Thomas Breen file photo
So long, fares? Alders endorse permanent holiday.
A week before the state legislature gathers to vote on whether CT Transit buses should remain fare-free through April, the Board of Alders formally called on state government to make public buses free to ride forever.
Local legislators took that vote Monday night during the latest full Board of Alders meeting, which was held in person in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall.
The alders voted to pass a resolution calling on the state to end bus charges several months into a bus fare holiday instated in April. The fare-free policy is slated to expire on Dec. 1, although state lawmakers are expected to extend it into the spring.
The alders’ vote occurred a few weeks after a crowd of local bus riders, environmental activists, and economic justice advocates appeared before the City Services and Environmental Policy (CSEP) aldermanic committee and spoke to the impact of the initial few months without bus fares on making it easier to get to everything from work to medical appointments. Read about their testimony here.
Monday night’s vote does not mean that riding the bus will remain free in New Haven or across the state after Dec. 1. That decision rests with the governor and the state legislature. Instead, the now-passed local resolution represents New Haven city government expressing its official support for the bus fare holiday to continue.
As East Rock Alder Anna Festa reported to her colleagues on Monday night, “There was plenty of passion at this meeting and plenty to be learned from the people who ride the bus almost every day.”
A subsidized bus fare program would “put dollars back in the pockets of working people,” said Downtown/East Rock Alder Eli Sabin, who proposed the local free-buses-forever resolution. Encouraging public transit use would also be “important for our environment, traffic, and parking,” he said. “I hope our state legislature will hear us speaking with one voice.“
For typical riders, CT Transit has most recently charged $1.75 per ride — a fee that can add up for regular bus users. Sabin and Festa noted that daily commuters can spend between $800 and $1,000 per year on bus fares, depending on whether they can afford the upfront costs of a monthly pass.
“That $1,000 can go right into their pockets,” Festa said — an outcome that would help budget-strapped New Haveners make ends meet and support local economic activity.
The alders passed the resolution on Monday night with a unanimous voice vote.
Way to go City Hall - tell "the state" again, how to spend taxpayer money and to AGAIN, demand something for free. Why? To put money in the pockets of cash strapped New Haven residents. The irony and hypocrisy is that a major contributor to our lack of money is City Hall! The jackals never stop ripping the money from our pockets and it drives up rent and monthly mortgages, of the few people who can afford them.