Connecticut Transit New Haven


Connecticut Transit New Haven is the second largest division of Connecticut Transit, providing service on 24 routes in 19 towns within the Greater New Haven and Lower Naugatuck River Valley areas, with connections to other CT Transit routes in Waterbury and Meriden, as well as connections to systems in Milford and Bridgeport at the Connecticut Post Mall.
Since 1979, the Hartford, New Haven, and Stamford divisions of CT Transit have been operated by First Transit. Service is operated seven days a week on 24 routes.

Routes

Regular routes

All routes below originate from the New Haven Green. Through service is provided between routes with the same letter. In October 2017, CTtransit New Haven transitioned their routes from letters to numbers, and are now identified as routes 201-299.
RouteRoute nameTerminusNeighborhoods/towns servedNotes
USSUnion StationUnion StationUSS: Union Station Free ShuttleDowntown New Haven
  • This is a free shuttle connecting Union Station with the New Haven Green and the Temple Street Garage, and a surface lot at the former Coliseum site.
201Madison201 : Madison via US 1New Haven, East Haven, Branford, Guilford, Madison
  • Connects to Route 204 at Branford Green.
  • Connects to 9-Town Transit at the Scranton Gazebo in Madison.
  • No service on Sunday.
    • 204East Haven204 : Branford Green204 : Walmart
    204M : Momauguin    		Wooster Square, Annex, East Haven, Branford
    • Connects to Route 201 at Branford Green.
    • Night and Sunday service to East Haven Center is provided by Route 206E.
    • Provides through-route service to Route 254 or Route 255.
    206East Chapel St206 : Tweed NH Airport-Lighthouse Rd206E : Tweed NH Airport-East Haven Center
    206F : Ferry St    		Fair Haven, Fair Haven Heights, Annex, East Shore
    • Night and Sunday service to East Haven Center is provided by Route 206E.
    • Provides through-route service to Route 237.
    212Grand Ave212 : Ferry St212B : Bella Vista
    212F : Bella Vista-Walmart -Foxon Rd
    212F : Bella Vista-Foxon Rd-North Branford
    212U : Bella Vista-Walmart-Universal Dr
    212U : Universal Dr-North Haven Center
    212UX : UNIVERSAL DR via I-91
    212W : Bella Vista-Walmart     		Fair Haven, Fair Haven Heights
    • Route 212F to North Branford operates weekdays only.
    • Provides through-route service to Route 238.
    213North Branford213X : North Branford Center via Maple & Carol213X : North Branford Center via Foxon RdQuinnipiac Meadows, East Haven, North Branford
    215North Haven/Meriden215 : North Haven Center via Grand Ave
    215X : North Haven Center via I-91
    215M : Meriden TC via Grand Ave
    215MX : Meriden TC via I-91
    215W : Wallingford via Grand Ave
    215WX : Wallingford via I-91
    215X: Amazon    		Fair Haven Heights, Quinnipiac Meadows, North Haven, Wallingford, Meriden
    • Route 215M connects to the new CTrail Hartford Line, Route 919 Express to Hartford, Meriden Routes 561, 563, 564, 565 & 566, and the M-Link to Middletown at the Meriden Transit Center.
    • Routes 215M & 215W connect to Wallingford Routes 291 & 292 at Wallingford Green.
    • Service to Universal Dr. in North Haven is operated by Route 212U.
    223Lombard St223 : Clinton Park223W : Walmart East Rock, Fair Haven
    • Provides through-route service to Route 246.
    224State St224 : State & Ridge224D : Devine St
    224N : Northside    		East Rock, Hamden, North Haven
    • Route 224D Connects to the 950-Hartford Express at the Devine Prk & Ride.
    • Provides through-route service to Route 268.
    228Whitney Ave228 Davis St228C : Centerville
    228C : Centerville via Hamden Hills & Hamden Plaza
    228C : Centerville-Cheshire
    228H : Hamden Plaza via Skiff St    		East Rock, Prospect Hill, Hamden, Cheshire
    • Route 228C also provides part-time service to Quinnipiac University.
    • Provides through-route service to Route 271.
    229Waterbury229 Waterbury via Whitney Ave229X : Waterbury via I-91East Rock, Prospect Hill, Hamden, Cheshire, Waterbury
    • Connects to the CTtransit Waterbury routes and Route 925 express to Hartford at the Exchange Place on West Main St.
    • Provides through-route service to Routes 271 or 272.
    234Winchester Ave234 : Millrock Rd234P : Davenport Apts
    234P : Davenport Apts-Putnam Place    		Prospect Hill, Newhallville, Hamden
    • Possibly getting combined with another route in October 2017.
    • Provides through-route service to Route 261.
    237Shelton Ave237 : Marlboro St237P : Marlboro St-Putnam Place
    237P : Marlboro St-Pine Rock
    237B: Marlboro St-Brookside    		Dixwell, Newhallville
    • Route 237P route replaced the old O6 route to Pine Rock Road on January 6, 2013.
    • Provides through-route service to Route 206.
    238Dixwell Ave238 : Hamden Plaza238C : Hamden Plaza-Hamden Hills-Centerville
    238C : Hamden Plaza-Centerville
    238C : Hamden Plaza-Hamden Hills-Centerville via Circular Av
    238C: Hamden Plaza-Centerville via Circular Av
    238P : Putnam Place    		Dixwell, Newhallville, Hamden
    • No service to Centerville on Saturday, limited service to Centerville on Sunday.
    • Provides through-route service to Route 212.
    241Goffe St241 : West Hills246A : EDGEWOOD AVE-Amity Rd/West Hills via West Chapel St Dixwell, Beaver Hills, West Rock, Amity
    • Provides through-route service to Route 274.
    243Whalley Ave243A : Amity Rd-Amity Shopping Ctr243A : Amity Rd-JCC
    243A : Amity Road-JCC-Seymour
    243B : SCSU-Brookside    		Westville, West Rock, Amity, Woodbridge
    • AM trips to Seymour continue to New Haven via Route 255.
    • PM trips operate via Route 255 to Seymour, then continue to New Haven via Route 243.
    • Provides through-route service to Route 265.
    246Edgewood Ave246 : Fountain St246A : Amity Rd
    246A : Amity Rd/West Hills via West Chapel St     		Dwight, Edgewood, Westville, Amity
    • Provides through-route service to Route 223.
    25West Chapel St254 : Ella Grasso Blvd246A : EDGEWOOD AVE-Amity Rd/West Hills via West Chapel StDwight, West River
    • Provides through-route service to Route 204.
    255Ansonia-Seymour255 : Ansonia-Seymour via West Chapel St & Derby RR StationDwight, West River, Derby, Shelton, Ansonia, Seymour
  • Connects with Routes 15 & 23 to Bridgeport at the Derby RR Station.
  • Provides through-route service to Route 204.
    • 261
    261x    		Boston Post Rd261 : Westfield CT Post
    261X : CT Post Mall via I-95    		The Hill, West River, West Haven, Orange, Milford
    265Congress Ave265 : West Haven Center265B : Bull Hill Ln/Sawmill Rd
    265B : Bull Hill Ln/Sawmill Rd via Boston Post Rd
    265B : Bull Hill Ln via Boston Post Rd & Union Station
    265R : Oyster River
    265R : Oyster River via Railroad Ave
    265S : Savin Rock    		The Hill, West Haven Center
    • Provides through-route service to Route 243.
    268Washington Ave268 : New Haven Career Campus268C : Veterans Hosp-Coleman & Greta
    268B : Veterans Hosp-Bull Hill Ln
    268C : Long Wharf-Veterans Hosp-Coleman & Greta via Sargent Dr    		The Hill, West Haven
    • Provides through-route service to Route 224.
    271Kimberly Ave271 : Ella Grasso Blvd271M : Milford Green
    271M : Milford Green-CT Post Mall
    271R : Oyster River
    271S : Savin Rock    		The Hill, City Point, West Haven, Woodmont, Milford
    272Union Ave272 : Union Station 268B : CONGRESS AVE-Bull Hill Ln via Boston Post Rd & Union Station
    • Provides through-route service to ROute 228 or Route 229.
    274Sargent Dr274 : Long Wharf274C : City Point
    268C : WASHINGTON AVE-Long Wharf-Veterans Hosp-Coleman & Greta    		Long Wharf
    • Provides through-route service to Route 241.
    278New Haven Commuter ConnectionDowntownDowntown New Haven
  • Service coordinates with Amtrak, Shore Line East, Hartford Line, and MetroNorth Trains.
    • 95020 Hartford Express950 : Hartford ExpressNew Haven, North Haven, Middletown, Wethersfield, Hartford
  • Serves the Devine Park & Ride in North Haven, the Country Club Park & Ride in Middletown, and the Wolcott Hill Park & Ride in Wethersfield.
  • Serves Hartford Union Station.
  • Operated by Arrow Line Acquisition/ Peter Pan Bus Lines.

    • Operation

    On any given day in downtown New Haven, Connecticut you can see pedestrians boarding public buses on all sides of the green -the “Central Park” of New Haven- at all times. At first glance it would appear very positive, with CT Transit buses bringing people from all over to downtown, especially with the rate at which these buses come and go. However, this is a contributing factor to New Haven’s buses being late to stops over fifty percent of the time.
    State Public Transit Administrator Dennis Solensky suggested this structure of routing, which he calls hub and spoke, funnelling people downtown whether they like it or not. The use of the spoke-hub distribution paradigm results in buses sitting in unnecessary traffic in the heart of the city delaying their scheduled stops. Yet the biggest issue behind the timing is the bus routes themselves.
    Bus service guidelines in Connecticut suggest there be no more than four stops per mile on any given route. However CT Transit’s General Transit Feed Specification shows that only two of the twenty-five routes have on average less than four stops per mile with the highest being eleven. Due to the tremendous amount of late buses, bus ridership in New Haven has fallen drastically hurting an already struggling transportation budget. Economic returns from bus routes have ranged from sixty-four percent to two percent of the cost to maintain and this can only mean a further decline and reliability of buses.
    Citizens are furious and demand change but with greater transit problems in the state of Connecticut chances of that are slim. As of now there are no plans to amend this issue even after the addition of GPS monitoring on all buses revealed how bad the situation truly is. With fifty five percent of stops being reached exceeding five minutes past the scheduled time it would seem only right for a new infrastructure in New Haven’s city buses.