Rockview Commuters No Longer Stranded

Dilias Ratchford answered her door to a surprise: For the first time in 12 years, a city bus had stopped right near her house, instead of a mile down the road.

Ratchford and other neighbors at the new Rockview development are finally linked directly to the city’s transit route — and don’t have to walk seven-tenths of a mile to catch a bus. As of 6 a.m. Sunday, CT Transit’s B1 and B1Z buses are making an extra loop straight into Rockview by the semi-roundabout near the top of Wilmot Road, before heading back to Wintergreen Avenue.

Ratchford (pictured) has been advocating for a bus stop closer to Rockview homes for more than a year, but was told it was impossible. (Click here to read a previous story about her quest.)

She moved to the newly-built development when it first opened in 2013, because she wanted to live somewhere ​“brand new from the ground up.”

But there was a major infrastructural defect — no bus stop.

“When I moved out here, I didn’t know that no buses were going to come out at Rockview. I doubt if I would’ve come [knowing that], because I’m asthmatic,” she said. Throughout the process of petitioning the city, Housing Authority and CT Transit, Rockview’s management was less than supportive, she said. ​“There’s discord between them and us.”

Ratchford has a car. She said she often picked up elderly neighbors carrying groceries walking back toward Rockview.

Now those neighbors will be able to hop on a bus every 20 or 30 minutes inside of the development. From 4:50 a.m. to 1:10 a.m. Mondays through Fridays, and from 6 a.m. on weekends, a B bus will go through Rockview instead of around it.

But the roads around the complex are narrow. In January, CT Transit lobbied for signs to let people know not to park on Wilmot Road, and got the development’s management to promise to enforce the parking ban, said Barry Diggs, CT Transit’s administrator for planning and scheduling. And they removed several marked parking spaces from the street to make room for the bus.

During a test run last Wednesday, a bus entering the roundabout got ​“hung up” and couldn’t quite squeeze by a right-of-way sign at the entrance, Diggs said. So his office worked with management to take the sign out of the ground. ​“We should be OK,” he said.

And in the snowy winters? Management ​“has their own plowing force and they’re good with that stuff,” Diggs said.

Diggs used to be a bus driver. He said Ratchford was ​“one of my everyday passengers. We had a personal connection.” When he started meeting with Rockview neighbors about the bus stop, he said he recognized Ratchford and ​“put a face to the name and said, ​‘Oh, I remember you!’”

Ratchford said she plans to park her car in a small lot across the street or on one of the side streets from now on. It might be a tough transition for people who are used to parking on the main road, she said.

The police showed up Sunday to move cars blocking the bus from making that crucial narrow turn.

Housing authority Executive Director Karen DuBois-Walton praised the decision in a statement released by her office: ​“The lack of a bus route in this community was a challenge for so long. Now our families will have easily accessible transportation options that will get them to work, school or simply to go grocery shopping. This is also a testament that exemplifies the power when residents collectively raise their voices to advocate for an issue in their community. “

The release also quoted Rockview resident Denice Vallejo saying, ​“It was aggravating having to walk down the hill to take the bus especially in the winter months. There were many times that I had to pay to take a cab just to go food shopping. Now that it will be easier for me to take the bus, I will save money too. I am so excited, especially for the older residents because it will help us to have a better quality of living experience in this neighborhood.”