The first Monday for the nine-mile-long strip of concrete commonly known as the CTfastrak is in the books, and commuters say they enjoyed the ride.
"I come from Waterbury," said Mike Minutillo, whose commute took him partly on Interstate 84, then onto the new route from New Britain. "It looked great, yeah, it looked great."
Authorities have declined to reveal how many passengers used the service until the automatic counters aboard the buses are verified.
One passenger got on a CTfastrak bus to Hartford at Westfarms Mall by mistake but said she didn't mind.
"It was fast," said Najae Hankerson, who said she'd ride it again on purpose. "It was convenient, very easy."
"That's what we want to hear," said Department of Transportation Commissioner James Redeker, who was meeting passengers at the Flatbush Avenue station in West Hartford.
"And to me, a couple good words will spread the word to other people and we want people to hear enough to give it a try, because I think they're going to like it," Redeker added.
One Newington man who gave it a trial run said he liked it.
"It was good, because no traffic, obviously, so it was a smooth ride," said William Zinkerman.
