CTFastrak Opens to Mixed Reviews
By Robin Vinci | Editor at April 2, 2024 | 6:00 pm | Print
The CTFastrak officially opened on March 28 as Gov. Dannel Malloy and other State and City officials attended a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Downtown New Britain Station.
“With CTfastrak, Connecticut commuters will have another option to beat traffic as localities see new economic opportunities,” Governor Malloy said. “We are improving lives, easing congestion, and delivering growth in municipalities. From Waterbury through Hartford to Manchester, and to its connections to air and rail travel, CTfastrak will provide residents and business professionals with a new way to travel between our cities and towns. As we work to transform Connecticut’s transportation network with Let’s Go CT, today’s opening is a great start toward creating a 21st Century transportation system.”
CTfastrak is Connecticut’s new bus rapid transit service in central Connecticut.
In addition to Governor Malloy, officials participating included Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman, CTDOT Commissioner James P. Redeker, New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart, Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra, Acting Federal Transit Administrator Therese McMillan, U.S. Representative Elizabeth Esty and the New Britain High School Golden Hurricanes marching band. The officials rode CTfastrak buses from downtown Hartford to the ceremony in New Britain.
“Today, we are the Tale of Two Cities no more,” said Mayor Stewart. “We are moving New Britain forward, starting with our downtown, by rehabilitating and redeveloping buildings and parcels that have long been vacant.”
March 28 began nine days of free service that includes transit on all new CTfastrak green-branded buses and on buses that use the bus-only roadway, as well as the new CTfastrak circulator routes and the four new or expanded CTtransit express routes from Bristol, Cheshire, Southington and Waterbury. Free transfers from CTfastrak to CTtransit routes are available upon request, but any travel beginning on an existing CTtransit route do require fare payment.
Area residents, who have taken trial runs, have mostly been positive, yet a few have found kinks that need to be worked out.
“I literally took it to downtown Hartford, had a light lunch, and came back to NB,” said Erin Morran Cowles. “Super easy, the stops are perfect. This is a real win for Hartford and New Britain!”
“Rode the bus on Saturday with my granddaughter and a friend. I like a couple of the stops because you can connect to other places,” said Juanita Santana. “The two complaints we had was the WiFi did not work for us. We did connect in Hartford but lost it on the way back. Also not all stops were announced so if you are not going all the way to Hartford you might miss getting off where you want. We did get the free one day pass and will use it before it expires in April.”
“The CTFastrak could put up some portable temporary signage in Hartford, there was much confusion,” said Mona Starwhiskey. “People were waiting/looking around for CTFastrak signage in Union Station - none to be found. Finally someone told them to walk out to Asylum to get the bus. Perhaps they could put together portable/temporary kiosks with pamphlets, etc., this cannot wait! Really lacking on that end.”
Dennis Morrell said, “It was a nice experience and I would do it again.”
The CTfastrak system provides direct service to and from Waterbury, Cheshire, Southington, Bristol, Plainville, New Britain, Newington, West Hartford, Hartford, East Hartford and Manchester with routes that take advantage of the bus-only CTfastrak roadway. The CTfastrak system will provide a one-seat, no-transfer ride to many major regional employment, shopping and healthcare destinations as well as connections to the New Haven Line-Waterbury branch rail in Waterbury and Amtrak service in Hartford. A new 4.5 multi-use trail was built paralleling the CTfastrak bus-only roadway from New Britain to Newington Junction.
“Modernizing Connecticut’s transportation system impacts every resident that commutes to work or school, the functioning of business and industry, and the quality of our environment,” Lt. Governor Wyman said. “CTfastrak marks our commitment to a more connected, more efficient transit system that attracts riders, drives economic growth, and protects our environment.”
Ten new CTfastrak transit stations were built along the 9.4 mile bus-only roadway in Hartford, West Hartford, Newington and New Britain, partly along abandoned rail line and existing Amtrak rail line. It’s only $3 a day to park at the Szczesny Garage with a valid CTfastrak stub.
For information about CTfastrak, visit www.ctfastrak.com, connect via Facebook at www.facebook.com/ctfastrak or Twitter at @ctfastrak. Route timetables are available at www.cttransit.com under the “Schedules/CTfastrak” tab.
