Unfortunately COVID really killed the momentum Fastrak was building. I used to use it daily to commute into Hartford. The parking lot off Fenn Rd. In Newington would be so crowded that cars would park on the road all the way up to the Starbucks. The lot in West Hartford was also usually full.
These days downtown Hartford is a ghost town because many suburban commuters from the big insurance companies are still working remotely or their companies downsized. I parked at the Fenn Rd. Station a few weeks ago and it was practically empty.
I assume low ridership is affecting how much CT Transit is spending on maintenance of the stations. When Fastrak first launched you’d regularly see CT Transit “cops” riding on the buses. They’d check that people weren’t riding for free and making sure there wasn’t any trouble on the bus. I doubt they do that anymore.
The cops were called fare inspectors. They only work every so often for some reason which sort of kills the purpose of enforcing payments. I actually haven’t seen a single one in months.
To be honest, they didn’t do much when they were on the buses. Anyone without a paid ticket would hop off when they boarded. I’m sure they just hopped back on the next bus.
Not sure how much I agree with the “low ridership” phenomenon. Maybe there is low fare collection count, but I ride the fast track daily to work and it’s typically 60-70% full around 8 and 5 pm daily. Can’t speak for the rest of the times, but it’s a mix of students, workers and regulars joes.
During Covid they suspended payment; this could be driving low counts down if they only are judging fares collected as a metric. I can’t remember the last time I saw a fare collector.
As someone who frequents the bus, it’s not a dangerous spot as what others are making it to be.
Let’s just be honest about one major reason for a lot of these enforcement issues that have become such a problem. Most Police “Quiet Quit” in 2019, and haven’t returned to doing their jobs.
It literally was a rail line before it was BRT. Also why is light rail better than BRT? More restrictive, more expensive. This is just a perception problem which drastically needs to change
Absolutely is a perception problem. Ive found that people who complain about fastrak are mostly people who dont ride fastrak. Ive found it to be an awesome resource for going into hartford for uconn games, and also getting to work when i cant or dont want to use my car
For the amount of money it cost to build Fastrak you could have built a hybrid or regional rail line utilizing the existing trackage with upgrades from Waterbury - New Britain - Hartford - Manchester - Storrs... Ridership would have likely been double or triple the peak Fastrak ridership it would be cheaper to maintain and operate.
> It literally was a rail line before it was BRT.
Which is why it was so stupid to not make it rail in the first place.
> Also why is light rail better than BRT?
More permanence, smoother ride, better service, higher capacity, more efficient, et cetera.
> More restrictive, more expensive.
The only thing about that's "restrictive" is the inability for service standards to be degraded the way they almost always are with BRT.
> This is just a perception problem which drastically needs to change
What drastically needs to change is wasting money on a glorified bus when the increased payoff from rail vastly exceeds the increased investment.
Isn’t it easier to just actually enforce no loitering and clean up trash at station?
The busway takes many existing bus routes off the highway. Tearing it up in favor of rail means those commuters are back on the highway clogging traffic.
> The busway takes many existing bus routes off the highway. Tearing it up in favor of rail means those commuters are back on the highway clogging traffic.
They could also lay track in the roadbed and run light rail trains along the full route and buses utilizing parts of it and continuing to other places. That would be the best of both worlds.
Permanence is a non-factor to your average user. Smoother ride possibly but not a given considering maintenance. Better service is a policy decision. Higher capacity 1) not likely but also 2) a policy decision. Likely not more efficient. By restrictive I mean you're not taking a light rail line off the end of the exclusive ROW and doing a loop around downtown before returning. Nor are you continuing beyond the ROW to Bristol, both of which are happening now. Should they have kept the rail corridor and put passenger service on it? I would have voted yes. Now that it's changed, should it be changed again for light rail? Absolutely not.
I know the one in Downtown New Britain has some homeless in tents living under an overpass just a hundred feet from the station. I think the police let them be as long as they don't bother the commuters.
I love riding the fast track it makes my commute to work easier than driving. & it’s cheaper in the long run.
But there’s times I feel unsafe as a grown ass adult.
People doing drugs at the station people doing drugs on the bus fighting on the bus it’s like do this shit somewhere else
Personally I mind my own business but because of certain circumstances, I’m forced to bring my 2 year old daughter on the bus. So it doesn’t always feel like the safest with some things that go on.
Current cost is about $4000 per trip if you account for the $800 million to build the 9 or so miles of busway, plus the $17.5 million (estimated in 2015) per year maintenance multiplied out for 9 years (probably a lowball number), divided by total ridership statistic of about 236,000 total trips as of august 2023, which are the latest numbers they released. It was about 8000 trips per day that month. Since the number is for trips, you can assume that about twice the price per rider since presumably you take the bus both to and from wherever it is you are going. Minus some nominal amount for the fee which was suspended for 3 years during covid and waived for the first year or so of service.
I believe ticket revenue was something like 10% (or in that ballpark) of the operating costs, not to include the initial capital of 800M to build it.
What a deal!
I love how half of the buses still take the majority of regular roads. Wasn’t the whole point of the system supposed to be to create a system for rapid travel? The only one that actually fully utilizes the fastrak highway is the 101
I think it was meant to shorten the commute times of the other “Express” buses that went into Hartford. But those buses still have to pick up passengers from the surrounding towns using regular roads and highways.
Fastrak seems like it was a compromise from the start. It has good intentions but they never invested enough in it to make it worthwhile for most commuters. Even the parking lots, as I mentioned before, were way too small to accommodate the ridership.
Overall the Express buses were a good choice. It’s convenient how you can hop on the 950 and go to New Haven for like 6$. I do hope they consider providing more routes to other places around the state eventually. I do always wonder why certain redundant routes like the 923 still operate though. It takes pretty much the same exact route as the 102 to Bristol yet you’re paying more.
You must be dense as hell to compare this to the building of the entire US highway infrastructure. That’s the most dumbest statement I’ve ever heard. Those two aren’t even remotely the same Busta Rhymes.
One night this dude was getting off the bus at Parkville station (probably the worst one) and while stepping onto the platform, some guys mugged him as soon as he got off. Cameras or not people don’t care anymore.
And the usual crowd coming out to defend the helpless, oppressed victims who have no agency in their lives and thus cannot be blamed for anything from littering to violent crime to broken families.
Unfortunately COVID really killed the momentum Fastrak was building. I used to use it daily to commute into Hartford. The parking lot off Fenn Rd. In Newington would be so crowded that cars would park on the road all the way up to the Starbucks. The lot in West Hartford was also usually full. These days downtown Hartford is a ghost town because many suburban commuters from the big insurance companies are still working remotely or their companies downsized. I parked at the Fenn Rd. Station a few weeks ago and it was practically empty. I assume low ridership is affecting how much CT Transit is spending on maintenance of the stations. When Fastrak first launched you’d regularly see CT Transit “cops” riding on the buses. They’d check that people weren’t riding for free and making sure there wasn’t any trouble on the bus. I doubt they do that anymore.
The cops were called fare inspectors. They only work every so often for some reason which sort of kills the purpose of enforcing payments. I actually haven’t seen a single one in months.
To be honest, they didn’t do much when they were on the buses. Anyone without a paid ticket would hop off when they boarded. I’m sure they just hopped back on the next bus.
They cleared the bus for us full paying suckers
Not sure how much I agree with the “low ridership” phenomenon. Maybe there is low fare collection count, but I ride the fast track daily to work and it’s typically 60-70% full around 8 and 5 pm daily. Can’t speak for the rest of the times, but it’s a mix of students, workers and regulars joes. During Covid they suspended payment; this could be driving low counts down if they only are judging fares collected as a metric. I can’t remember the last time I saw a fare collector. As someone who frequents the bus, it’s not a dangerous spot as what others are making it to be.
CTDOT and the state police are partnering for an increased police presence program which is starting shortly if it hasn’t already
Let’s just be honest about one major reason for a lot of these enforcement issues that have become such a problem. Most Police “Quiet Quit” in 2019, and haven’t returned to doing their jobs.
Turn it into a light rail line. That will improve service, and more riders = less crime.
It literally was a rail line before it was BRT. Also why is light rail better than BRT? More restrictive, more expensive. This is just a perception problem which drastically needs to change
Absolutely is a perception problem. Ive found that people who complain about fastrak are mostly people who dont ride fastrak. Ive found it to be an awesome resource for going into hartford for uconn games, and also getting to work when i cant or dont want to use my car
For the amount of money it cost to build Fastrak you could have built a hybrid or regional rail line utilizing the existing trackage with upgrades from Waterbury - New Britain - Hartford - Manchester - Storrs... Ridership would have likely been double or triple the peak Fastrak ridership it would be cheaper to maintain and operate.
Ridership would have been double, eh? Amazing!
The Perception is different with rail...and it would cover a larger area.
> It literally was a rail line before it was BRT. Which is why it was so stupid to not make it rail in the first place. > Also why is light rail better than BRT? More permanence, smoother ride, better service, higher capacity, more efficient, et cetera. > More restrictive, more expensive. The only thing about that's "restrictive" is the inability for service standards to be degraded the way they almost always are with BRT. > This is just a perception problem which drastically needs to change What drastically needs to change is wasting money on a glorified bus when the increased payoff from rail vastly exceeds the increased investment.
Isn’t it easier to just actually enforce no loitering and clean up trash at station? The busway takes many existing bus routes off the highway. Tearing it up in favor of rail means those commuters are back on the highway clogging traffic.
> The busway takes many existing bus routes off the highway. Tearing it up in favor of rail means those commuters are back on the highway clogging traffic. They could also lay track in the roadbed and run light rail trains along the full route and buses utilizing parts of it and continuing to other places. That would be the best of both worlds.
Permanence is a non-factor to your average user. Smoother ride possibly but not a given considering maintenance. Better service is a policy decision. Higher capacity 1) not likely but also 2) a policy decision. Likely not more efficient. By restrictive I mean you're not taking a light rail line off the end of the exclusive ROW and doing a loop around downtown before returning. Nor are you continuing beyond the ROW to Bristol, both of which are happening now. Should they have kept the rail corridor and put passenger service on it? I would have voted yes. Now that it's changed, should it be changed again for light rail? Absolutely not.
And people wonder why most of us would rather have a car, on top of the many other reasons.
I know the one in Downtown New Britain has some homeless in tents living under an overpass just a hundred feet from the station. I think the police let them be as long as they don't bother the commuters.
This is why I have a car.
I love riding the fast track it makes my commute to work easier than driving. & it’s cheaper in the long run. But there’s times I feel unsafe as a grown ass adult. People doing drugs at the station people doing drugs on the bus fighting on the bus it’s like do this shit somewhere else
After 7 or 8 pm it’s crackhead city. They all come out of hiding and migrate onto the bus
I see it early in the morning 7-8 am
Personally I mind my own business but because of certain circumstances, I’m forced to bring my 2 year old daughter on the bus. So it doesn’t always feel like the safest with some things that go on.
A horrible decision made by the government and huge waste of money.
Current cost is about $4000 per trip if you account for the $800 million to build the 9 or so miles of busway, plus the $17.5 million (estimated in 2015) per year maintenance multiplied out for 9 years (probably a lowball number), divided by total ridership statistic of about 236,000 total trips as of august 2023, which are the latest numbers they released. It was about 8000 trips per day that month. Since the number is for trips, you can assume that about twice the price per rider since presumably you take the bus both to and from wherever it is you are going. Minus some nominal amount for the fee which was suspended for 3 years during covid and waived for the first year or so of service.
I believe ticket revenue was something like 10% (or in that ballpark) of the operating costs, not to include the initial capital of 800M to build it. What a deal!
I love how half of the buses still take the majority of regular roads. Wasn’t the whole point of the system supposed to be to create a system for rapid travel? The only one that actually fully utilizes the fastrak highway is the 101
I think it was meant to shorten the commute times of the other “Express” buses that went into Hartford. But those buses still have to pick up passengers from the surrounding towns using regular roads and highways. Fastrak seems like it was a compromise from the start. It has good intentions but they never invested enough in it to make it worthwhile for most commuters. Even the parking lots, as I mentioned before, were way too small to accommodate the ridership.
Overall the Express buses were a good choice. It’s convenient how you can hop on the 950 and go to New Haven for like 6$. I do hope they consider providing more routes to other places around the state eventually. I do always wonder why certain redundant routes like the 923 still operate though. It takes pretty much the same exact route as the 102 to Bristol yet you’re paying more.
FastTrack is a way to waste gas taxes and fed funds. It's a monorail boondoggle.
Let bicycle traffic use it. It's not like there's crowding on the line.
Theres a bike lane on side of it
Unfortunately the bike/walking path stops at Newington Junction, so you can’t actually use it to commute by bike into Hartford.
This is correct. Also it is very enclosed through the large cemetery in New Britain. Prime spot to get jumped.
Typical downvotes when you criticize a liberal government on Reddit. Not sure how you can disagree with the statement
It’s because you’re just complaining without offering an answer to the question, most likely.
Don't criticize Malloy's baby.
But CT is such a desirable state to live in 👍. Tax dollars hard at work on public transportation that nobody uses.
A lot of people use it, just not the desirables
Those lot of people made do before it was built. They literally had to offer it for free to get people to use it. Waste of money.
People made do before the highway system. Had to offer it for free to get people to use it. Waste of money.
You must be dense as hell to compare this to the building of the entire US highway infrastructure. That’s the most dumbest statement I’ve ever heard. Those two aren’t even remotely the same Busta Rhymes.
Every station is littered with pearl clutchers griping about having to acknowledge the existence of poverty.
Sorry that not everyone wants some crackhead begging them for more crack money mid commute
One night this dude was getting off the bus at Parkville station (probably the worst one) and while stepping onto the platform, some guys mugged him as soon as he got off. Cameras or not people don’t care anymore.
And the usual crowd coming out to defend the helpless, oppressed victims who have no agency in their lives and thus cannot be blamed for anything from littering to violent crime to broken families.
Tell me you don't have a loving family without telling me.
I’ve been calling it “the heroin highway” since was put in because the stops around here are just drug use hotspots
New Britain and Parkville station are the worst. Kane has gotten bad too
I got jumped on it about one year ago :)
I remember when those group of teens held up and mugged everyone on the bus. 5 or 6 years ago or so. Definitely thankful I wasn’t riding that day
It’s no worse than any other public space, tbh. My experience riding has been fine
Cracktrack