Thomas Breen photo
Free weekend rides, coming this summer.
Riding the bus will be free on weekends this summer, as part of a new statewide push to restart Connecticut’s economy by encouraging more residents to use public transit.
Gov. Ned Lamont made that announcement in a Tuesday afternoon email press release.
His administration has directed CT transit to provide free, statewide bus service to all customers every weekend this summer between Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day.
“To help support our economic recovery from the pandemic, I want to make Connecticut’s many attractions and businesses reachable by as many of our residents as possible, and implementing free weekend bus service this summer – the busiest time of tourism season – will help facilitate that,” Lamont is quoted as saying in the email press release. “I thank Connecticut’s Congressional delegation for advocating on behalf of our state to ensure that we receive the resources needed to help recover from this pandemic.”
The press release states that the Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT) will use up to $3 million that the state received from the federal government through last spring’s CARES Act to pay for the free service and to accommodate for social distancing on the routes.
The press release also states that roughly 30 percent of residents in Hartford and New Haven do not own cars.
In addition to Saturdays and Sundays this summer, free bus service will also take place on Monday, May 31 for Memorial Day; on Monday, July 5 for Independence Day; and on Monday, Sept. 6 for Labor Day.
Click here , here , and here for recent articles about other planned improvements to the city’s public bus network.
Awesome!!!! I encourage everyone to take advantage of this free bus rides program every weekend. Take a bus to the beach, to museums, to parks, to art galleries, to festivals and fairs, to shopping, restaurants and anything else a bus route can take you to around the state. As more things open up as more people get vaccinated and the virus infection rate goes down, there will be so many fun things to do and a free bus ride or two will make it more affordable and easy to get there for people without access to vehicles. The more of us who use the program, the more likely it is that the State may expand the program and may continue it into the future.