Missing Links

Each day, over 74,000 Connecticut residents board public transit that carries them to school, jobs, shopping, and family. Current initiatives to improve the availability and quality of transit in Connecticut include the recent order of 300 new commuter rail cars, a bus rapid transitway on the cusp of obtaining federal funding, studies to improve our commuter rail branch lines, and continued progress toward expanding commuter rail to the Hartford region.

These efforts will take time and still leave many residents cardependent. In an effort to determine where the most serious gaps exist in our state’s transit network coverage, Transit for Connecticut commissioned a study by Regional Plan Association that analyzed vehicle trip patterns to determine where additional transit service might serve the most new riders. This report outlines 13 expansions to our bus system that could best reduce our state’s dependence on motor vehicles, expanding access to employment and job growth while working toward state goals to reduce transportation-related carbon emissions. These new linkages represent a critical next step in improving transit service in Connecticut.

The study analyzed Connecticut Department of Transportation data that pairs vehicle trip origins and destinations to determine the most frequent routes traveled by drivers in Connecticut. Origin/destination pairs with high vehicular trip counts but no convenient transit service offer opportunities to initiate new bus routes that can shift existing drivers to transit and enhance mobility for the transit-dependent. While many of the top origin/destination pairs are already served by rail or bus service, others lack convenient transit options, particularly when destinations are in suburban employment centers or when bus travel currently requires transferring from one transit agency network to another.

Many of the routes proposed as a result of this analysis would serve suburb-to-suburb trips that have become more common due to the increasing share of employment located outside traditional city centers. Routes include a new bus transfer point in Wethersfield for suburban Hartford riders, bus links to existing transit in New Canaan and the Naugatuck Valley, and an additional bus route to Foxwoods Casino. While new bus routes can improve mobility to areas with a sprawling development pattern, the best and most efficient way to increase transit access in the long term is to orient new growth around our existing transit corridors, a strategy that will be essential to meet state goals for carbon emissions and economic development.

The 13 bus improvements proposed here would provide transit options that could replace 64,000 trips each day in Connecticut with ​“walk-to” bus services connecting Connecticut’s Main Streets and major employment centers. Preliminary cost estimates for a service expansion of this scope include approximately $4.5 million in additional annual operating costs and $17 million in capital expenses for purchasing additional buses.