring the Summer Olympics to the Hub. Davey’s new gig will pay him nearly double what he would have made working for the state.

As Boston 2024’s chief executive, Davey is due to receive 88.5 percent more than he would have as the head of MassDOT, the Boston Business Journal reports. He was expected to bank $159,135 in 2014, according to last year’s published state payroll figures. But at the helm of Boston 2024, Davey is set earn a cool $300,000, the group’s press team told the BBJ.

Boston 2024, a group comprised most notably of wealthy power brokers like Suffolk Construction CEO John Fish, has said the cost to bring the Olympics to the city won’t exceed $4.7 billion; Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has promised no tax-payer dollars will be spent on the Games; and all along, the message from Olympic stakeholders has been: the public transportation projects that would need to be built in order to host the nearly-month long sporting spectacle have already been budgeted for by the state.

Boston 2024’s tapping of the former MassDOT chief was, without question, strategic. Regardless of one’s personal opinions about the Games, it appears public transportation is paramount to the organizing committee’s efforts. Davey’s salary should serve as proof.

Photo via MassDOT