Thomas MacMillan Photo
Starting in January, Desiree Aseme may have to pay an extra 20 cents to take the bus to her bible study group — and she’s not happy.
Aseme (pictured) was waiting at the corner of Temple and Chapel Wednesday for the Z bus to take her to bible study. She said her hours as a nurse’s aide have been cut back, so every dime counts.
Aseme was one of a number of bus riders who reacted unfavorably to the news that the Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT) wants to raise the fares on its bus service, CTTransit, throughout the state. One-way fares would go up from $1.30 to $1.50. Monthly passes would go up from $47 to $54.
James Redeker, state commissioner of transportation, will make the final decision about raising the rates in October or November, according to Ricardo Almeida, the DOT’s transit manager. In the meantime, the department is gathering feedback about the proposal online and through a series of public meetings, including one held Wednesday evening at the Hall of Records on Orange Street.
Almeida (pictured) kicked off the meeting by explaining the reasons for the proposed increase. He said the costs of operating a bus system are increasing faster than inflation. That includes the cost of fuel, labor, parts, and workers’ health insurance, he said.
About 20 people showed up to testify about the rate increase, nearly all in opposition, and many with gripes about the service under the current prices.
Lynn Stankiewicz and Janet Seignor, who live at Riverview Rest Home in Fair Haven Heights, said a fair increase would hurt people on disability the most.
For a round trip, “$2.60 I can afford but $3 I can’t,” Seignor said.
Leigh Busby (pictured), who said he was homeless for eight years and is now a student struggling to make ends meet, said the DOT should crack down on people who share monthly unlimited cards. He said he sees people pass them out the window of the bus to riders getting on, cheating CTTransit out of another fare.
The DOT has full control over bus fares because it owns CTTransit. Bus service used to be provided by a private firm called the Connecticut Company until 1976, when the state bought the company and changed its name to CTTransit.
Safe streets activist Mark Abraham urged the DOT to look at the problem with a wider lens. Transportation barriers are the biggest obstacle to people getting jobs, he said, and a fare increase will only make it harder.
State Rep. Roland Lemar said he is opposed to the planned increase. He said it’s not affordable. “The impact on working class families would be severe.”
If the DOT is to increase fares, it should also improve services, like putting GPS units in buses so people can look on their phones and see how far away the next bus is, Lemar said. Almeida later said the department is working on a system that would allow people to do that. He said he doesn’t know when it will be up and running.
“I don’t think most people have the slightest idea how desperately poor some of our poor people are,” said Elaine Kolb (pictured). She said transportation is a basic part of what it means to be a human being.
“This can’t be done,” Kolb said. “People will not survive, and if they do survive, they will not have a life worth living.”
New Haven traffic tsar Jim Travers also testified against the proposed rate increase. If it has to happen, it should lead to the addition of more routes, he said.
David Winston said he takes the bus from Westville to North Haven every day to work at Best Buy. He complained that the buses are late and slow and the drivers are rude. “You want to raise the prices but you’re not giving me the same service,” he said.
Almeida did not respond to any of the testimony. During a break in the hearing, he said that the last fare increase was in January 2012, when the one-way fare went from $1.25 to $1.30. It was scheduled to increase by a nickel again in January 2013, but the state determined it “could get by without it.”
Now, just nine months later, things have changed. “We need to keep a balance between the budget coming from the state and the revenue,” Almeida said.
He noted that the fare did not increase at all from 1994 until 2004, when it went from $1 to $1.10. It also didn’t increase from 2005 until 2012, when it went from $1.10 to $1.25.
Almeida said Redeker could decide to phase in an increase over two or more years.
Only one woman at Wednesday’s hearing said she had no problem with a fare increase. After the meeting, another woman, waiting for the bus at the corner of Elm and Church, agreed that the proposed fare hike is reasonable. “Everything else is going up,” she said.
Other bus riders interviewed Wednesday said a fare hike would pose significant hardship.
“It keeps going up!” Margaret Robinson said of the fare. She was waiting for the bus at the corner of Chapel and Temple streets. She said she uses the bus to get from her home in the Brookside housing project in West Rock to her job at the Jewish Home For The Aged. “People don’t have the money. It’s hard on poor people.”
“People are going to stop getting on the bus,” predicted Kashonia Gaskins (at right in photo).
“I work in East Haven,” said Audrey Deinkes (at left), who has a job at a KFC. “I’m not paying $3 for no bus” there and back. She said she’d walk before she paid that much.
The DOT should not raise rates before they put GPS on the buses and take credit cards. Both of these things will increase ridership overnight reducing the cost for everyone.