This summer, you can ride CTtransit buses for free on weekends and holidays, and you’ll also be able to catch a bus much later in the day — or night, well past midnight in many cases.
The expansion comes despite a huge drop in ridership brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, and as a result of federal money from three major spending bills.
“We are trying to tailor these service levels to where the public would like to see them,” said Barry Diggs, administrator of planning and scheduling with CTtransit. “This was a Connecticut DOT initiative. … I commend the Department of Transportation for finding … federal money to kind of get people back into the seats and put the emphasis on public transportation.”
Diggs said bus ridership “plummeted by 60 percent” when the pandemic hit in March 2020. “We are now, post-pandemic … at 65 percent of our levels we should be at and it is increasing.”
The buses will be free on Saturdays and Sundays from May 29 to Sept. 6, as well as on Memorial Day, July 5 and Labor Day, according to Rich Andreski, bureau chief for public transportation at the DOT.
If the schedule changes are approved, the 223W bus running the Lombard loop from downtown, as an example, will make its last run at 12:45 a.m. weekdays, ending at the Route 80 Walmart at 1:10 a.m. The last stop at Walmart currently is at 6:50 p.m. weekdays. The bus will reach Walmart at similar times on weekends.
Some routes will be extended only partially, however. Downtown to Lighthouse Point Park, Route 206, will only have later hours as far as Townsend Avenue and Burr Street, Diggs said, not all the way to the park. “People have made complaints about buses traveling through the neighborhood late at night,” he said. “We would have more backlash than positive comments if we decided to extend those service patterns through that neighborhood.”
Another route that will not see later rides is the Branford loop of Route 204.
Public comments on the changes will be accepted through May 28. Comments can be emailed to dot.proposedtransitchanges@ct.gov; phoned in to 860-597-8226; mailed to Comment on Proposed Fare and Service Changes, Bureau of Public Transportation, P.O. Box 317546, Newington, CT 06131-7546; or left at local libraries..
Public hearings are being held on Zoom and livestreamed on Microsoft Teams Live Event and YouTube. They will be recorded for viewing later. One will be held noon to 3 p.m. Thursday and another noon to 3 p.m. Tuesday.
edward.stannard@hearstmediact.com; 203-680-9382
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