The Malloy administration is running late in its promise to tell New Haven if our buses are running late.
The administration’s Department of Transportation (DOT) had promised that by now all 130 CT Transit buses that run in New Haven would be equipped with GPS-generated devices so that riders could get real-time information on which buses are running late and when they’re expected to arrive.
Now the DOT says that the first buses in town will get their GPS systems in July, with all 130 outfitted by the end of September.
New Haven’s Harp administration first called in early 2014 for the GPS tool as part of a broader menu of long-sought improvements to CT Transit’s maligned bus service in town (which DOT’s chief defends as “wonderful” and “convenient”). Mayor Toni Harp called, and has continued to call, improved mass transit a “civil right.” She said recently on WNHH radio that the city should consider trying to launch some of its own bus service if the state can’t get around to improving service.
DOT did agree eventually to outfit buses with GPS systems connected to its dispatch center, which would make real-time information on bus locations available to riders through a variety of apps such as Google Transit.
But it decided to test the service in the New Britain and Hartford areas, not New Haven. And that rollout ended up taking months longer than expected, according to DOT Transit Administrator Michael Sanders.
Sanders said the rollout began with New Britain because the new CT Fastrack service there offered a smaller, concentrated option for a “guinea pig.” Then, because CT Fastrack connects to Hartford, it made sense to roll out the plan next on all Hartford buses, he said.
Hartford was supposed to be complete by the end of February. That didn’t happen because the contractor hired for the job was able to install only two buses per night, rather than four as planned.
“This is a new technology” that involves more than simply installing a GPS device, Sanders said. It involves installing internal signs and a router inside each bus, along with other improvements such as automatic passenger counters.
The systems are working well in Hartford, Sanders said. Perhaps by September New Haven will find out if it works well here, too.
I would say that I'm surprised and outraged, but we live in a broke state with a stark income divide... and the rich don't want to pay their fair share. It's NOT surprising that something like public transit would suffer. CT is a state of Haves and Have-Nots.