CTfastrak will expand its bus service east of the Connecticut River to Manchester beginning in Aug. 2016. The ultimate goal is to extend the route to UConn’s main campus in Storrs.
The idea behind the expanded service is to provide more buses later in the day to Manchester’s retail shopping areas for both employees and customers. Currently, several CTtransit local bus routes serving east of the river cease operations as early as 7:15 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 5:20 p.m. on Sunday. The transit study’s initial recommendation is to extend the transit service until 10.45 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 7:40 p.m. on Sunday
The state Department of Transportation made the decision based upon the initial results of an east-of-Hartford transit study about of the possibilities for the expansion of local bus service. The transit study identified key destinations along with present and future consumer needs and developed three priorities:
- Expanded service matching the service hours of the CTfastrak Bus Rapid Transit system;
- Access to The Shoppes at Buckland Hills;
- Transit connections between the University of Connecticut main campus in Storrs.
The transit study also outlined future transit expansion options in separate phases in 2017 and beyond subject to funding availability. In addition, improvements at select park and ride locations could be implemented as soon as 2018 as well.
As part of its regular program, CTDOT began retrofitting its existing CTtransit bus fleet with new technologies that will provide consumers with real-time travel information and onboard Wi-Fi services system wide by the end of 2016.
