Calls go out for permanent free bus service
As CT Transit bus riders get used to riding for free during the state’s threemonth experiment with free rides, the call is going out from various quarters to make the change permanent — or at least extend it to Dec. 1, as the state already has with the suspension of the 25-cent-per-gallon excise tax on gasoline.
The City Council in Hartford, where 30 percent of residents don’t own cars, already is on record in favor of permanently doing away with bus fare — and the Board of Alders in New Haven, where a similar percentage lives without cars, has a resolution pending that Alder Eli Sabin, D-7, who submitted it, hopes to see come up in June.
Just across the northern border, the City Council in Springfield, Mass., also is pushing for it.
Some CT Transit officials have told local transit officials that they’re in favor of offering fare-free bus service because the amount Connecticut makes through fare collection is barely worth the cost of such collections, one local transit official recently told the South Central Regional Council of Governments.
And while a top state Department of Transportation official did not seem to think that was likely, two key legislators said the possibility of extending the fare-free bus program to Dec. 1 is part of the General Assembly’s current budget discussion.
“Unlike in other states where municipal and county governments support a significant portion of public transit expenses, Connecticut’s state government is solely responsible for transit expenses in our major cities,” said DOT Deputy Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto in an emailed statement.
“Bus fares accounted for $43 million in revenue in 2019,” Eucalitto said. “Elimination of all fares would necessitate finding alternative revenue or appropriations to support operations, or a reduction in services to reduce costs by a comparable level.”
But state Rep. Roland Lemar, D-New Haven, House chairman of the Transportation Committee, and state Rep. Sean Scanlon, D-Guilford, House chairman of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee, both said an extension to Dec. 1 is on the table.
“It’s something I’m certainly pushing to happen and it’s one of the final remaining questions about our tax package here,” said Scanlon.
“Is permanent bus fare cancellation an admirable aspiration? Certainly,” Scanlon said. “But at this time, I think we’ll only be able to focus” on extending the current program.
“The buses and train systems in CT are heavily subsidized. They don’t bring in anywhere near what it costs to run them,” Scanlon said. “But I certainly understand the desire to extend it and we’re pushing for it.”
Making CT Transit buses fare-free in the long term “is undeniably the right choice,” said Lemar. “It is costly, however.”
“We know that if we do it,” people will plan their lives around it, including deciding to forego buying cars in some cases and making housing choices based on the proximity to transit lines, Lemar said.
Lemar said “unlike other parts of the country where cities and counties subsidize transportation,” transportation in Connecticut is largely subsidized by the state and federal governments.
He estimated it would cost “about $3 million per month or more.”
With regard to a permanent change, while “I don’t think we can make that guarantee right now,” Lemar said, “we are privileged to be in a moment where we can do a pilot program” to see how it works out on a temporary basis.
A three-month period of fare-free CT Transit service was included in the same emergency order in which Gov. Ned Lamont suspended the gas tax, both because of the coronavirus pandemic and the inflation that has gripped the nation in recent month. It began April 1.