Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, April 13, 2018
CTfastrak Ridership Remains Strong After Three Years
CUMULATIVE RIDERSHIP NEARS 9 MILLION AS FASTRAK ENTERS ITS THIRD YEAR
Hartford, Connecticut – On March 28 state and regional leaders celebrated the third anniversary of CTfastrak, noting that ridership has exceeded initial expectations. According to data released in April by the Connecticut Department of Transportation, the primary CTfastrak service has provided nine million rides since May of 2015. The broader CTfastrak corridor has provided over 15 million rides, exceeding initial projections. According to Department of Transportation reports, roughly 9,000 transit rides were provided in the corridor prior to CTfastrak’s completion.
Marcia Leclerc, Mayor of East Hartford and Chair of the Capitol Region Council of Governments (CRCOG) Policy Board explained that “The strong demand for CTfastrak service shows that there is a demand for high-quality, frequent, transit service. Improvements in frequency and speed are providing better alternatives to driving while also expanding job opportunities.”
More frequent service in the corridor has made it easier for people to get to work. A report by the Accessibility Observatory at the University of Minnesota, “Access Across America: Transit 2016”, lists Hartford as one of the ten fastest growing regions in terms of the number of jobs accessible by public transportation. Of the 49 largest metropolitan areas in the country, Hartford showed the ninth greatest improvement in accessible jobs, increasing by 6.44% between 2015 and 2016. The report defines a job as accessible if it can be reached by transit and walking within 60 minutes. Based on these results an additional 6,208 jobs were accessible by transit. The report notes that approximately 61,000 jobs in the greater Hartford area are now within a 60 minute commute via transit.
The CTfastrak corridor has also seen new development since the service started. Developments such as 616 New Park in West Hartford and Columbus Commons in New Britain promise to bring new residents and jobs to the corridor, while revitalizing neighborhoods.
Lyle Wray, Executive Director of CRCOG noted that, “The success of CTfastrak, and the developments it is attracting, cannot continue if we don’t fund this service. The State is facing a serious fiscal crisis, but it is imperative that we continue to maintain the investments that will lead to future growth. In order to maintain the confidence of developers, there needs to be a long-term solution for transportation funding in Connecticut.”
The “Access Across America: Transit 2016” report can be found at: http://access.umn.edu/research/america/transit/2016/
More information on CTfastrak ridership data can be found at: http://crcog.org/ctfastrak-ridership/
