Common Complaints: Crowding, Inconvenience

Drop in on any bus in New Haven, Waterbury or Bridgeport, and you’ll hear many of the same complaints: Buses are crowded; schedules, inconvenient. And late buses cause commuting chaos.

“It’s all right but it could be better,” said Shanice Calloway, 22. ​“I don’t like when they overpack the buses.”

There have been times Calloway has had to stand up due to an influx of riders at one time. She rides the bus five days a week to get to work at the Children’s Community Program on Blake Street in New Haven.

“There should be a certain amount of buses going a certain way to keep overcrowding to a minimum,” said Calloway.

Monty Harrell, a 49-year-old New Haven resident, said he depends on public transportation to get anywhere because he doesn’t have a car. That includes visiting his children and grandchildren, meeting up with friends, and commuting to his job as a full-time cook at Quinnipiac University.

“All in all, it is a good thing, but we need more frequent stops at certain times of the day,” said Harrell.

Overcrowding frustrates Harrell, and makes him nervous.

​“I am borderline claustrophobic, so the noise and the crowds bother me a lot,” said Harrell.

Abu Amir, 61, of Waterbury, takes the bus from downtown Waterbury to work at Macy’s Logistics in Cheshire.

“It’s a long ride with no stops,” Amir said. ​“A few times I had to stand the whole way because all of the seats were filled on the bus. It’s ridiculous.”

Amir said the buses should run longer into the day. Not all of the scheduled times work for riders, and there aren’t enough seats on the bus, he said.

“I can’t use the bus for my shifts after 3 p.m. because the buses only run until 2 p.m. around here,” he said. ​“It’s really inconvenient. They should change that.”

After his truck broke down, Amir said, he has no choice but to ride the bus.

“I really am not a big fan of the bus but I use it anyway. What else am I going to do?” he said.

Kevin Edward said he often takes the bus in New Haven, even though he thinks the scheduling is bad.

“The B bus is bad. The G bus is bad,” he said referring to the frequency of these services. ​“I’m standing out here waiting on the G bus right now.”

Edwards has lived in New Haven his whole life and has been taking the bus since he was 18 years old.

“You could be trying to get to work but these buses will make you late,” he said.

“The bus system is fair,” said Edwards, ​“but it’s not great.”

According to Edwards, buses are starting to get bad and nothing is improving. The D bus and the F bus are the most frequent buses.

“Some bus drivers don’t have respect for pedestrians either,” he said. ​“You could be waiting for a bus and they would just drive right by you.”

This has happened to him on more than one occasion.

“What can you do though? Even the sign on the bus says you can’t assault the bus driver,” Edwards said.

While many people tend to criticize CT Transit, from the service to the bus drivers, Larry Robinson, of Hamden, disagreed with the majority.

“The bus is all right. There’s nothing wrong with the bus,” Robinson said. ​“It’s the people that get on the bus. A lot of people are drinking and smoking weed and all that.”

Robinson rides the D bus, both inbound and outbound for the majority of his comings and goings. The D gets him from Walgreens on Dixwell Avenue, where he works, to his home on Circular Avenue.

Robinson is especially fond of the drivers on his routes.

“My bus driver that comes down Circular, he is a great person,” Robinson said.

Alfred Turner, a security guard for TD Bank in downtown Waterbury, said he uses CT Transit up to three times a week. He finds it to be an inexpensive way to travel. Like Robinson, he had few complaints except for some of the other passengers.

“I’m from down South. So with that said, I was brought up with a sense of respect. If I see a lady with a baby come on to the bus I make sure she can sit,” Turner said. ​“The same goes with elderly people. A lot of people won’t acknowledge them. They’re very obnoxious as well, but I tolerate it.”

The CT Bus Diaries project is a collaboration between the New Haven Independent, the Valley Independent Sentinel and students from the multimedia journalism class at Southern Connecticut State University. The students are blogging about experiences on CT Transit’s bus lines in order to give a glimpse into the commutes of the people using the bus system.

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