CT Bus Diaries

Signs Point To Long-Awaited Bus Upgrade

by | Mar 19, 2021 9:54 am | Comments (5)

Jose Flores: It’s been a long wait.

CHK America image

One possible design for new real-time info bus stop signs.

Downtown bus riders should soon have a better sense of when their rides will actually arrive, as the state prepares to roll out new digital signs with real-time information on where a bus is, and when it will get to a stop.

That’s one initiative planned among many in a state Department of Transportation (DOT) push to make New Haven’s beleaguered bus system easier and more enjoyable to use.

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CT Transit Fix: $15.5M, For Starters

by | Nov 21, 2019 7:43 pm | Comments (26)

Thomas Breen photo

In transit near the Green.

How much might it cost to fix New Haven’s broken public bus system?

According to one years-in-the-making, state-funded transit study, roughly $15.5 million in capital improvements and another $7.7 million in annual operating funds would go a long way towards crafting a more frequent, reliable, and rational local transportation system.

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Train Progress Hailed; Buses? “Stay Tuned”

by | Jun 17, 2019 3:07 pm | Comments (23)

Thomas Breen photo

Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz and Gov. Ned Lamont board the Hartford Line at Union Station, check in with passengers (below).

Sophie Sonnenfeld Photo

Local, state, and federal officials descended on New Haven Monday to celebrate the resounding success” of a year-old commuter rail line that connects New Haven, Hartford, and Springfield.

They also said that a decade-in-the-works bus study is almost complete, and that long-awaited local transit improvements should be coming … sometime soon?

Continue reading ‘Train Progress Hailed; Buses? “Stay Tuned”’

Primary Plan’s Obstacle: Broken Bus System

by | Nov 29, 2018 9:08 am | Comments (10)

Thomas Breen photos

150 Sargent Dr.: Tough to reach by bus or by foot.

Claudette Kidd of Mothers & Others for Justice testifies Wednesday.

Can these doctors, lawyers, and health CEOs solve a public transit problem? From right to left at Wednesday’s hearing: YNHH VP Jennifer Wilcox, Fair Haven Community Health CEO Suzanne Lagarde, YNHH VP Cynthia Sparer, Cornell Scott-Hill Health CEO Michael Taylor, Yale School of Medicine Associate Dean Stephen Huot.

Given New Haven’s broken bus system, how would car-less New Haveners get to a new primary care center planned for Long Wharf?

Yale-New Haven Hospital and the city’s two community health centers will have to answer that question over the next two weeks to win state permission to transform the way that New Haven’s poor get medical care.

Continue reading ‘Primary Plan’s Obstacle: Broken Bus System’

Long-Awaited Bus Fixes Unveiled

by | Oct 25, 2018 8:30 am | Comments (41)

Paul Bass photo

Rush hour on bus formerly known as the B, now the 243.

Farwell: Don’t ditch Green.

After riding New Haven’s broken bus system for a month and interviewing 5,000 riders, state officials recommend new crosstown routes, transfer mini-hubs, bus-priority traffic lights, fewer stops, and express routes. A crowd Wednesday night weighed in.

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Busted Bus System’s Breaks Revealed

by | Nov 3, 2017 12:19 pm | Comments (8)

Paul Bass Photo

Rush hour on bus formerly known as the B, now the 243.

Kill a bus route to North Branford that has only 38 riders a day. Eliminate bus stops that are too close together. Create more connection hubs and crosstown bus options instead of forcing everyone to go through the New Haven Green.

A new mobility” study puts into play those and other potential fixes for New Haven’s beleaguered bus system.

Continue reading ‘Busted Bus System’s Breaks Revealed’

Dear DOT

by | Jan 9, 2017 3:45 pm | Comments (3)

Paul Bass Photo

Rush-hour B3: 20 minutes late, crammed, no word to riders.

Never mind the late and too-few buses. Why is it proving so hard for the state to put workable GPS systems on its buses to communicate with waiting riders?

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Can Bus Woes Be Solved?

by and | Dec 29, 2014 9:15 am | Comments (0)

If your bus is late — at least soon you’ll be able to know it.

That’s one improvement among others that CT Transit officials promise are on the way for New Haven’s buses. Riders — and potential riders who stay away — say improvements can’t come too soon.

Continue reading ‘Can Bus Woes Be Solved?’