Bus Rapid Transit Plan Lands $25M

I would take the bus to work if it was as fast, or faster, than riding a bike or driving. That's the deciding factor for most of us. Can you make it faster?? We'll see..

Having a new Bus Rapid Transit network is basically "long overdue" for New Haven.

Sure, it's nice to see it finally be announced and implemented as far as the progress goes, but an upgraded transportation plan such as BRT should have been something that the city should've done probably around 10+ years ago...

It really makes all the sense in the world to have new Bus routes that goes through the city with also bypassing the Downtown area as part of having faster Bus travel that gets people through town in a much shorter amount of time.

I actually don't ride the bus like I use to, mainly because I drive now.. but it really is a dream come true to see this happen now.. Awesome!

HewNaven, I periodically outpace the Grand Ave. bus on my bike. I’m 69 and do not own a single item of Spandex.

More seriously, I’ve used BRTs in New York and Chicago. They use a bunch of technologies that, taken together, do speed the ride. Three of them are noted in the article - transit signal priority, dedicated bus lanes, and elevated bus stops.

But the BRT system does not address the elephant in the room. In New Haven and many other cities, it is primarily “those people” who ride the buses. Part of this is a result of history. The routes, which were largely established a century ago, focus on neighborhoods that are today predominantly African American and Hispanic. But the per ride subsidy for MetroNorth and Shore Line East customers is an order of magnitude higher than the subsidy for CT Transit. The former are predominantly white, the latter overwhelmingly African American and Hispanic.

Look this is a good thing for New Haven. However, I recall reading about possible rapid bus transit connecting across neighborhoods without having to go through downtown (to transfer). The map looks like all the routes go through downtown. So maybe this is scaled back plan from an original vision? Would like to see analysis on that, or whether that is still a separate, future possibility. Finally, I hope that an additional rapid bus line will run from train stations, or from the bus hubs, to the new Tweed terminal.

I'd hope they'd consider extending the Whalley line farther. As is it will certainly serve NH residents well, bit if they extended to Amity plaza (or even a commuter lots if there's space to build that), it could be a viable alternative for suburban commuters and people coming into town for dinner, etc, reducing the number of cars driving into the city, and making things better for those of us who do live here.

Whatever happened to moving the bus hub away from the New Haven Green? All this money and the end result will be to cement the Green as the epicenter of loitering illegal drugs and drinking.

1644, your MetroNorth data are WAY off. (I helped write the legislation that created the state’s Special Transportation Fund, which covers the bulk of its capital and and operating costs).

The farebox recovery ratio for MetroNorth and CTTransit are similar, as a matter of policy. (The ratio is the proportion of costs covered by ticket revenues.) For MetroNorth as a whole, the ratio is about 20%. CT operations are the majority of MetroNorth’s costs and revenues. https://new.mta.info/document/98016. Because MetroNorth trips are longer, and it has a higher cost per mile, the per-ride subsidy is an order of magnitude higher than a bus rider’s.

I couldn’t find any recent SLE data. But my recollection is that it never had a farebox recovery ratio above 10%.

Dennis, Heather, as far as I know, the multimodal facility is moving forward. Doug Hausladen, who is likely reading this, could say for sure. Dennis, the facility is meant to augment, not replace, the stops on the Green. The latter would lengthen most riders’ trips. And it would likely prompt a Title VI racial discrimination complaint.

CY2, you’re right that the bus routes were largely established when New Haven was overwhelmingly white. They largely follow the trolley lines of the early 20th century. But, as a general rule, the whiter a mode of transportation is, the larger its per rider public subsidy. (All modes of transportation, with the possible exception of walking, are subsidized.)

It would be a good idea to me if the bus stops that are on the green along Temple Street were eliminated to eventually make way for a new promenade that will only be accessible to pedestrians and bicyclists..

Very much similar to how they had closed off Orange Street, but I feel that the stretch of Temple that goes along the green should definitely be closed off to all traffic permanently..

It would be nice to see that be created into greenway that would basically connect and bring together both ends of the green..

1644, my data are from the MTA, which runs MetroNorth and are more recent than the data you cite. (BTW, NJ Transit runs the Port Jervis line.) For MTA as a whole, farebox revenue is 27% of total revenue. https://new.mta.info/document/106026

Part of our difference is that we are talking about somewhat different things. I'm describing the farebox recovery ratio, which includes things like depreciation and allocated system administrative costs. I believe you are citing the farebox recovery ratio, which excludes these costs (I believe we agree that these costs are real).

One of the problem for policy-makers is that many transit advocates believe that ticket revenues come close to covering operating costs. They don't, even using the laxer farebox recovery ratio (31% in the case of MetroNorth in 2022).

Next time you are Grand Central, look at the departure boards. You will see that a solid majority of departures, at any given time, are for CT destinations.

@TheMadcap, @Heather,

The proposed BRT plan should ideally go out to upper westville to get to Amity plaza. But it's unfortunate given how narrow certain stretches of Whalley is..

The traffic on Whalley, especially going through the village and up towards the plaza can definitely be really congested during rush hour times... but in my opinion, it would've been perfect to have dedicated bus lanes in the center of the roadway with their own priority signals.

But that's only if Whalley was wide enough to accommodate separated lanes with bus stops being in the center of the roadway.

1644, I suspect MTA has an accountant or three on staff and has a good handle on its costs and revenues. All MTA operations, including MetroNorth, are heavily subsidized by taxpayers. There is no reason to believe that MetroNorth’s farebox recovery ratio in CT is substantially different than in NYS. We disagree on whether a majority of MetroNorth’s business comes from CT. But it really does not matter with regard to the level of subsidy provided to its riders.

I have no problem heavily subsidizing public transportation. But the subsidy is a budget, and therefore a political, reality. (I think we should fund public transportation by substantially raising the gas tax. But the last time I ran for public office was 50 years ago 🤓)

quinnchionn, eliminating the Temple Street stops is profoundly bad idea for the foreseeable future. The Temple Street stops account for much of CT Transit’s volume in town. Eventually, Church Street will be converted to two-way, and the stops could be shifted there. But converting Church Street to two-way (a really good thing) will require replacing all of the traffic signals on it and nearby streets. I recently spoke with the city’s transportation director - this will cost about $800,000 per intersection. Replacing the signals will benefit drivers and pedestrians as well as bus riders. But getting rid of the Temple Street stops before this happens would inconvenience bus riders (and give rise to a Title VI complaint).

Heather, I’m a big fan of converting streets to two way, in part for the reasons you cite. While the focus has understandably been on Downtown, there are many neighborhood streets that could also be converted, without losing parking.