{"id":123574,"date":"2017-03-23T09:11:24","date_gmt":"2017-03-23T13:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=123574"},"modified":"2023-06-27T13:08:11","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T17:08:11","slug":"uconn-rolls-10-new-buses-storrs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2017\/03\/uconn-rolls-10-new-buses-storrs\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Rolls Out 10 New Buses at Storrs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bus service at UConn has certainly changed since the school\u2019s early days, when students rode in an old Pierce-Arrow they jokingly called the \u201cBlack Maria,\u201d a common nickname for police paddy wagons.<\/p>\n

From that time almost 100 years ago, UConn\u2019s bus fleet has improved substantially in style and reliability \u2013 and the 10 new vehicles introduced Thursday represent a significant jump forward into the next generation of high-tech buses.<\/p>\n

\"HuskyGo170323a037\"<\/a>
HuskyGo170323a037<\/div>
Jonathan XIV sits next to one of the new HuskyGo student shuttle buses were launched on March 23. (Sean Flynn\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"HuskyGo170323a096\"<\/a>
HuskyGo170323a096<\/div>
Jonathan XIV in the driver's seat of one of the new HuskyGo shuttle buses. (Sean Flynn\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"huskyHo170323a025\"<\/a>
huskyHo170323a025<\/div>
Jonathan XIV in the driver's seat of one of the new HuskyGo shuttle buses. (Sean Flynn\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"HuskyGo170323a053\"<\/a>
HuskyGo170323a053<\/div>
Inside one of the new HuskyGo student shuttle buses that were launched on March 23. (Sean Flynn\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"HuskyGo170323a002\"<\/a>
HuskyGo170323a002<\/div>
A view of a new HuskyGo bus seen from above. (Sean Flynn\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"HuskyGo170323a048\"<\/a>
HuskyGo170323a048<\/div>
The new HuskyGo student shuttle buses were launched on March 23. (Sean Flynn\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

UConn Transportation Services put the new buses into service starting Thursday, and parked one of them on Fairfield Way to give students and employees the chance to check out the new 35-foot vehicles, ask questions, and provide suggestions about UConn\u2019s bus service.<\/p>\n

The new buses each have 16 USB ports along with bike racks<\/a>, \u201ckneeling\u201d technology that lowers the front to help people get on and off more easily, soft blue LED lighting, and other technology. Starting in the next academic year, they\u2019ll also have Wi-Fi service.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new buses are state-of-the-art, modern vehicles that will be dependable and far more cost-efficient to operate,\u201d said Dennis Solensky, general manager of transportation and fleet services at UConn Transportation, which operates the bus system.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur expectation is that with our talented maintenance staff, we will be able to run them for at least the next 12 years,\u201d Solensky said, noting the 10 new buses alone will transport more than 1 million passenger trips annually on the Storrs campus, not including trips on other buses already in the fleet.<\/p>\n

The buses were built by New Flyer Corp. in St. Cloud, Minn., and represent the latest in large transit bus technology. In addition to the improved passenger amenities, they also have cameras to capture the view inside and outside of the buses; automated passenger counters; and suspensions and seats that offer a more comfortable ride.<\/p>\n

Each bus seats 31 passengers, not including people who prefer to stand; has two positions for wheelchairs; and carry \u201cHusky GO\u201d designs on the exterior, introducing the new brand by which the bus service will be known.<\/p>\n

The University has strongly supported the state\u2019s plan to extend its\u00a0CTfastrak service<\/a>\u00a0east to Storrs. Once that service launches, the Husky GO buses will also travel off campus to link Storrs with a local stop near I-84, connecting students to network of bus lines throughout central Connecticut.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the new Husky GO brand,\u201d Solensky said. \u201cIt\u2019s catchy and it dovetails well with the marketing efforts being conducted by our partners at the state Department of Transportation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the University\u2019s oldest buses will be taken out of service because they have become too costly to maintain and have exceeded their useful life, but the popular and relatively new \u201cIce Bus\u201d and other buses with UConn scenes on them will remain in the fleet for several more years.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s buses are a far cry from the vehicles used to transport the Huskies of yesteryear \u2013 or, more accurately, the \u201cAggies\u201d of what was then known as the Connecticut Agricultural College.<\/p>\n

\"Bus_seventiesbus_cropped\"<\/a>
Bus_seventiesbus_cropped<\/div>
UConn's new buses with USB ports have come a long way since the '70s, when Ma Bell was in service and cell phones weren't.<\/div><\/div>\"Bus_Dairy<\/a>
Bus_Dairy Class Field Trip_cropped<\/div>
Dairy class students board a UConn bus for a 1907 field trip.<\/div><\/div>\"Bus_Second<\/a>
Bus_Second Storrs Bus_cropped<\/div>
The second bus in Storrs in 1917.<\/div><\/div>\"Bus_ROTC_2_1943-cropped\"<\/a>
Bus_ROTC_2_1943-cropped<\/div>
An ROTC bus in 1943.<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

A news story from a 1921 version of the student paper, The Connecticut Campus, includes a colorful description of the transportation options in previous years: a 25-passenger Kissel car that often lost its front wheel on Spring Hill; a Studebaker that was faster but lasted only a few years; and that renowned \u201cBlack Maria,\u201d a Pierce-Arrow \u2013 or \u201cFierce Sparrow,\u201d as some called it.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents will remember a good many times when they gave vent to their feelings because of Maria\u2019s mulish behavior. Maria was an old model \u2018Fierce Sparrow\u2019 that could be really fierce at times,\u201d the newspaper wrote in an April 1921 profile of the driver, who transported students three times daily between Willimantic and \u201cthe Hill,\u201d as they called the campus.<\/p>\n

The Black Maria even found a place in a poem written in the student paper in January 1920 to honor members of the college\u2019s Student Army Training Corps who served in World War I:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou went across in nice big boats<\/em>
\n And landed safe in France;<\/em>
\n We came up here in the Black Maria,<\/em>
\n Now who took the greater chance?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

While UConn\u2019s new buses may not inspire poetry or gain catchy nicknames, transportation officials hope students will see them as a pleasant, reliable part of their daily routines.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really want our students and campus community to have a comfortable and enjoyable experience on the buses,” Solensky said, “and these new vehicles will be a great addition to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hop on. Vehicles include USB ports, bike racks, and other features.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":123591,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2225,2234,2233],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1932],"class_list":["post-123574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uconn-storrs","category-university-life","category-university-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-20 06:21:54","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123574"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123621,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123574\/revisions\/123621"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/123591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123574"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=123574"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=123574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}