University News

August 10, 2017 | Stephanie Reitz - UConn Communications

CT Transit Bus Service Expands to Storrs Campus

The service will enable students, faculty, and staff to travel to UConn Hartford and Union Station, and make connections for UConn Health, other local and express buses, and soon – via commuter rail – to Bradley Airport.

CT fastrak, Connecticut’s first Bus Rapid Transit system, is a system of bus routes that use a bus-only roadway for all or a portion of the trip.

The service will enable students, faculty, and staff to travel to UConn Hartford and Union Station, and make connections for UConn Health, other local and express buses, and soon via commuter rail to Bradley Airport.

CT Transit is expanding its bus service starting this weekend to include regular trips to and from Storrs, linking UConn’s flagship campus with the new downtown Hartford campus and a variety of destinations in between.

Scott Jordan, UConn’s executive vice president for administration and chief financial officer, joined Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and others Thursday for the announcement, which took place at Union Station in Hartford.

The new service begins Sunday, extending the CT Transit bus route from its previous end in Tolland to expand further east and add stops at Four Corners, Whitney Hall, and Storrs Center.

UConn students, faculty, and staff will be able to use the bus to travel between UConn Storrs and UConn Hartford, and also to connect to other services taking them to UConn Health or a wide variety of other destinations.

UConn students are eligible to ride the bus at no charge by showing their student ID and a pass obtained through the CT UPass Program. Students who obtain that pass have access not only to the new CT Transit route but also several other transportation services throughout Connecticut.

“There’s been a collective excitement in the UConn community about this service ever since it was proposed,” UConn President Susan Herbst said of the extended CT Transit route.

“The route will be especially valuable as UConn’s new downtown Hartford campus opens in coming weeks, and we hope it also will help us attract more people to consider working and studying at the Storrs campus who otherwise didn’t have transportation,” she added.

Interest in the route has been so strong at UConn that state Department of Transportation representatives encountered overflow crowds during on-campus information sessions last year, prompting the agency to add extra sessions for the many students and employees who wanted to learn about the service.

The extended bus route will run hourly and include the following stops:

  • Nash-Zimmer Transportation Center, Storrs Center (with connections to UConn’s on-campus buses and to Willimantic)
  • UConn campus: Whitney Hall
  • Route 195 at Route 44 (Four Corners)
  • Tolland park and ride lot
  • Buckland Hills Mall
  • Manchester: Buckland park and ride (Bus Stops A & B)
  • Downtown Hartford at Central Row (a short walk to UConn Hartford and connections to other local and express bus services)
  • Union Station, Hartford
  • CTfastrak Sigourney Street station (transfer available via CTfastrak Route 121 to UConn Health in Farmington)

The specific arrival and departure times will be posted on the CT Transit website at www.CTtransit.com.

Commuters on the extended route will have the ability to connect to the CTfastrak bus network in central Connecticut, as well as the upcoming Hartford Line commuter rail system, which will launch in May 2018 and provide more frequent train service between New Haven, Hartford, and Springfield.

The bus route’s hours of operations will be:

  • Weekdays: 5:45 a.m. to midnight
  • Saturdays: 6:30 a.m. to midnight
  • Sundays: 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

“An investment in our transportation system is an investment in our economic development, and it makes great sense to considerably improve connections between campuses within our state’s flagship university,” Malloy said Thursday.

“By linking these three campuses together via public transit, in addition to the ability to connect to other destinations in Central Connecticut, including the upcoming Hartford Line rail commuter system with convenient connections to Bradley International Airport, we are making smart investments in our economy,” he added.

DOT Commissioner James Redeker said the initiation of this service represents a major partnership between UConn and the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

“Transit service has been very popular with college students, and we are thrilled to be able to extend the reach of our system to Storrs,” he said. “We’re making it as easy as possible – students simply need to show their student ID and pass, and they can hop on board the bus.”