CT Transit


CT Transit is a public transportation bus system serving many metropolitan areas and their surrounding suburbs in the state of Connecticut. CT Transit is a division of the Connecticut Department of Transportation, although it contracts a number of private companies for most of its operations. CT Transit began operations in 1976 as Connecticut Transit after the Connecticut DOT's acquisition of the Connecticut Company. Initially serving only the Hartford, New Haven, and Stamford areas, CT Transit's service now extends throughout much of Connecticut. CT Transit provides local "city bus" service in Bristol, Hartford, Meriden, New Britain, New Haven, Stamford, Wallingford and Waterbury in addition to a number of express routes connecting to outlying suburbs and other regions of the state.
In 2015, CT Transit began operation of CT Fastrak, the first bus rapid transit system in Connecticut and second in New England.

History

Background (1901–1950s)

Although private transportation has existed in Connecticut since its initial settlement, public transportation in Connecticut dates back to the 19th Century with the introduction of horse-drawn trolley lines in many towns across the state. In 1901 the Connecticut Railway and Lighting Company was formed to operate and extend electric powered trolley services. These operations were leased to the Consolidated Railway Company in 1906 and, a year later, merged with the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.
In 1910, the New Haven Railroad formally sublet all of its street railway operations, including CR&L, to the Connecticut Company. By 1924, the Connecticut Company operated some 1,640-passenger cars over a network of 834 miles of track.
Although street railway services remained through much of Connecticut, as early as the 1920s underperforming street- and heavy-rail lines began to be replaced by motor coach services. The first replacement of street railways with buses in Connecticut occurred in Stamford in 1921, with the rate of replacement accelerating during the 1930s and 1940s.
In 1936, following financial setbacks during the Great Depression and being unable to maintain lease payments, the Connecticut Company was forced to divest the CR&L, representing nearly 35% of line mileage it operated prior to the divestment. The newly independent CR&L no longer operated any rail services, while its former lessee began eliminating street railway lines as a cost-cutting measure. Although World War II put a pause on significant service changes, it was not long after the last trolley lines were taken out of service.

Immediate predecessors (1950s–1976)

Although Connecticut's bus services were still profitable in the early-1950s, by the 1960s profitability had significantly decreased. In June 1964 the Connecticut Company was sold to transportation and insurance magnate E. Clayton Gengras for $3,225,000. It was hoped by Hartford's chamber of commerce that under Gengras the Connecticut Company could become the core of a new "mass transit district" since it was no longer affiliated with the bankrupt New Haven Railroad. Pursuant to Gengras' plan to "make some money with ", revenues did increase significantly following his acquisition. Despite these higher revenues, even in 1964 there were concerns over the long-term viability of Hartford's bus operations in private hands. George J. Ritter, a member of the "in standby" Greater Hartford Mass Transit District, stated that "the new Connecticut Company is no savior for mass transit in Hartford... we still have a sick company." Gengras' reduction in Connecticut Company expenses was mostly through the discontinuation of less profitable services, although there were notable layoffs, fare increases, and attempts to capitalize through a number of experimental services. Some of these experimental services included deluxe express buses with free newspapers, downtown Hartford shuttles, the Railbus, which could run both on rail and road, vacation tours, and park-and-ride commuter on-demand express bus reservations using computers.
These changes, notably service reductions and layoffs, created much dissatisfaction among employees, resulting in a 27-day long strike in 1965 among all Connecticut Company divisions.
Under Gengras the company first expanded in October 1967 when it acquired the Middletown area H&W Transit Company, although even this was ineffective at increasing ridership with declines in riders' perceived quality of Connecticut Company services and the reduction of its routes' frequencies. In September 1968 the Connecticut Company expanded again when it acquired the Silver Lane Bus Company of Manchester.
In August 1971 a "massive" reduction in service was planned, with all Sundays trips to be eliminated, as well as most on evenings and Saturdays. In total the cuts represented around two thirds of all evening trips from Monday to Saturday should they be implemented. The drastic nature of these cuts prompted many in state and local government to propose action. State Senator Joe Lieberman urged the consideration of the state to at least subsidize bus services, but even go so far as to assume some of their operations or operate them outright if necessary. The still "in standby" GHTD sought to gather funds from the state to acquire the Connecticut Company before any service cuts could be approved by the Connecticut Public Utilities Commission.
Although there was considerable support for GHTD to acquire the Connecticut Company, the PUC ruled that the Connecticut Company "could continue to provide service" while GHTD "could not do so". On September 4 the Connecticut Company's reduced schedules were implemented, although four Hartford routes were run with marginal daytime service on Sundays.
In September 1971, days before its reduced schedules took effect, the Connecticut Company filed a request with the PUC in an attempt to suspend all of its services in its Stamford division, as well as to increase fares in Hartford and New Haven. Neither of these requests were approved.
The first state relief for the Connecticut Company came in April 1972 when it paid for new buses, although no further subsidy was provided.
Particularly due to the 1973 strikes of the employees of the Connecticut Company and CR&L, the Connecticut Department of Transportation became more involved with bus services in Connecticut. CTDOT noted in its annual Transportation Master Plan that year that "if the present trend continues, there will be minimal local bus service by 1980" and that "the service that exists today has not been capable of attracting or persuading the automobile driver to abandon his auto ride to the bus". In the following years, CTDOT began providing more aid to Connecticut transit districts.
The CR&L surrendered its last operating transit franchises in 1973, and in June 1976 Gengras sold the three remaining divisions of the Connecticut Company to the State of Connecticut.

Public ownership (1976–present)

When the Connecticut Department of Transportation acquired the assets of the Connecticut Company, it contracted with a private management company to operate the system. Beginning in 1979, First Transit operated CT Transit's three original divisions in Hartford, New Haven, and Stamford through its subsidiary HNS Management. Although HNS Management operates the buses and operations themselves, it is CTDOT which manages matters such as procurement, routes, and planning. In December 2022, CTDOT announced it had switched its operating contract from First Transit to RATP Dev USA, an American subsidiary of France's state-owned RATP Group.
On April 1, 2022, CTDOT announced it had suspended fares on all public transit buses in Connecticut, which was launched in response to sharp ridership decreases following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and heightened inflation. By September 2022, bus ridership in some CT Transit Divisions had exceeded pre-Covid levels. Fares resumed on April 1, 2023.File:Farmington Ave & Asylum Pl, Hartford Bus Stop Signs.png|thumb|A CT Transit bus stop in Downtown Hartford with local, express, shuttle, and Fastrak bus services.

Organization

CT Transit is managed by CTDOT and HNS Management is the company's largest contractor, operating the Hartford, New Haven, and Stamford divisions. However, CT Transit contracts a number of different companies and agencies with the CTDOT-led "core" providing supervision and coordination between them. In some ways CT Transit serves as a "brand" under which companies can operate their services while being part of a larger system. Because of its reliance on contractors however, CTDOT route planning can be significantly impacted by operators' decisions, and contract disputes have led to service cuts when agreements could not be reached.
Routes were first assigned letter designations in the Hartford area by the Connecticut Company in December 1964.

Divisions

CT Transit is arranged into five divisions, although some divisions serve more than one city. In addition, some divisions' services are operated by a single contractor while others are operated by multiple. Given CTDOT's supervisory role however, changes to improve consistency among the different divisions were made in the 2000s and 2010s, and today the divisions themselves have little effect beyond administration and direct operations. CT Transit's divisions are:
  • Hartford: Operated by RATP Dev USA, an American subsidiary of France's state-owned RATP Group. Inter-agency connections to Enfield, NWCTD, PVTA, RVT, WRTD.
  • New Britain and Bristol: Operated by HNS, New Britain Transportation, Dattco. Inter-agency connection to RVT.
  • New Haven: Operated by RATP Dev USA. Inter-agency connections to GBT, Milford, Norwalk, RVT.
  • Stamford: Operated by RATP Dev USA. Inter-agency connections to Bee-Line, GBT, HART, Hudson Link, Milford, Norwalk.
  • Waterbury, Meriden and Wallingford: Operated by Northeast Transportation Company. Interagency connections to NWCTD, RVT.