Introducing Fare Simplification and New Convenience Fares at Connecticut Transit

On June 28, 1998, the New Fare Deal was implemented in Connecticut, designed to make fare payment simpler and more convenient for customers. The program applied to three divisions of Connecticut Transit (CTTRANSIT) in Hartford, New Haven, and Stamford, as well as to other state-contracted transit services in Waterbury, New Britain, Bristol, Meriden, and Wallingford. The changes include elimination of local fare zones and the introduction of new convenience fares including 1- and 7-day passes. The fare changes were implemented in response to recommendations developed in a major market research study for CTTRANSIT, reported on in 1996, to encourage ridership in CTTRANSIT’s fastestgrowing market for suburb-to-suburb travel, to respond to the welfare-towork initiative, and to utilize more fully the features of the Ticket Reading and Issuing Machine (TRIM) equipment installed in 1995. Reviewed in this paper are what changes were implemented, why the changes were implemented, and what results have occurred to date. Detailed beforeand-after ridership data are not available. However, during the first 6 months following fare simplification, passenger revenue exceeded budget by about 3 percent (or almost $300,000), demonstrating that the anticipated revenue loss did not materialize. New convenience fare media have proved to be very popular.