The bus schedules keep some riders away.
“If the schedules were different, if would be different for people,” Durden (pictured above) said the other day as she sat on the F6 bus back to Ansonia. “Especially for the people who live outside of the city.”
Durden has worked for the Social Security Administration for the last 19 years. Up until three years ago, she commuted to the Church Street building from her home in New Haven, taking the bus about 20 minutes each way.
Then she moved to Ansonia.
She catches the 5:45 a.m. bus out of the Valley each morning, riding through Derby, then Shelton, then Derby again, before the bus hops on Route 34 through Orange on its way downtown.
The worst part, Durden said, is waiting for the bus. The F6 line back to the Valley runs only once an hour most of the day, with half-hour trips between 4 and 6 p.m.
“It would be easier to drive,” Durden said. “But it wouldn’t be cheaper.”
She once estimated she would pay between $150 and $200 a month on parking and would have to fill her gas tank twice a week if she drove to New Haven each day.
Her company offers flex time, so theoretically Duren could leave New Haven about eight hours after arriving. But she is also taking classes at Gateway Community College, an effort that sees her schedule changing each semester.
Last semester, courses had her in New Haven until after 9 p.m.
The last bus back to Ansonia leaves Chapel and Temple streets at 7:30 p.m.
Her solution: Drive from Ansonia through Woodbridge, about a 15-minute commute. Then park her car at Stop and Shop in New Haven and catch the bus downtown.
Then she could catch a bus as late as 10:45 p.m. back to the parking lot, where she would get her car and drive the rest of the way home.
She wouldn’t mind her commute so much if the bus took that route all the time, Durden said.
“If there was a bus that went down Fountain Street, I’d be on it every day,” Durden said.
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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This whole series seems to be about students or others who expect customized transit service at mass transit prices
Never going to happen!
In case I am wrong and we will be offered ,such service, following is my request
The State St " M Mbus should be scheduled at the Battis Road pickup in Hamden at 6:30 a,m, daily (also at 7a.m. and 7:30a.m. in case I sleep over. It will drop me at Sackett Point Road in North Haven 10 minutes later for breakfast at State St Cafeteria./
The Wallingford/New Haven "C" a.m.southbound a/m/ busses to New Haven will then, scheduled 35 minutes behind the State St service will carry me via Sackett Point Road, Universal Drive and I91 to Route 80 (so I can get my usual free "contractor's" = coffee at Home Depot or Lowe's (free transfer to be provided of course if I chose to delay at Home Depot)
After I get my wife's Dunkin Donuts coffee (she thinks it is medicine ) I 'll hop on the returning North Branford bus (must have good connections here0 toward State Street where I'll board the outbound "M" bus for the return home
If these kids writing in this series get their wishes, I want mine too, plus I demand senior discount and emergency transfers when needed.
Please send customized schedule.
road 10minutes later , for breakfast at