by Laura Glesby
Elias Estabrook and Adrian Huq learn about the BRT proposal. City Engineer Giovanni Zinn: “Bus service is not just bus stop to bus stop, it’s from your house to where you need to go.”
Stetson Library Technical Assistant Tyrone Dailey was stationed at a second-floor desk by the elevator, across the room from state transit officials presenting on a proposed Bus Rapid Transit route along Dixwell Avenue.
As someone who often spends two hours a day commuting by bus between his Fair Haven Heights home and his Dixwell workplace, Dailey approved of the proposal to add a speedier option.
The state Department of Transportation (DOT), CT Transit, and the City of New Haven are planning a new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in the city, which would add express bus lines to supplement the city’s four most popular routes.
The proposal would create three BRT routes, currently estimated to be completed by 2030. One would extend from Foxon Boulevard (by Walmart and Lowe’s), through Downtown, to Southern Connecticut State University, primarily along the 243 and 212.
Another would connect downtown New Haven to the West Haven train station by way of Congress Avenue, supplementing the 265.
A third would operate along Dixwell Avenue where the 238 bus runs, extending from Union Station, through Downtown, and up to Skiff Street in Hamden.
The BRT system is one of the biggest ticket items on the state-funded, decade-in-the-making, 2019-completed Move New Haven transit study, which provided a host of proposals for how to improve public transit in the region.
On Wednesday, a team of transit planners convened a meeting at the Stetson library branch at 197 Dixwell Ave. to request input on that third proposal to supplement the 238.
The meeting was one of four neighborhood-specific input sessions this week, focused on each of the four bus routes that will be supplemented.
Each BRT line will make between 10 and 15 stops and will run in tandem with the existing routes that stop more frequently.
In addition to bus routes with fewer stops, the BRT proposal includes an array of roadway redesigns, pedestrian infrastructure, traffic lights that adjust to buses running behind schedule, electric bus charging stations, and more. DOT is planning to implement a set of designated bus lanes, several new roundabouts, raised crosswalks, and more. (Read more about the scope of the plan here, and view a street-by-street breakdown of the current road proposals here.)
The goal, said Rick Plenge of VHB Consulting, is for BRT to be “not only a bus project but a safety project,” benefitting residents who don’t ride the bus as well as those who do.
The entire project is currently estimated to cost $300 million. So far, the project has received a $25 million RAISE grant in 2023 from the federal government.
Across the room from where the meeting took place Wednesday, Dailey finished up his work day, preparing for his own commute home.
He said he personally supports the plans for BRT. “I do think it’s a good idea,” he said. “They gotta put care and thought” into how the bus lines and road changes are implemented.
“The buses are important for our patrons” at the library, he noted, musing that a more reliable bus route could encourage more people to stop by the library.
Dailey is a lifelong rider of the 238, which currently runs along Dixwell Avenue and transforms into the 212 bus on Grand Avenue. Dailey grew up by the Dixwell Avenue part of the bus route, and he now lives in Fair Haven Heights, across the river from where the 212 route currently ends.
In all his years of riding the 238, “it’s never really been consistent” about being on time, Dailey said. “I think some bus stops are too close together… It definitely slows things down.”
He said he tries to bike to his job at Stetson Library when he can.
In the cold weather, though, Dailey spends anywhere from 45 minutes to 1 hour and 15 minutes riding the bus in each direction to and from work.
Dailey’s exact bus commute has a few permutations.
Leaving from Fair Haven Heights, he can choose to walk along East Grand, across the Grand Avenue Bridge, until he reaches Front Street in Fair Haven. There, he can directly board the 212, which will take him down Grand Avenue, through Downtown, and eventually drop him off right outside the Dixwell Avenue library.
Alternatively, he can take the 282 bus from Eastern Street to the Walmart on Foxon Boulevard. Then, he can either wait for the 212U, the 212W, the 212F, or the 223 — the latter of which would require him to transfer once again, at the New Haven Green, to the 238.
He prefers the first option, even though it entails a longer walk. He said it’s usually still faster.
About seven community members attended the BRT meeting at Stetson, outnumbered by the team of officials from CT Transit, DOT, the city, and transit consultants. (Anyone can submit feedback on the plan via this online form.)
Not all of the attendees typically ride the Dixwell Avenue bus. East Rock resident Anya M., for instance, usually takes the 224 to work (up State Street to North Haven), or about once a week, the 215.
While neither of those routes will gain a BRT equivalent, Anya said that BRT “probably would open up opportunities” to do “fun stuff” across the city.
At the meeting, they asked the presenters, “How much thought is being put into pedestrian safety” surrounding every bus stop?
They had a particular stop in mind: the 215 stop where Universal Drive North meets Sackett Point, right by an underpass, where there’s no sidewalk or pedestrian crosswalk nearby.
DOT engineer Charlie Weigert said that “crosswalks and other safety measures” are a core part of the BRT plan.
“You hit something very important,” added City Engineer Giovanni Zinn. “Bus service is not just bus stop to bus stop, it’s from your house to where you need to go.”
Westville resident Elias Estabrook asked whether DOT would consider installing bus ticket systems at each stop — akin to New York City’s select bus service tickets — rather than having passengers pay their fares on board.
“I remember when fares were free, the buses went a lot faster,” said Estabrook, a paraprofessional and teacher-in-training at Celentano School who often takes the 243 and the 224 to work.
“I can tell you it’s not going to be free,” said Weigert.
He said that outside ticket machines are “a big maintenance issue,” and noted that “as many people as we can get to use the app,” rather than pay in coins, the faster the bus routes will run.
Even so, CT Rapid Transit and Zero Emissions Director Barry Diggs said, “We should definitely look at that.”
BRT may not get Anya M. to work, but it could help them access more arts + culture while living car-free.