Whether you just moved to the area or are trying public transit for the first time, knowing where to begin can feel confusing. And who wants to ask how to do something that everyone else seems to have already figured out?

From Hartford, you can take the bus to Bradley International Airport or the West Hartford reservoir, besides using it to get to your grocery store — whether that happens to be Whole Foods, Stop & Shop, Trader Joe’s, or the West End Farmers’ Market.

Taking the bus, you are saved the time and trouble of looking for a legal parking spot. It’s far safer to travel by bus than car. As a passenger, you get to make better use of your time on a commute.

But first, you have to get yourself on that bus!

The Basics

Know Where You’re Going: You can use the free Transit app, the CTtransit trip planner, or Google directions to easily figure out which bus(es) to take. There are route maps on board the buses and at the State House Square kiosk. The PDF schedules you’ll find on the CTtransit site only list major stops, so you’ll want to figure out where your stop falls in relation to others and take your best guess on the time.

If you must ask a driver if the bus will get you to your destination, be specific. Give a cross street or name a recognizable landmark, rather than using incredibly subjective and open-to-interpretation language like “Does it go all the way up Albany?”. Understand that the drivers typically know only their route(s) and won’t have information about when other buses might be passing through the area.

Pay attention to the bus number or number and letter. For example, there are multiple buses that say “Farmington Avenue” but upon reaching West Hartford Center, one turns south, another north, and one goes straight through. If you’re destination is beyond the point, you’re going to need to get on the right bus or be prepared to double back.

What is a Bus Stop: What counts as a bus stop is maddeningly inconsistent. If you are waiting at the West Farms Mall, you have benches and a heated shelter, with multiple bus schedules posted. The stops closest to my house, on the other hand, have a single sign indicating that it is a bus stop, but minus any other infrastructure. I have waited in a mud pit without sidewalks near a bookstore. I’ve stood on a tiny patch of grass — again, no sidewalks or crosswalks nearby — on Bloomfield Avenue when my regular stop was closed for a weekend. Major CTfastrak stops have benches, city and region maps, ticket vending machines, Go CT card validators, heated shelters, and screens that say how many minutes until the bus arrives. Rumor has it that some stops are marked only by paint on a telephone pole.

It may be politically complicated to upgrade some bus stops due to multiple property owners, but that does not make it any less doable; asking for a bench and basic shelter from the elements is not asking for a lot, especially when you know that the norm in certain circles is to have excessively large private vehicles with heated seats and four-zone climate-control.

While buses lower and have ramps, and though the train and bus stations may all be ADA accessible, not all bus stops have sidewalks or curb ramps. There is a formal way to wage ADA discrimination complaints if you feel like you, in CTtransit’s words, you have “been discriminated against or denied full participation in transportation on the basis of disability.”

Times: CTtransit suggests arriving at your stop five minutes early. If the bus is infrequent, to the point that you would be waiting another hour if you missed the first one, I would suggest tacking on a few more minutes, just in case, and especially if you are not boarding at a major stop. You’ll know you’re at a major stop if it’s named on one of the schedules. If you arrive early, you are likely to have better selection of seats when boarding.

Bus schedules change, with different times on weekends than on weekdays. Some don’t run at all on Sundays. You can sign up for alerts or follow CTtransit on social media to get information about major delays or detours. If a detour is planned, there may be notice posted on the bus. Special holiday hours are also announced on the bus.

Boarding: This should be common sense, but all the time I see people stepping onto the bus before giving riders a chance to exit. Don’t create a people traffic jam!

The other thing that should be obvious is to let people using wheelchairs or other mobility aids board first since it’s going to take them a little longer to get on.

How to Pay: One ride costs $1.75. The all-day pass is $3.50. There are other rates to think about if you’re riding more often than, let’s say, once a week. Some discounts are available.

The primary way to pay, right now, is by using the box that is to the right of the driver, as you enter the bus. If you are using cash money, use exact change. This adds time onto the trip for everyone, yet if it’s unavoidable, at least have the amount counted out in advance so you aren’t digging through your wallet for that odd nickel.

If you need a transfer, ask the driver for one before you pay. A transfer is a two-hour pass at no extra fee. This is what you grab if you are getting on another bus route right away or if you expect your errand to be relatively quick.

More efficient ways to ride include using the prepaid tickets or the Go CT card. You can get a one-ride or all-day pass from several Ticket Vending Machines located at CTfastrak stops. These are good for regular CTtransit buses too. If you’re not riding the bus every day, this is a perfectly fine option.

More regular riders will probably want a 10-ride or month pass.  These can be ordered online or paid for at the kiosk by the Old State House in Hartford. The downside to these passes is if you lose yours, you’re screwed. 

That’s why I have a preference for the Go CT card. If you realize you’ve misplaced it or think it’s definitely a goner, you can log into your account and freeze the card. That means, if someone else found it, you can potentially minimize your loss by turning off the card before they’ve taken too many rides. There is a small replacement fee for lost cards, but that $2 fee is better than being out $50. 

The other advantage of the Go CT card, for those of you who don’t like talking to strangers, is that you never need to ask for a transfer. Just tap the card upon entering each bus, and the system figures out the appropriate payment for you. I would still recommend reviewing your online records every now and then, but since this program began, I have not noticed any errors in how my fares have been calculated. If you qualify for a discounted fare, you provide the necessary info when applying for the Go CT card.

So, how do you pay with a ticket? This can be confusing if your brain has trouble with certain types of directions, but if you aren’t doing it right, the driver will assist. The Go CT card, I think, is the easiest. You place the card’s bar code on or very close to the part of the fare box that says “tap here”. A light will let you know if you’re good to go, if you’re running a low balance, or if you’ve used up your funds or aren’t scanning correctly. The flimsy tickets that come from the CTfastrak vending machines? Line the scan code up with the red scanner thing on the fare box, not unlike what you have to do when using the self-checkout line at the grocery store. The sturdier passes may need to be inserted vertically into the fare box upon first use; then after, you can swipe the pass horizontally on the box. Again, if you forget how to do this or repeatedly turn the card in the wrong direction because you don’t interpret spatial information well, the driver will help you to get it right.

Finally, there is the U-Pass — one of the glorious benefits that too few folks take advantage of. Students, whose institutions buy in, have free passes to use CTtransit, CTrail, and various other transit systems in Connecticut. Currently, the schools participating in this program include: Central Connecticut State University, Southern Connecticut State University, Western Connecticut State University, Uconn (Storrs, Hartford, Stamford, and Waterbury), and University of Saint Joseph. The following community colleges also offer U-Pass: Asnuntuck, Capital, Gateway, Housatonic, Manchester, Norwalk, Three Rivers, and Tunxis. Trinity College also offers a version of the U-Pass, though theirs currently does not include the train pass. If your school is not on that list, start asking the administration to enroll. Side note: if your school repeatedly gripes about parking issues, promoting transit should be a no brainer for them.

By the way, don’t try to use your monthly pass or Go CT card and then hand it off to your friend. Drivers pay attention and will scold you. If they even think you’ve done that, you’ll be questioned. One time I tapped my card and was holding onto a friend’s while he loaded his bike so he didn’t drop the card in the process. It looked sketchy, but I showed the driver that these were two separate cards and then it was cool.

Using the Space: One ticket entitles riders to one seat. Generally, if you’ve got your grocery bags, people understand that you need a little extra room, but don’t be that person who uses one seat to sit on and one seat for her handbag…or the one who sits in the middle of two seats to avoid sharing with others. 

If you have a stroller, the expectation is that you will remove the child from it, then fold the device and move it aside so that it does not block to aisle. Is that a pain in the ass? Sure, but so is tripping over baby strollers when trying to get on the bus. The same is true for the grocery carts — fold ‘em up and scoot them over. This might not be a huge deal at off-peak times, though I have been on buses where there are several strollers and a cart, all open, and then a rider using a mobility device tries to board.

You can use the bus to transport your bicycle, by the way. Buses are equipped with racks that accommodate two bikes. These are located on the front of the bus, so you will want to communicate with the driver that you are loading your bike. Grab the handle at the top of the rack and put it down parallel to the ground. Lift and place your bicycle in the space closest to the bus. The rack is labeled front and rear, so you will know which direction to arrange your bike. Then, grab the spring-loaded wheel bar near the front wheel, pull it out and away so it can swing up over your front tire. Release it. This will trap your front wheel and secure the bike. If you are nervous, you can shake your bike to be sure it does not fall out. If you’re still not convinced you’ve done it right, tell the driver it’s your first time using the rack and the driver will assist.

You might be wondering why someone would take a bike if she’s already taking the bus. A few possibilities: (a) Her shift ends later than the buses run, so she needs an affordable and sustainable way to get home, (b) The bus does not quite get her to the destination, but she does not want to ride for two hours, so she splits the difference, ( c ) She’s doing some recreational riding when she reaches her destination.

Where to Sit or Stand: This is the area of least struggle for most riders. Every now and then there will be that person who insists on standing at the front of the bus to gab incessantly with the driver, to the point of ignoring the needs of passengers getting on and off. Just try to not be in anyone’s way, and if there is a seating shortage, don’t have a situation where those standing are children, elderly, or those with disabilities.

How to Get Off the Bus: About twenty years ago I had a recurring dream that I boarded what I thought was a regular school bus, but turned out to be a city bus that traveled eastern Connecticut, but without anything like a predictable route. In that dream I would always end up stuck in Norwich with no way to get home. I was not riding any buses at the time these dreams were happening, and the worry surely stuck with me awhile. I’m happy to report that at most I have spaced out and missed my stop, only to figure it out and exit the bus a few blocks later.

The regular way to let the driver know you are ready to leave is to tug the bright yellow cord. Some buses even have buttons on poles that you can push to alert the driver. The norm is to signal just after passing the stop that precedes your own. For instance, if you want to get off at the University of Hartford, you pull the cord as the bus has cleared the Watkinson stop. 

Here’s the tricky part: if this is the first time you are on a route, you might not know when to signal. If this is the case, let the driver know when you board what your stop is. She could either tell you when to signal, or she might remember and make the stop. 

And yes, occasionally you will have to do the awkward thing of reaching over another person to pull the cord, or you could ask the person closest to do that for you.

There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to which door people use to exit the bus. If you want to leave by the back door and the driver has not opened it, people usually yell “Back Door, Please!” and that does the trick.

Whether getting on or off, if you need the bus lowered because you can’t safely make the distance, ask the driver to lower the bus.

Oh, and one last thing. A city bus is not a school bus. There is no stop sign. No flashing lights. Don’t cross in front of the bus!

Communicating with the Driver: The driver does have a customer service responsibility, but that does not mean all are going to want to have a long conversation, nor is that really the safest decision. Keep it short, simple, and polite. The standard is to thank your driver when you leave — they got you there in one piece — but don’t expect a response every time.

End of the Line: At some point you might hear the driver announce that you’ve reached the last stop and need to get off the bus. This is because the bus is going out of service and will not be picking up more passengers. On some routes, the automated announcer will seem to suddenly change to another route. If you’re lucky, it’s the one you were going to transfer to, and you won’t need to get off the bus. Other buses basically circulate on a fixed route. The maps on board can give you an indication of what happens, or you can ask the driver if you are concerned for some reason. You probably won’t accidentally end up in Norwich.

Impressed? Got Suggestions?: There are ways to communicate your thoughts and concerns with the bus overlords that don’t involve blasting them on social media. 

Although news coverage might make it seem like getting on the bus is a guarantee to be exposed to dangerous or nonsensical behavior, this is not the norm. I won’t sugarcoat it. Stuff happens. It’s just not a den of chaos, 24/7. If you do experience something that’s messed up and don’t feel like the driver resolved it appropriately, then go ahead and contact Customer Service. They will want to know as much detail as you can provide, so if you don’t have a driver’s name or badge number, at least have a good description of the person, route number, and time of trip so that the individual can be reminded of protocols or whatever.

The flipside of this is that drivers are commanding large vehicles with a much better safety record than that of the average driver. If someone has been particularly helpful or handled something difficult with grace, contact Customer Service to give your driver props. Everyone likes to hear that their work has been noticed and appreciated.

If you have ideas for improving service on the larger scale — adding a bus stop or improving an existing one, also contact Customer Service. It can’t hurt to reach out to your legislators or City employees.

Lose something? Contact Customer Service. Don’t wait too long to call them. Found items are only held for 30 days.

Next Level

Express Service: If you are traveling beyond Hartford and its inner ring suburbs, you might need to hop on an express bus. These tend to be the taller, skinnier buses with less frequent service and a more expensive ticket — as you’re paying to go a longer distance. Payment methods are essentially the same, with one exception: if you are using the Go CT card, you tap it when you board, and then again when you exit the bus so that the correct fare can be calculated.

CTfastrak: These are the green buses that run either entirely on the busway, or that make connections with the busway. (That second piece of information might be news to those who only read the angry editorials in the paper; you know, the ones that claim nobody is on the bus. By the way, I have been on CTfastrak buses that are Standing Room Only. Those grumps are misinformed.) 

The advantage of the CTfastrak bus is that it is almost always a faster trip than the standard blue bus. If you’ve ever ridden the Farmington Ave bus where passengers literally call for stops every single block, you understand why a more streamlined service is welcome. It has taken me less time to get from Downtown Hartford to Downtown New Britain, than from West Hartford Center to Downtown Hartford. 

The beauty of the busway is that you don’t have to think hard about which stop you want, and as mentioned, the stations provide clear information to riders. 

With that said, some of the routes could use finessing — looking at you, 161 and 153.

With the fastrak, you can validate your Go CT card at the station and several of the stops, before boarding. If you have an all-day pass or other pre-paid ticket (not a 10-ride), you can also go ahead and board at any door. You only need to use the fare box if using cash, a 10-ride, or have not activated your 3-, 5-, 7-, or 31-Pass yet. This speeds up boarding times significantly! 

There is an exception. A few stops, including the one at West Farms Mall, require passengers board through the front door. An automated audio announcement will inform you of this when the bus arrives.

Fare inspectors do check for tickets. If you are busted riding without one, there’s a $75 fine. You might be let off with a warning. I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to gamble on someone feeling kind and forgiving.

You can wheel your bicycle right on board the CTfastrak buses, using the door that has a bike logo beside it. There are racks on board for you to use. After you strap the bike down, then worry about going up to pay your fare if needed.

 

Best-Kept Secrets

Yes, you absolutely can get to BDL from Hartford for $1.75. Remind people of that every time they entertain using a wildly expensive Uber at a time of day when the buses are running. It stops on the outer roadway for Terminal A and International Arrivals.

There is free and open WiFi on the Express and CTfastrak buses.

Several free, public shuttles operate in Hartford. The one that you may have heard of is the Dash bus, which circulates through Downtown, basically from the Convention Center to a few hotels. There is also an Asylum Hill Shuttle and Columbus Boulevard shuttle.

Alright, what did I miss?