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Vermont...a sparsely populated state but with fairly good bus agencies


DS4Ever

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I yesterday was analyzing the bus agencies of Vermont and i was surprised to see that the bus companies up there are fairly good coordinated and with an astonishing bargain fare

 

For starters i would speak thyfar for southern Vermont. ..from Rutland which is the 3rd largest city of Vermont and principal city of southern Vermont. ..this urban area has an extensive bus network especially which i would say the second longest one way ride pole to pole, ,.yes a bus runs between Rutland and Ludlow Okemo (here is a checkpoint to transfer to another bus to continue your trip to Bellows Falls which is part of the Brattleboro network area

 

For Rutland and surrounding area the agency name is Marble Valley Regional Transit District. (MVRTD) and the Brattleboro area as Connecticut River Transit (not to be confused with the powerhouse bus agency of the constitutional state)

 

A fare between Rutland and Bellows Falls is of $2.00 (running a distance similar to the SCT s62 bus) and another $2.00 is payed to continue to Brattleboro center from Bellows Falls

 

Now here's where i'm a little sceptical. ..Brattleboro and Greenfield, MA are nearly at the SAME distance as Brattleboro is to Bellows Falls. ..yet it scarce a bus running from Brattleboro and Greenfield

 

The problem is that in between these two points one must just take by logic a Peter Pan Bus for an expensive fare of $12.50.(which is more than 6 times the fare of the Brattleboro- Bellows Falls route)...is an abusive fare to pay by retrospective

 

I think either theConnecticut River Transit (The Current) or the FRTA (Franklin Regional Transit Authority) should have a bus route run at these two points that i might call the GAP since NO bus route pass thoroughly by these points (a route of FRTA terminates near the Vermont border but with no connection to a bus from Vermont whatsoever)

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Vermont is a linking state and one can travel from Springfield to Rutland (hypothetical as of now) for a low price of $ 7.25 by way of the PVTA the FRTA and Vermont's own CR Transit and auxiliary MVRTD

 

$7.25 is nearly the same fare from Midtown Manhattan to Waterbury CT that distances at 140 km or 80 miles or a fare comparison between Manhattan and the Hamptons at about 160 km or 100 mi.($7.50 and $8.00 respectively)

 

The problem to fix is to have a route cover that huge GAP. ..prior to 2015 CT Transit had NO bus service between New Haven (or Waterbury) to Hartford and in the past one must've have to take a Peter Pan Bus or Amtrak. ..nowadays the CT-H 928 and the 950 cover these services at a price of $4.30 and $5.15 respectively (if transferring then you must pay the deducted fare of $2.80 and $3.65 also respectively)

 

But like you mentioned these bus agencies are so unknown that the probability of a bus route to fill up this gap is at 5% since FRTA don't want any bus out of Massachusetts and CR Transit out of Vermont (however it does leave the maple state by going to Lebanon and Hinsdale at neighbouring New Hampshire)

 

By far after the powerhouse MBTA and also powerful but less than MBTA ...the PVTA as well as the neighbouring CT Transit and RIPTA ...all other bus agencies are lightly unknown outside its boundaries. ..the BangorSystem is another bus agency not known since Bangor is quite a small city (Unlike Portland that is bigger and must have the most powerful bus company of all of Maine)

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Ohhh cool. ..so in Bangor the GM new Fish Bowls still circulate since they're far out of the 30 year limit (1983)

 

I guess in the smaller states (by population) the old school buses can still be seen. ..i won't reject that in Vermont old buses are in its fleet or independently owned

 

Also Maine like Vermont is more rural than urban (that is all area outside Portland )

 

Also by far the two states with more rural taste in new England

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Surprising those states don't use cutaways, like those built by Champion.  The smaller TAs in Michigan use those (probably also because it's a Michigan company), with Cummins or Ford diesels.  Those 6.7L engines are pretty efficient, plus you can have a lift and enough for anywhere up to 41 passengers.

 

The old downside of outerbody rust-through has been remedied, pretty much, by more extensive use of fiberglass.  Most sold are still the high-floors, but they've now introduced a low-floor with a unique ramp.

 

Last about the same as regular transit buses (10-12 years) but lower acquisition costs and operating costs for lower-volume areas.

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