During this day and age, I've found myself with a lot less money, and not many places to go that aren't local. With that being said, I've cut down on driving my personal vehicle and have started utilizing the local CT Transit buses, primarily in Bristol, but also in the Plainville/New Britain/ Hartford area, too, for my transportation needs.
The local routes I frequent (502, 541, 542) are all operated by friendly and caring drivers. I can't imagine being a city bus driver is an easy or stress free job, but all the local drivers drive their routes very professionally and have no attitude when it comes to helping riders find their route or connection. They're also very patient with the elderly and disabled riders, always being helpful with getting them boarded on safely. If they see one of their usual riders walking to the bus, especially elderly/disabled/or with little kids, they'll kindly wait for them. And if the driver doesn't notice but someone on board does, they tell the driver and the driver will actually stay.
The drivers are decent with driving- this isn't "Speed" here. They do, however, have a problem with getting to stops on time. If the ridership is low, some drivers will fly past stops, which messes up the schedule for all the future stops, making the bus sometimes pass 5 or more minutes too early. I definitely recommend making it to any bus stop with 5-10 minutes to wait, as this is a real problem, and I have found myself waiting out in the heat for an extra hour, or walking 4 miles to my destination because the bus drove by too early. It's definitely a lesson learned. The best drivers, however, know to slow themselves down. Sometimes they'll pull over to the side of the road for an extra minute or two here and there to fix their timing. I totally appreciate that.
Recently, the buses started using the front door again. They stopped and were using the back door only for several months during COVID. Now, all the seats are open again, and the driver now has a plexiglass shield guarding them from those on the opposite side of the fare box.
The blue buses themselves are ok- the new ones are very nice- offering wifi and USB charging ports. They're not luxurious by any means, but they seat quite a few people. There's also standing room, but I've only seen the bus get busy enough that someone had to stand once.
The Green FasTrak buses are a little fancier than the local blue ones, as they're geared for the commuter class- who are a little wealthier and travel for a little bit longer. The seats are a bit more cushioned and separated, the bike rack is inside the bus versus the racks in front. There is WiFi on these buses but I haven't seen the USB ports. If they're on the new blue buses, I imagine they'd be on these ones too.
As for cleanliness, they're buses. For covid time, the drivers are ensuring riders wear masks, which is great. Supposedly they sanitize more, but who knows. There's an issue with occasional food trash littering the seats and aisles, the worst offender being canned sardines in hot sauce (WHY!).
As for the crowd, it really depends on when I go. Morning time when people go to work or their early AM doctors appointments is pretty full. It's also kinda full around late afternoon when it's time for people to go home for the day. Other than that, there's almost always a wide selection of seats to pick from.
All in all, it's an ok service. I wish it were better funded, so there could be benches at their bus stops (maybe that's a city thing?) & so more buses could come around more often, as the once an hour/every other hour thing really stinks. But, considering how it used to be before the improvements, I'd say it's an ok and much needed service. I'd recommend it to everyone who needs a way from point a to point b, for cheap. read more
