Customers of Connecticut Transit now have a fleet of new state-of-the-art hybrid electric and articulated buses to ride on. Twenty-five NOVA 60-foot articulated diesel buses recently debuted as part of the CTTransit fleet, the first articulated buses in the state. Currently, 13 buses are in use in Stamford and 12 in Greater New Haven. The Hartford Division will receive 10 more buses by summer. Until now, CTTransit used 40-foot vehicles. The new hybrids cost approximately $560,000, while the articulated vehicles cost more than $600,000. The new buses replace CTTransit’s 15-year-old fleet.
“We thought that a higher capacity 60-foot bus was a great solution,” said CTTransit General Manager David A. Lee. “It means one bus driver can be that much more productive.”
To make room for the new 60-footers, a number of modifications had to be made. A new operations facility had to be built for the New Haven division, while the Stamford facility was redone with new service land and exhaust reels to vent emissions. The Hartford garage also needed modifying. More than 100 maintenance employees and 300 bus operators are currently being trained to operate the buses.
For more, visit www.cttransit.com.