Norwalk Transit District

Norwalk Transit District Gillig Advantage #167 at the WHEELS Pulse Point, on Route 13.
Founded	1978
Headquarters	275 Wilson Avenue Norwalk, CT 06854
Locale	Southwestern Connecticut
Service area	Norwalk, Danbury, Westport, Greenwich, and nearby communities
Service type	Local bus service
Routes	Norwalk: 18 Westport: 9 Greenwich: 2 Route 7 link to Danbury Coastal Link to Milford
Hubs	Norwalk WHEELS hub (for Norwalk routes)
Fleet	56[1]
Daily ridership	2005: 6,299 (weekday); 2,927 (Saturday); 523 (Sunday) [1]
Operator	Norwalk Transit District
Chief executive	Louis Schulman (general manager)
Web site	Official Website

Not to be confused with Norwalk Transit (California), an unrelated transit agency.

The Norwalk Transit District is the primary provider of public transportation services in Norwalk, Connecticut and surrounding communities. The district's fixed-route bus transit system, known as WHEELS, is the primary service of the system linking Norwalk and its immediate suburbs as well as peak-hour service as far north as Danbury (with HART) and as far east as Bridgeport (with GBTA) as well as shuttles to Metro-North stations. Paratransit services are also available for residents in the service area unable to use regular transit services.

The city of Norwalk founded the Norwalk Transit District in 1978, seven years after The Connecticut Company ceased operations in Norwalk outside of their route linking Norwalk to Stamford (which continues as Connecticut Transit Stamford Route 41). Though an entity of its city, the district does also receive funding from the Connecticut Department of Transportation and has both its funds and transfers synched to those of the DOT-aligned CT Transit though it has not piggybacked onto that agency's bus orders.

Routes

WHEELS operates fixed routes throughout its service area. A "pulse-point" system is used with all routes meeting at the "WHEELS Hub" in downtown Norwalk to facilitate instant transfers between routes plus CT Transit Route 41 (though passengers on WHEELS routes 11 and 13 can transfer earlier/later during their shared area on U.S. Route 1). Fares as of 2006 are $1.25 (US) with a free transfer which can be used on WHEELS, CT Transit, HART, GBTA, or Milford Transit.

WHEELS Services

• 13 fixed route services, all in the city limits of Norwalk, which run as bidirectional loops from the transit hub, starting at approximately 5:30 am and ending at 7:00 pm weekdays and (most routes) 7:00 am-7:00 pm weekends.
  • Regular Routes
    • Route 1- to Fox Run
    • Route 2- to Broad River
    • Route 3- to Union
    • Route 4- to West Rocks
    • Routes 5/6- to Newtown/Wolfpit
    • Route 7- to Norden Park
    • Route 8- to Shady Beach
    • Route 9- to Woodward
    • Route 10- to Wilson
    • Route 11- to Norwalk Community College
    • Route 12- to McKinley
    • Route 13- to Richards

• 2 "Evening Shuttle" routes which provide extra service alongside Main Street and Connecticut Avenue. These buses also meet arriving and departing trains at Metro-North Railroad's South Norwalk station.
• 2 "Sunday Shuttle" routes which run alongside Main Street and Connecticut Avenue which are similar to the Evening Shuttles.
  • Evening/Sunday Routes
  • Main Ave
  • Connecticut Ave

• 3 regional routes
  • The Coastal Link, a Daily regional route running to Bridgeport and Milford operated with the GBTA and Milford Transit District and funded by CDOT.
  • The Route 7 Link, a weekday route running between Norwalk and Danbury operated with HART and funded by CDOT.
  • Connecticut Transit Route 41, a weekday route running between Norwalk and Stamford operated with Connecticut Transit Stamford and funded by CDOT.

• 6 commuter shuttle routes
  • Norwalk Hospital/Belden Avenue
  • Merritt 7/Glover Avenue
  • Westport Road/Wilton
  • Maritime Garage
  • NCC/ ct ave

Outside Norwalk, WHEELS offers several variable services including:

• Routes serving the town of Westport (Route 1- Downtown/Post Road West)
• Westport commuter service (Route G1- Coleytown to Green Farms Station, Route G2- Long Lots to Green Farms Station, Route S2- Old Hill to Saugatauck Station, Route S3- Riverside to Saugatauck Station, Route S4- Post Rd to Saugatauck Station)
• ADA and Paratrasit service for much of Fairfield County
• A commuter shuttle route serving Greenwich (Central Loop)

Fleet

At its inception, the city of Norwalk purchased a fleet of Mercedes-Benz minibuses as a starter fleet; these buses were soon replaced by Scania buses which were built in nearby Orange when it became evident that the minibuses outgrew growing ridership. By the mid-1980s, a fleet of GMC RTS buses was purchased by the NTD in a joint order with GBTA (from whom secondhand RTS's were later acquired). In 1992, most of the earlier buses were replaced with an order from Flxible for their METRO model.

In 2004, the aging WHEELS fleet led NTD to undergo a fleet replacement with an order for Orion Bus Industries's Orion VII being placed to replace all RTS buses and most Flxibles; these buses are the first low-floor buses in the WHEELS fleet. Orion sister Thomas Built Buses also won a contract for their SLF low-floor model which is used sparingly on commuter shuttles. Also used on the CDOT-funded Coastal Link and Route 7 Link services are several New Flyer D40LF buses which came from a statewide order.

Currently, most service in the fleet including most midday and all Saturday service is provided by the Orion VII and Gillig Advantage buses, and New Flyers leased from CT Transit providing service on the Coastal Link.

References

1. ^ NTD Profile for NorwalK Transit District

External links

• Norwalk Transit District Homepage