Public buses continue routes despite lack of passengers during pandemic

Feb. 20—During a normal workweek, Christine Berlin, 29, of Manchester, stood at a bus stop on Center Street each morning at 6:30 a.m. waiting for CTtransit bus No. 88 to pick her up.

She rode the bus as it made more than a dozen stops along the way before depositing her into downtown Hartford and Travelers Insurance, where she worked in the information technology department until 4 p.m.

Sometimes she carpooled home, but more often she counted on the same bus to deliver her back to her Manchester neighborhood.

TRANSIT DURING COVID

WHAT: Bus and train ridership has decreased significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and state officials are not anticipating passengers to return anytime soon.

WHY: More people are working from home, or driving themselves if they must go into work.

FACT: CTrail ridership is down by 80% and CTtransit is down by 40% since the start of the pandemic.

Berlin depended on CTtransit to get to and from work for more than five years until the world came to a screeching halt in mid-March when COVID-19 cases began to surge throughout the country. Like many others, she began to work from home and has not stepped back on a bus since. The one time she needed to go into the office, she drove. And as COVID is still prevalent, Berlin is reluctant to use public transportation.

"If I'm vaccinated and things are better and all my close family and friends are vaccinated so there's nobody I could spread it to, then yes I would go back," Berlin said. Otherwise, she has no plans to ride a bus in the foreseeable future.

That's not surprising to Richard W. Andreski, the state transportation department's bureau chief for public transportation.

"We don't think riders are coming back in great numbers anytime soon," he told the Journal Inquirer this week.

Fewer passengers, less revenue

In a typical year, CTtransit buses average around 40 million passengers, which was about the same number of riders for CTrail, a train system concentrated mostly in the southwest region of the state.

CTrail "bottomed out" in April, Andreski said, when ridership hit an all-time low with a 95% decrease in riders due to the pandemic. CTtransit saw a 70% decrease in bus ridership that same month, he said.

The trains are more commuter oriented, with the majority of its riders headed to jobs in Stamford or New York City, but since March, many now work from home which is likely why the rail system saw more of a decrease than the buses, Andreski said. CTtransit serves most major cities in the state as residents rely on buses for every day trips to school, the grocery store, doctor's office, or pharmacy, Andreski said.

Since it's plummet in April, ridership has climbed back slightly but remains low.

According to the most recent data, CTrail ridership is down by 80% and CTtransit now averages about 40% fewer bus passengers.

Andreski is not optimistic that ridership will ever fully return, as working from home becomes more and more common.

"That remains to be seen," he said. "But we do believe there will be fewer riders on a typical day than we had previous to the COVID-19 pandemic."

And fewer passengers means less revenue.

"The revenue losses have been very substantial," Andreski said.

The DOT earns about 20 cents on every dollar invested in CTtransit, and 70 cents for every dollar in CTrail, Andreski said.

The shortfall was made up by the $2.2 billion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES Act, which provided the state DOT with about $470 million in 2020, Andreski said.

"If we didn't have the federal aid we would probably have to make some really ugly decisions very soon, but we have a little breathing room," Andreski said of the stimulus funds. "That will carry us for sometime — at least through the end of this calendar year if ridership and expenses remain unchanged — we'll be okay."

The new normal

To stretch those funds, the state has reduced some services, most significantly on the New Haven railway line, which now runs at about two-thirds of normal service, Andreski said.

"It's very expensive to run train service and we had so few riders — it just didn't make sense to keep all the trains running," he said.

Yet while some costs were reduced, others went up, Andreski said, pointing to an increase in fixed costs and maintenance due new practices to mitigate COVID-19, such as cleaning and sanitizing the stations and facilities.

Despite the challenges, Andreski looks forward to rethinking how services are delivered.

One change being considered is offering riders more express services and direct routes from major stops, and offering a "telework pass," which could be bundled and discounted differently than other tickets and passes.

Andreski said the department is also looking into adding amenities, such as Wi-Fi and computer tables, so riders can work during their commute.

They have also applied for a federal grant to modify CTrail ticket vending machines on the Hartford railway line to add a voice interaction system that allows riders to purchase tickets through their phones.

"You would have a completely touchless experience," Andreski said. "We're breaking new ground. I'm not sure how easy it's going to be to pull off, but that's the goal."

Berlin, who said she chose public transportation for its convenience and because it was much cheaper than what she would pay for gas and parking, said that touchless screens would not sway her decision to take public transportation.

"It's not that that worries me a ton," she said. "It's more something that the buses can't really control — it's the people being there, breathing on the bus. It's not like a grocery store where you're just passing through — you're sitting there for a half-an-hour. That's my biggest concern," because COVID-19 is airborne.

Bus capacity is capped at 50% and in almost all cases, they are well below that number, Andreski said.

And operators will offer a mask to anyone who boards a bus or train without one. While most passengers have no issue wearing a mask, Andreski said, there have been a few who have refused.

"It's been a balancing act because we don't want to stop the train or bus and call the police," he said. "We don't want to escalate the situation."

Andreski said the best course of action is to isolate the person and keep other passengers away from them.

"We can only do so much," he continued. "We don't want these incidents to turn ugly."

Other safety measures taken to safeguard passengers include frequent cleaning, no more paying fares on the bus, glass protection for operators, and signs and campaigns to promote mask wearing.

Despite the decline in ridership and transformation of public transportation, they are still a "lifeline" to many residents across the state, he said.

"We're not 100% sure what the next evolution's going to be in our system, but it's important we proceed with care," Andreski said. "The vaccines are rolling out. Hopefully by the fall we'll start to have a sense of where we're going."

For updates on the towns of Coventry and Tolland, follow Michelle France on Twitter: @MFranceReport, Facebook: Michelle France, and Instagram: @MFranceReport.