Hartford Business Journal

4 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | SEPTEMBER 30, 2024 What's Trending Federal, state officials tout $550M in transit-oriented development along CTfastrak busway By David Krechevsky davidk@hartfordbusiness.com B efore moving to Washington D.C., Acting Federal Transit Authority (FTA) Commissioner Veronica Vanterpool spent her entire life in New York. But she says she has a strong connection to Connecticut, and espe- cially to the state's bus rapid transit system, CTfastrak. Vanterpool visited New Britain and joined state officials earlier this month to ride a CTfastrak bus to Hartford and back, and to learn about related transit-oriented development as the state marked the system's ninth anniversary. When it began operations on March 28, 2015, the CTfastrak busway was controversial because of its cost — $570 million to construct, of which $113 million was financed by the state. Vanterpool acknowledged that it took a lot of advocacy to get the busway up and running. "I used to run an advocacy organi- zation from 2007 to 2017 that pushed really hard for CTfastrak," Vanterpool said. "We were based in Manhattan, but our region was New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. … So seeing this project come to fruition, … it's incredibly impressive." She added, "We know that when you make that investment in transit, the ROI is significant." For Connecticut, that return on investment is somewhat difficult to determine. While CT Transit officials will happily tell you that more than $550 million in related transit-oriented development projects are planned, under construction or completed along the bus route, they say they are unable to provide figures for how much it costs to operate CTfastrak, or how much revenue it generates. According to Lisa Rivers, admin- istrator for the CTDOT Office of Transit, Rideshare and Ferries, providing those figures for CTfastrak isn't possible because its numbers are not broken out from the state's overall bus operations. CTfastrak has 10 stations along its dedicated route, including three New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart (second from left) discusses transit-oriented development projects with Acting FTA Commissioner Veronica Vanterpool (right), while visiting a CTfastrak station. HBJ PHOTO | DAVID KRECHEVSKY An electric CTfastrak bus sits in a New Britain station. HBJ PHOTO | DAVID KRECHEVSKY in New Britain. It stretches across communities including Waterbury, Cheshire, Southington, Bristol, Plain- ville, New Britain, Newington, West Hartford, Hartford and Manchester. For the Hardware City, the invest- ment in development related to the busway totals $235 million so far, according to Jack Benjamin, New Britain's director of planning and development. Benjamin said New Britain has "about 700-plus (housing) units coming online in the next 18 to 24 months that are true, walkable, transit-oriented development within a half-mile walk of the Fastrak station." He added that 75% of those are market-rate units, while 25% are affordable. Two of the projects include The Highrailer, which will have 114 units with "a few set aside for low to moderate income," and The Brit, which will have 107 "entirely market- rate units," Benjamin said. Mayor Erin Stewart said the instal- lation of CTfastrak in New Britain was the impetus for the city to repair and upgrade the Beehive Bridge, as well as to rework its sidewalks, add a roundabout, and develop a TOD overlay zoning district to encourage more development. "A lot of it comes just from plan- ning, coordination and relationships," she said. CT Transit officials say they expect busway ridership to benefit from the transit-oriented developments along its route. Monthly ridership in the past two years ranged from a high of 243,265 in August 2023, to a low of 193,300 in December 2023. Since its inception through June 2024, CTfastrak has had over 26.5 million total passenger trips, officials said, with an average fare of 95 cents, which reflects various discounts available for the typical $1.75 fair. Rivers said ridership is down about 20% since the pandemic, which reflects the change to more people working from home. State officials also thanked Vanter- pool for the FTA's recent $38.9 million grant to help fully convert CTfastrak to an all-electric bus fleet. The new federal money will go toward purchasing 46 battery electric buses and installing 29 new chargers for the CTfastrak bus service. The new funding makes up almost half of the $86.6 million project, with state money and other federal funds also included in the total.

• Cover