Free Bus Rides Cut Students A Break

The beginning of a three-month CT Transit bus-fare holiday has made getting around town easier, especially for young people who hustle from classes to jobs.

Those perspectives were shared with this reporter Tuesday, now that the state has suspended Connecticut’s public bus fares statewide and reduced the excise tax on gasoline by 25 cents per gallon from April 1 to June 30, 2022.

Gov. Ned Lamont signed the bipartisan legislation providing the temporary free rides and tax cut to provide relief to consumers as they face rising prices in all sectors nationwide. 

CT Transit officials are expecting a rise in ridership as a result, based on past experience, spokesperson Josh Morgan stated: ​“We continue to gain bus riders back, and we are now at approximately 75 percent of pre-pandemic ridership levels. Going fare free over the next three months marks an opportunity to welcome riders back to bus service and invite new riders to try public transit buses for the first time.”

Hill Regional Career High School junior Kiarra Davis, 17, waited for her bus as usual Tuesday to get from the New Haven Green downtown to Dixwell to get home and ready for work in North Haven.

She was able to enjoy a wake-up-wrap and hot chocolate while waiting for the bus instead of spending the half-hour wait looking for her usual $1.75 bus fare. 

“I never have change,” she said. ​“Not everyone has a vehicle, and not everyone always has money to pay for it.”

Davis said at times she has had to call out of work because she had no bus fare or was late due to searching for enough fare to get to school and work.

To get to school in the morning, Davis also typically takes the city bus, because her assigned school bus stop is out of the way. So fare-free rides help. 

Davis said she looks forward to three months of stress-free travel, including for her other family members who don’t currently drive. 

When she got her first job last year, Davis was paying for Lyft rides to and from work. It was ​“eating half of my paycheck.” Now she saves money by consistently taking public transportation. She also found the bus more convenient.

Meanwhile, Maxuel Bouanga, 18 also waited at the downtown bus hub to catch his second bus of the morning Tuesday to get to Whalley Avenue. 

For the first time this academic year, Bouanga, a senior at Wilbur Cross High School, didn’t have to ask a friend for a dollar or find $1.75 in change in the bottom of his book bag to catch the bus.

Last week he waited hours to get picked up because he did not have a dollar for ether bus. He most often rides the bus home from school and to work. 

“This helps a lot, because now I can save up my money,” he said.

Students Paulina, 18, and Tony, 19, also waited for their bus Tuesday. 

Tony heard about the free-fare rides from partner Paulina. He takes bus rides weekly to go school in West Haven and downtown to hang out with friends. Paulina, who takes bus daily to school and work, found out about the temporary fare suspension on social media. 

“It’s extremely helpful. That $1.75 its always a pain, especially when you don’t have change,” Tony said.

To get to work, Paulina takes one bus everyday. To get to Southern Connecticut State University for classes, she has to take two buses.

At SCSU Paulina receives a student transportation pass that allows her to travel around town for free. She added that free public transportation passes should be offered to all high school and college students. 

“I feel like if this happened in high school, I would have really appreciated it,” she said. While in high school, she would often end up stranded places once her two-hour transfer expired.

Tony added that he doesn’t get paid cash, so he finds it difficult to get physical change on a weekly basis. He said he would benefit greatly from being provided with a student transportation pass to help get to work and school. 

Paulina told her mom, who doesn’t drive, about the fare suspension Tuesday morning. Her mom told her she was thrilled and told her she plans to get out the house more because of it.

While waiting for the bus to Amity from downtown, Gateway Community College freshman Vivian, 18 (pictured above), stood reading The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. 

After spending her morning in an art class using charcoal sticks, Vivian waited to catch a bus that would bring her as close as possible to her home. 

Vivian, who lives in Woodbridge, said the suspended fare will eliminate the hassle of paying for students who, unlike herself, who don’t get a free student transportation pass. ​“Before I got mine, it was a hassle to get the exact change every day,” she said of the U‑pass she got this winter. 

No bus routes travel close enough to Vivian’s home, so every day she needs to arrange to get dropped off and picked up from the Amity Stop and Shop bus shelter. 

Ralph Buccitti (pictured), business agent for the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 281, said since the suspended fare bill has begun, drivers have raised concerns about safety. 

“It causes a lot of stress on the driver when you have people driving around with them with no destination,” he said. 

He said drivers are concerned about prolonged exposure to riders who at times are not masked. 

He said he worries the suspended fare bill will make buses places for homeless individuals to get out of the cold and will become a ​“shelter on wheels.” 

Currently Local 281, which represents bus employees in the New Haven region, is negotiating an updated contract. The current one expired March 31. 

Buccitti said the suspended fare bill was a surprise to him and the bus operators and mechanics he represents. ​“We’re at the bargaining table and management wants us to give up a ton of concessions for a subsidized wage increase,” he said. ​“They want them to give up their free time by working 13-hour spreads, their health care, to save the state money.”

He added that he expects the new law to increase ridership and said it predicted it could cause another Covid surge for public transportation employees. 

“The threat of Covid is still real to them everyday because they’re essential workers,” Buccitti said.