I spent this summer taking CT Transit buses to and from my internship at the New Haven Register on Sargent Drive. The experience left me deflated and ready for a new way to get around the city.
And so I discovered Zipcar. The car rental service is a step up from taking the city bus, but far from perfect.
I thought Zipcar would save me from my commuting hassles, but soon realized there are different challenges associated with the car service. It turns out no commute is free from problems.
Where CT Transit left me stranded once and waiting several times, Zipcar once charged me $50 for returning a car 20 minutes late.
Taking The Bus
To get to my internship at the New Haven Register, I could catch any D bus on Dixwell Avenue. Once downtown, I had to walk two blocks to catch the Z bus to Sargent Drive. The bus comes every half hour.
On a typical day it would take me about an hour. But if I missed the D bus, it could extend the commute by a half hour.
The times I was able to get a ride to the New Haven Register, it took approximately 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the traffic.
The $1.50 bus ticket has a two-hour transfer time, so the need to take two buses doesn’t affect your bank account the same way it affects your journey time.
The bus may be cheap, but it’s certainly not convenient. One example of this came toward the end of my time at the New Haven Register.
I left my house one morning to catch the 11:44 a.m. bus.
The long, uphill walk from Pine Rock Avenue in Hamden to the bus stop on Dixwell Avenue, in my work clothes, was tolerable only because I knew there was a Dunkin’ Donuts waiting for me at the top.
As I stood in line I looked out the window and I saw the D bus arrive, then leave without me. Luckily, my internship had flexible hours. Otherwise, I would have been breaking into a sweat running out of Dunkin’ Donuts, without the coffee.
I didn’t have to wait long for another D bus to come along. The 11:54 a.m. arrived shortly after I made myself comfortable on a dented metal bench.
I fumbled around my slippery coffee cup, my phone and the $2 I needed to get on the bus. CT Transit doesn’t give change for the $1.50 fare.
There were no seats available when I peered around bodies and scanned the back of the bus; only several pairs of eyes stared back at me.
Hannah Spreckley photo
The D5 bus in New Haven.
The connection bus stop on Chapel Street was also crowded. Buses came and left frequently.
The J, O, M, and G buses seemed as though they were taunting me, as I remained standing. After almost an hour, the Z bus had still not arrived.
By 1:30 p.m., I was still waiting for the 12:40 p.m. bus. So I gave up and walked to the nearby Starbucks to use the wifi to get some work done.
Thank You, Zipcar
Hannah Spreckley Photo
The Zipcars at Southern Connecticut State University.
After experiences like that, and knowing that I could not buy a car, I searched for other options and stumbled upon Zipcar.
It is company that allows members to rent cars by the hour for that quick trip to the grocery store or picking a friend up from the train station.
It was the perfect solution to the inconvenience of CT Transit.
A university-sponsored plan has $25 annual membership fee. You are then charged an hourly rate of between $8 and $10, depending on car and location. Each car has its own gas card, so I don’t have to pay for gas on top of those fees.
First you have to become a member by paying an annual membership fee that varies depending on how you apply and having your driving records checked. Once you have been approved, you will receive a Zipcard in the mail.
The Zipcard can be used as a key to unlock the car, using this sensor.
The card becomes your car key as you use it to lock and unlock the car you have reserved.
When your time is almost up, you have to return the car to same parking spot you found it in.
A Zip Trip To New York
This is where the convenient and cheap Zipcar becomes an expensive race to be back on time.
The excitement I had at my new-found freedom led me to offer my services to pick up my friend from JFK airport in New York, as she was returning from her summer at home in Spain.
I booked the car from 6:30 p.m. until 1:30 a.m. the next morning, which gave me some extra time for flight delays.
As I left the airport to return home, my phone battery died: No GPS to get me back to New Haven.
As we drove around trying to find a familiar highway, I couldn’t take my eyes off the clock.
Midnight hit. Still lost.
Finally, as I was driving through a street in who-knows-where, I spotted a sign for I‑95 North. North. That’s all I needed as I darted onto the highway and stepped on the gas.
As the 1:30 a.m. mark arrived, we were still 45 minutes away. I couldn’t log onto my Zipcar application to extend my time, because my phone was dead.
So, after the tense and hectic drive home, the following day I received an email from Zipcar informing me that I had been charged a late fee of $50 in addition to the $68.50 I had paid for the reservation. The trip cost me $118.50.
A shuttle bus from JFK to New Haven would have cost my friend only about $70.
Back To Square One
The bus service is fine when you are not on a strict schedule. But for the majority of the working world, work starts at a certain time.
Zipcar makes sense for errands and short trips. But a daily commute to work would be impossible or at least excessively expensive. For the full day it costs almost $70, and the car has to be returned to the exact same spot it came from, not a minute late.
Both CT Transit and Zipcar require lots of planning before a trip. But I like that Zipcar gave me more control over when and how I get where I need to go.
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.
Share your CT Transit experiences with us by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) photos or videos to Jodie Mozdzer Gil or tagging #CTBusDiaries on Twitter posts.
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[I posted this on FB, where the NHI posted this article; by request, I'm copying my comment here to the NHI.]
You know, I don't drive, and I live in New Haven, and I rely on the city buses to get me most of the places I need to go in my day to day life. This series of essays in the NHI has made me insane. People have the craziest expectations of public transportation, at least gauging by this series. I am the first to say that bus service in this city needs to be improved, but I also see, over and over again in these pieces, that these riders are not exactly holding up their ends of the deal sometimes. I don't know of any public transit service where the individual buses give you change when you don't have exact change. The way to deal with that? Get bus passes, which are very, very easy to obtain. Someone's bored on their fifteen minute bus ride? Read a book or a newspaper, if you can't zone out with a smartphone as so many seem to do. Seriously: people seem to act as though riding the bus is supposed to be a public equivalent of riding in a hired limousine. I just don't understand.
I reiterate: there is PLENTY of room for improvement. But articles like these don't inspire me to sympathize with these riders.