#cttransit

In 2012, injuries in CT Transit's New Haven division skyrocketed to 132, 97 of them being passenger related. Fast forward to 2014, while the injuries have dropped by 68.18 percent to 42 total injuries it still remains that New Haven has the most injuries n average in all of CT Transit’s divisions in Connecticut’s most populated cities for the last five years.

“New Haven is notorious around the state not just for us but just in general for being a litigious community where people are likely to…every little thing is likely to turn into a lawsuit,” said David Lee, the general manager for CT Transit.

New Haven is the second most populated city in Connecticut and first most populated city of CT Transit’s divisions with an estimate of 130,660 residents calculated by the State of Connecticut’s Department of Public Health in 2013. While CT Transit does not own a division in Bridgeport, it is Connecticut’s most populated city with 147,216 residents and its transit system, Greater Bridgeport Transit has had less injuries in the majority of the last five years with an exception of 2011 and 2013.

The Federal Transit Administration maintains a National Transit Database that tracks different data for transit systems across the nation. Under their injury category, they track passengers, revenue facility occupants, operators, other workers, bicyclists, pedestrians in crossing, pedestrians not in crossing, other vehicle occupant, trespasser, suicide, and other non-bus related injuries.

While the aforementioned claims are recorded, CT Transit is not necessarily at fault, every claim is reviewed before further action is taken.

“You do have to separate from claims that are clearly legitimate and we're going to pay, claims that are legitimate and someone else is going to pay because the car crashed into the bus, or claims we're going to dispute and where you may not know for years until the case is adjudicated, whether there's going to be a cost or not,” Lee said.

Although injuries may be plenty, fatalities across the divisions have been practically non-existent. In the last five years both New Haven and Hartford have seen one fatality each; New Haven in 2011 and Hartford in 2013.

January 12, 2011, West Haven resident, Pamela Caddell-Boyd lost her life in a three-car accident involving a CT Transit bus; CT Transit was not at fault.

April 11, 2013, Homer Bell Jr. was struck by a CT Transit bus in Hartford, it was ruled a suicide.

“Knock on wood there are very few serious injuries and in the last 30 years that I’ve been here,” Lee said.

While many people tend to criticize CT Transit, from the service to the bus drivers, Robinson disagrees with the majority.

"The bus is alright, there's nothing wrong with the bus, it's the people that get on the bus," Robinson said.

"A lot of people are drinking and smoking weed and all that."

Robinson rides the D-bus, both inbound and outbound for the majority of his comings and goings. The D gets him to Walgreens, where he works on Dixwell Avenue to his home on Circular Avenue.

This Saturday, the D chauffeured him to the Hamden Plaza to run some errands.

Robinson is especially fond of the bus drivers on his routes that he interacts with regularly.

"My bus driver that comes down Circular, he is a great person," Robinson said.

"My bus driver is outstanding, there is no improvement, they're pretty good."

Yalie, Anna Lee trades in her Yale shuttle pass for a city bus pass and awaits the B4 on a windy November first Sunday.

"I use Yale shuttle buses quite infrequently because I feel like it only gets you to Yale buildings," Lee said.

"I like the public bus because they get you to pretty much anywhere you want."

According to Yale's transportation site, the shuttle only goes to multiple university stops, the East Rock neighborhood, and Union Station in comparison to CT Transit's 22 local routes around New Haven.

Lee, from Dallas, Texas started Yale in 2013 and spent the following summer in New Haven, where she used the buses often.

" I think over the summer they were the most punctual, I really liked them then. I used them a lot, like everyday basically," Lee said.

But according to Lee, with the end of the summer months, punctuality became a thing of the past, when school resumed in the fall.

"This year they seem a little bit late again. But, of course, you know there's not enough bus drivers, they're overworked, etcetera," she said.

"I think they can improve on just punctuality, maybe. I think the bus fare is a little high sometimes for those who have to use it all the time; $1.50 is kind of a lot. But, besides that it's pretty good."

For Joseph Kelley, every dollar earned is one dollar closer to a new car, but between student loans and bills the city bus will be the only thing pulling up anytime soon.

"I'm saving up to get a car, for now the bus is my way of getting around until I have enough money to save up to get a car." Kelley said.

He continued.

"I just started working recently, I started working in March but with all my school loans and bills in the house its kind of hard."

The 20-year-old studies computer network management at Branford Hall Career Institute and holds down a part-time job as a manager at Conway, a discount store.

Transferring between the B-Whalley Avenue, O-Winchester Avenue, and F3-Short Beach/ Branford buses, scheduling is near impossible, Kelley states his day never goes as planned.

"They need to make schedules that they can actually follow and actually have a timeframe to consider for traffic rather than just saying in the middle of the schedule, expect delays and stuff like that," Kelley said.

"There are times buses are late by more than 10 minutes, and when the bus comes it's not packed, the driver either just came from the store or something and their going 50, 60 miles an hour down the road trying to get downtown which is cautious, but hazardous to the public transportation [passengers] people," he said.

While the Branford route is the longest of the three routes he uses daily, it seems ro be the least of worries.

"Taking the bus to Branford at times is easy. There are times when I hate it because of the heavy traffic in east haven," he said.

The B bus is a different story. He said he just hates the B bus in general, not elaborating.

Kelley says the bus and it's schedule barely fits his needs, nor the needs of other passengers.

"I think they [passengers] actually became fed up with public transportation with the raising bus fare, the new drivers who are rude and inconsiderate and the buses are not even clean to the public."

Bus drivers get off the bus and take their breaks, a little longer than they should, according to Kevin Edwards.

“You could be trying to get to work but these buses will make you late,” he said.

Edward’s said he drives, but he takes the bus most of the time even though he thinks the scheduling is bad.

“The B bus is bad, the G bus is bad,” he said referring to the frequency of these services. “I’m standing out here waiting on the G bus right now.”

Edwards has lived in New Haven his whole life and has been taking the bus since he was 18-years-old, he said.

“The bus system is fair,” said Edwards, “but it’s not great.”

According to Edwards, buses are starting to get bad and nothing is improving. The D bus and the F bus are the most frequent buses and come every 10 minutes.

“Some bus drivers don’t have respect for pedestrians either,” he said. “You could be waiting for a bus and they would just drive right by you.”

This has happened to him on more than one occasion