Due to the Herculean efforts of Mary Johnson, Shirley Rice, and Anna Aschenbach, most readers should know by now the basic story of the disgraceful removal of the city bus stops mandated in the deal to bring the Omni Hotel to New Haven. The bus stops, or more precisely the predominantly African American, old and low income people who use them create an  "undesirable ambiance," according to the city¹s contract with the Omni. They must therefore remain out of sight and out of mind of the privileged patrons of the Omni least theirsweet repose be troubled by the awareness  that only a few boats were raised by the much-trumpeted economic boom.

The price of the comfort of the comfortable is paid in the daily inconvenience of hundreds of riders who now have to get themselves to the opposite side of New Haven green to make their connections. For some of the less mobile, and I have talked to them, the removal of the bus stops has  made the difference between visiting a friend in Hamden and having to stay home alone, or even getting to a job in Orange and remaining unemployed. 

This is only one indignity visited on bus riders.  Another is the imposition of obnoxious wrap around ads which create a prison-bus (Schindler's list)  like atmosphere on the inside and constitute a three hundred square foot moving eyesore on the outside. Yes they bring in a few extra bucks of revenue to CT Transit above the usualside panel ads, but at the cost of  driving away potential riders who need an unimpaired view from the window to see their stop coming up. Another indignity is the awareness of a freeshuttle service available to the  largely affluent Yale population in the city.  I have not had the courage to ask my friend Ida Smith, a regularbus
rider, why I, a Yale faculty member can ride the bus for free while she,  a retiree, needs to shell out a buck from her fixed income. I don¹t imagine she is pleased. 

Nor will she be pleased when she sees the new "trolleys" proposed by the mayor for the expressed purpose of "making shopping . . . more fun" for suburbanites and upscale New Haveners. Ida might actually use the  "trolley" particularly if a free transfer is available to the CT transit bus. But shewill reasonably ask why suburbanites and the mayor seem to regard public  transportation as a toy. For her it is an absolutely necessary service.

As downtown New Haven begins to be repopulated, it will become increasingly clear that that the age-old eliance on the automobile as the exclusive transportation option available needs to be radically rethought.  Busses, light rail, possibly, but also bicycling and even walking will need to be seriously examined as viable  transportation options appropriate and greatly preferable to driving under most circumstances. When this occurs,  the bus-stop activists will be seen not as "insane," as one city official described them to me, but as prophets for the environmentally responsible, compassionate, economically just future we should all be trying to build in New Haven. We ignore them at our peril.

Who is John Halle ?

John Halle is an assistant professor in the Department of Music at Yale University, a pianist, a composer, and an author of articles on music and politics. He has lived with his wife, Marka, a professional violinist, at their home on Eld St. since 1997.

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