42 Community Transportation

The CT Interview

David A. Lee

David A. Lee is the General Manager of Connecticut Tranit (CT TRANSIT). He has been with the company for 24 years, serving as the general manager since 1995. CT TRANSIT is a division of the Connecticut Department of Transportation and operates in six service districts, including Hartford, New Haven, Stamford, Waterbury, New Britan and Bristol and Meridian.

Community Transportation: How would you describe transit across Connecticut? What are the ridership trends, local/state support trends, and how is the system in total viewed, in your opinion, by residents?

David Lee: Transit in Connecticut has fared fairly well compared to other states where the economic downturn has required major fare increases and service cuts. Transit for Connecticut is a statewide coalition of bus operators in partnership with the Connecticut Clean Air Fund, AARP, and other organizations, that has helped to keep transit high on the State’s legislative agenda. Transit is viewed as an essential part of addressing our state’s seriously worsening traffic congestion problems. CT TRANSIT ridership spiked last summer when gas prices peaked, and happily much of that demand has remained stable even as gas prices decline. While bus riders usually score CT TRANSIT good or excellent in customer satisfaction surveys, many residents still do not view public transportation in Connecticut as a statewide system. That view reflects the multiplicity of operators who often have different

fare structures, equipment, route and schedule information, and even bus stop signage.

Community Transportation: You have a unique perspective on specific aspects of public transit provision in Connecticut. How well are the different modes working together and how is the notion of intermodalism impacting your operations and services.

David Lee: It should help to promote intermodalism that the Connecticut DOT’s new commissioner, Joseph Marie, comes from a transit background and has brought into ConnDOT several other key officials with transit backgrounds. Because ConnDOT is the source of funding for virtually all transit and paratransit, as well as commuter rail, the state is certainly in a position to promote more integration among modes. Job access programs, which are partly funded by the Department of Social Services and FTA, have brought together various transit, paratransit, and vanpool operators for common purpose. The Coastal Link bus route is a model of collaboration among the separate state-funded bus transit operators in the corridor between Norwalk and Milford. CT TRANSIT operates several Commuter Connection routes in New Haven and Stamford that coordinate with Metro-North and Shore Line East commuter rail. There is a well-established tradition of inter-connectivity between bus operations throughout the state – for example, between Middletown Transit District and CT TRANSIT’s

Hartford Division or between our Stamford Division buses and the Norwalk Transit District.

Community Transportation: What are some of the most significant challenges to your operations as we move into the new surface transportation reauthorization and how would you like to see these issues addressed in the coming legislation?

David Lee: Reauthorization of the federal transit program is occurring in the midst of an unprecedented national economic crisis. My biggest concern is that the reauthorization could be sidetracked or delayed, leaving the future of the program in limbo as has been the case in previous years. We need to make sure the national discourse appreciates the key role transit plays in environmental protection, energy independence, health care delivery, and economic development.

Community Transportation: As America, and Connecticut, becomes a more regionally focused economy, how is transit responding and how will it respond in the future? And please take into account regions in addition to the New York City region.

David Lee: Connecticut is a small state subdivided among 169 independent towns, with no county or regional government. Local transit services are delivered in a variety of ways. Some transit operations, such as CT TRANSIT, are state-owned, with management reporting directly to ConnDOT. Others are local transit districts reporting to boards appointed by their member towns. Some operate both fixed-route and paratransit services, some operate only one or the other. The 50 miles from New Haven to the New York State border appears as one contiguous urban area, but is served by five different fixed-route bus operations, as well as a commuter railroad. These conditions all present challenges to regionalism in Connecticut.

However, some important regional initiatives are underway. Regional

Community Transportation 43

collaboratives administer jobs access programs and were used to develop funding priorities for the Governor’s service initiative. Coastal Link is a single bus route operated jointly by three different transit districts that connects with CT TRANSIT routes from New Haven at one end and CT TRANSIT routes from Stamford on the other. The Hartford-New Britain Busway, now set to open in 2013, is one leg of a regional network of busways that is a key element of the Capitol Region’s long-range transportation plan.

Community Transportation: What segments of the Connecticut population offer surface transportation operators like CT TRANSIT the biggest and greatest opportunity? Is the system ready to meet growing needs?

David Lee: At CT TRANSIT, we’re focusing on four key rider markets: commuters, students, senior citizens, and non-traditional immigrant groups. We’re working to adapt bus service to changes in the workplace and workforce – work trips that occur outside the traditional nine to five, Monday through Friday schedule; new employment centers developing outside traditional downtowns; offering guaranteed rides for commuter express customers who may have a midday family emergency, etc. We’re working with colleges and universities to offer U-Pass programs for students, paid by student activity fees rather than collecting fares. We’re using travel training and other outreach programs to make transit more accessible to senior citizens who may have no prior experience riding buses. And we’re integrating how to ride the bus materials into ESL (English as a Second Language) programs.

When gas prices peaked in the summer of 2008, some transit systems were overwhelmed by a sudden jump in ridership demand. Fortunately, that was not the case with CT TRANSIT where we’ve managed – barely, in some cases – to keep pace with growing ridership. The transition to an all low-floor bus fleet over the past several years reduced the number of seats in

our system by about 15 percent. To meet future demand growth ConnDOT is currently planning to purchase the first high-capacity articulated buses for the CTTRANSIT fleet.

Community Transportation: In the wake of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, how did Connecticut fare and where do you see this investment making the most dramatic impact on surface mobility?

David Lee: Because of the significant paperwork requirements for ARRA grantees, ConnDOT made what I think was a wise decision to use most of the bus-related stimulus funds for bus replacement in one large procurement that is currently ongoing. In turn, this will free up a considerable amount of formula funding for other high priority capital projects statewide. We are especially interested in the possibility of special funding for environmental projects that could help finance the purchase of hybrid-electric vehicles, stationary fuel cell generators, or to expand solar voltaic arrays at CTTRANSIT facilities.

Community Transportation: Let’s think 10 years or more down the road. How will your CT TRANSIT look in 2020 and what resources will you need to properly serve your passengers and customers in the future? What will be the greatest impediments and how can the transit industry best overcome these challenges?

David Lee: There is such emphasis on green technologies today that I would hope our bus fleet 10 years from now includes many more hybrid and zero-emission fuel cell vehicles, not to mention fuel cell generators, solar arrays, and wind turbines to help power our operating facilities. New communications technologies will change the way street operations are actively managed and provide

customers with accurate next-bus information through a variety of media. Smart card technology will automate fare collection as we move towards becoming a cashless society. The success of bus rapid transit in Hartford will spur the use of ITS technologies to speed buses through congested arterials.

Getting there will require a significant investment in new transit infrastructure and equipment. It will also require investment in human resources. New technologies require new skills in the transit workforce for operations and maintenance. Our industry needs to be proactive in developing the next generation of skilled technicians and to enhance technological expertise throughout the workforce. At the same time, we must remember that technology will never replace the human connection between CTTRANSIT and our customers. The men and women who wear our uniforms and drive our buses, or answer customer service calls, or staff our downtown information booths, or monitor street operations from a CTTRANSIT supervisor vehicle will always represent the face of our company to the riding public. Through programs such as Transit Ambassador and Smart Driver, we are investing in improving problem-solving and customer relations skills among employees who have direct contact with the public we serve.