Students, faculty, and staff at the new Downtown Hartford UConn campus will have an easy way to go from Storrs to Hartford.
The Department of Transportation, UConn, and Gov. Dannel Malloy announced Thursday the first express bus service between the main UConn campus in Storrs and the new campus in Hartford.
“I can actually see and project that this service will grow mightily as these campuses, long-isolated in West Hartford, Storrs, and in Farmington are for the first time in their existence linked in a very practical and low-cost way,” Gov. Malloy said during a press conference on the steps of Union Station in Hartford announcing the new service.
The bus will make additional stops in both directions including the Shoppes at Buckland Hills, a mall in Manchester.
Senior Austin Anderson says that is a benefit all its own for UConn students that do not have cars.
“We’re in the middle of nowhere up there in the woods. It’s beautiful there,” Anderson said. “We have Storrs center there with one grocery store. It’s nice to be able to say I can go to Manchester where there’s multiple restaurants. I can go to Hartford, go to bars with my friends. It’s overall better.”
The bus service is included with UConn student fees. This year a new $20 per semester fee was added for students to have unlimited access to all CTTransit systems, as well as trains on Metro-North, a benefit that specifically took into consideration the needs of UConn students at the Stamford campus.
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The expansion of express bus service between Storrs and Hartford does the same for students in the greater Hartford area.
“To be a great university for all of Connecticut, UConn needs to be accessible to all of Connecticut,” said Scott Jordan, UConn’s Executive Vice President.
Gov. Malloy predicts this kind of bus service will expand access to UConn, leading to making the entire system more marketable.
“It gives us an opportunity to link the campuses,” Malloy said. “I love UConn and we’re very supportive but I think UConn’s proximity to Hartford is a great strength which has long been ignored and so I think making that connection will be quite powerful.”
