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CTfastrak (constructed as the New Britain-Hartford Busway) is a regional
bus rapid transit Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...
system currently operating between
downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ...
Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...
and
Downtown New Britain station Downtown New Britain is a bus rapid transit station and the terminus of the CTfastrak line, located just south of Route 72 off Columbus Boulevard and Main Street in New Britain, Connecticut. It opened with the line on March 28, 2015. The station ...
in
New Britain New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi the D ...
in central
Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...
. Operated by Connecticut Transit, it is the first bus rapid transit system in Connecticut and the second in
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
after the MBTA Silver Line. CTfastrak opened on March 28, 2015 after fifteen years of planning and three years of construction. CTfastrak services run on a dedicated busway which runs on an abandoned railroad right-of-way from Downtown New Britain to and alongside the active New Haven–Springfield Line from Newington Junction to downtown Hartford. Eight local and four express routes operate along the busway and over on-street loops in downtown Hartford. CTfastrak is tied with the
Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (officially the GCRTA, but historically and locally referred to as the RTA) is the public transit agency for Cleveland, Ohio, United States and the surrounding suburbs of Cuyahoga County. RTA is ...
's
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as the second-top rated BRT system in the United States each with Silver rating according to the
BRT Standard The BRT Standard is an evaluation tool for bus rapid transit (BRT) corridors around the world, based on international best practices. The Standard establishes a common definition for BRT and identifies BRT best practices, as well as functioning a ...
. Only
ABQ RIDE ABQ RIDE (City of Albuquerque Transit Department) is the local transit agency serving Albuquerque, New Mexico. ABQ RIDE operates a variety of city bus routes including two Albuquerque Rapid Transit (ART) bus rapid transit lines and one Rapid Rid ...
's Albuquerque Rapid Transit has achieved the top rating of Gold.


Infrastructure

The CTfastrak busway is built on current and former railroad rights-of-way owned by the state and
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...
, which allowed for the busway to be constructed with minimal taking of private land. From its north end in downtown Hartford to
Newington Junction station Newington Junction is a bus rapid transit station on the CTfastrak line opened in 2015 located off Willard Avenue ( CT-173) in the Newington Junction neighborhood of Newington, Connecticut. A new commuter rail station named Newington, to be lo ...
, the busway occupies the north side of Amtrak's New Haven–Springfield Line right of way. That section of the line was once 4 tracks (shared by two separate railroads) and is now two tracks, with the busway occupying the third and fourth track slots. From Newington Junction to its south end at
Downtown New Britain station Downtown New Britain is a bus rapid transit station and the terminus of the CTfastrak line, located just south of Route 72 off Columbus Boulevard and Main Street in New Britain, Connecticut. It opened with the line on March 28, 2015. The station ...
, the busway follows the former Newington Secondary rail line. Along much of its length, CTfastrak is constructed as a grade-separated
limited-access highway A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway, expressway, limited access freeway, and partial controlled access highway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which ...
. There are three at-grade crossings of local roads in New Britain, one in the Elmwood section of West Hartford, and one in Hartford (the latter two shared with the New Haven–Springfield Line). Buses can additionally enter and leave the busway via access roads at Downtown New Britain, East Street, Cedar Street, Newington Junction, and Sigourney Street stations and at the north end of the busway at Asylum Street in Hartford. A lengthy bridge was constructed over East Street ( CT-175) and Allen Street in New Britain to eliminate former grade crossings. From New Britain to Newington Junction, a fenced multi-use trail was constructed alongside the busway. Such a trail was not possible on the northern section, where all available room was needed for an access road for Amtrak maintenance vehicles. The busway has ten stations of varying size. Downtown New Britain is a sprawling complex with numerous bus bays and large shelters to support transfers between CTfastrak services and local CT Transit services. Flatbush Avenue and Sigourney Street have large
island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular o ...
s and off-busway loops. The remaining seven stations have basic
side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platfo ...
s and small shelters, with ramps to street level. All stations except have center passing lanes to allow express buses to pass stopped local buses.


Services

, twelve CT Transit routes use the CTfastrak busway with a variety of stopping patterns. Eight routes provide local stopping service on various sections of the busway: *101 Hartford/New Britain *102 Hartford/New Britain/Bristol *121 MCC/Hartford/ UConn Health *128 Hartford/ Westfarms–New Britain via Stanley Street *140 CCSU Shuttle *144 Wethersfield/Westfarms *153 Flatbush/Copaco *161 St. Francis Hospital/
Hartford Hospital Hartford Hospital is an 938-bed acute care teaching hospital located in the South End of Hartford, Connecticut. Hartford Hospital was established in 1854. The hospital campus is located on Seymour Street in Hartford and is directly adjacent to t ...
The 101 Hartford/New Britain route provides high-frequency all-stops base service between New Britain and downtown Hartford, with headways of 7.5 minutes at peak, 12 minutes off-peak, and 20 minutes during the evening. The 102 makes the same stops as the 101 but extends past New Britain to
Bristol, Connecticut Bristol is a suburban city located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, southwest-west of Hartford. The city is also 120 miles southwest from Boston, and approximately 100 miles northeast of New York City. As of the 2020 census, th ...
; it operates at a lower frequency than the 101. The 121 uses the busway from Cedar Street to Sigourney Street, while the 128 uses the busway from Elmwood to Union Station. Two routes run express on the busway from Downtown New Britain to Sigourney Street, making no intermediate stops: *923 Bristol Express *928 Southington
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–Waterbury Express Four other routes – 144, 153, and 161, as well as the 140(F) – act as feeder services. They make stops at CTfastrak station platforms but do not run on the busway, with the exception of the 140 and 144, which use the busway between Cedar Street and East Street. Other times throughout the day it enters the busway at Newington Junction station as the 140F and continues to East Street.


History

In 2001, a dedicated busway transit project was judged to be the most cost-effective way of relieving congestion on Interstate 84 between Hartford,
West Hartford West Hartford is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, west of downtown Hartford. The population was 64,083 at the 2020 census. The town's popular downtown area is colloquially known as "West Hartford Center," or simply "The ...
, Newington and New Britain. The line was projected to cost $570 million, of which $400 million was funded by federal grants. The project officially broke ground on May 22, 2012 and opened to the public on March 28, 2015. Proof of payment is used for fare collection along the route. On June 23, 2015, CTDOT began issuing $75 tickets for riders found to have not paid their fare. Preliminary work estimated a $10 million annual cost of running the various CTfastrak routes and new feeder services. In September 2015, CTtransit released that the yearly cost would be substantially higher at $17.5 million. In October 2019, the state applied for a federal grant to test autonomous buses on the CTfastrak busway beginning in 2020.


Hartford Line

The Hartford Line
commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...
service between
New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...
and
Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, th ...
via Hartford commenced on June 16, 2018. It initially connects to CTfastrak at Union Station. Hartford Line stations adjacent to the CTfastrak stops at West Hartford (Flatbush Avenue) and Newington Junction are planned to open later. The 2012 environmental assessment for the Hartford Line included preliminary plans for four infill stations including West Hartford and Newington Junction; although they were not yet funded, this would allow future planning and construction to be expedited. On January 12, 2015, the state announced that $5.75 million in funding would be made available for environmental mitigation and design at ten Hartford Line and
New Haven Line The Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line is a commuter rail line running from New Haven, Connecticut to New York City. It joins the Harlem Line at Mount Vernon, New York and continues south to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. The New Haven ...
stations, including design funding for Hartford Line platforms at West Hartford and Newington Junction.


CTfastrak East

Planning began in early 2016 for extending CTfastrak service to communities east of Hartford. The expansion would incorporate many of the BRT features of the existing system, including branded buses, large shelters, real-time information, and frequent all-day service. However, it would run on existing HOV lanes on
I-84 Interstate 84 may refer to: * Interstate 84 (Oregon–Utah), passing through Idaho, formerly known as Interstate 80N * Interstate 84 (Pennsylvania–Massachusetts) Interstate 84 (I-84) is an Interstate Highway in the Northeaster ...
and I-384 rather than a dedicated busway.


References


External links

* {{Connecticut transit Transport infrastructure completed in 2015 2015 establishments in Connecticut Bus rapid transit in Connecticut