Fairfield County is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is the most populous county in the state and was also its fastest-growing from 2010 to 2020. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 957,419, representing 26.6% of Connecticut's overall population. The closest to the center of the New York metropolitan area, the county contains four of the state's top 7 largest cities—Bridgeport (1st), Stamford (2nd), Norwalk (6th), and Danbury (7th)—whose combined population of 433,368 is nearly half the county's total population.
Norwalk is a city located in Western Connecticut, United States, in southern Fairfield County, on the northern shore of the Long Island Sound. Norwalk lies within both the New York metropolitan area and the Bridgeport metropolitan area.
The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) is a state-operated mass transit administration in Maryland, and is part of the Maryland Department of Transportation. The MTA operates a comprehensive transit system throughout the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area. There are 80 bus lines serving the Baltimore Metropolitan Area, along with rail services that include the Light Rail, Metro Subway, and MARC Train. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 52,922,000, or about 219,600 per weekday as of the second quarter of 2024.
The New Haven Line is a 72.7 mi (117.0 km) commuter rail line operated by the Metro-North Railroad in the U.S. states of New York and Connecticut. Running from New Haven, Connecticut, to New York City, the New Haven Line joins the Harlem Line in Mount Vernon, New York, and continues south to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. The New Haven Line carries 125,000 passengers every weekday and 39 million passengers a year. The busiest intermediate station is Stamford, with 8.4 million passengers, or 21% of the line's ridership.
CT Transit is a public transportation bus system serving many metropolitan areas and their surrounding suburbs in the state of Connecticut. CT Transit is a division of the Connecticut Department of Transportation, although it contracts a number of private companies for most of its operations. CT Transit began operations in 1976 as Connecticut Transit after the Connecticut DOT's acquisition of the Connecticut Company. Initially serving only the Hartford, New Haven, and Stamford areas, CT Transit's service now extends throughout much of Connecticut. CT Transit provides local "city bus" service in Bristol, Hartford, Meriden, New Britain, New Haven, Stamford, Wallingford and Waterbury in addition to a number of express routes connecting to outlying suburbs and other regions of the state.
South Norwalk station is a commuter rail station in Norwalk, Connecticut, served by the Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line. It is owned and managed by the Norwalk Transit District. The station is the point where the New Haven Line's Danbury Branch connects to the Northeast Corridor, as well as a peak-hour terminal for some express trains. Just east of the station are the South Norwalk Railroad Bridge and SoNo Switch Tower Museum.
Housatonic Area Regional Transit, known popularly as HARTransit, is the provider of public transportation for Danbury, Connecticut and surrounding communities. HARTransit was founded in 1972 as the Danbury-Bethel Transit District by the two municipalities. The name was changed to Housatonic Area Regional Transit in 1979 after the addition of other municipal members. The agency receives funding from municipal contracts, the Connecticut Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration and the New York State Department of Transportation. Prior to HARTransit's establishment, Danbury had gone without transit service since 1967 when the privately owned ABC Bus Company which had replaced the Candlewood Bus Company a few months before, ceased operations. The first local bus transit operator in the area, Danbury Power & Transportation Company, operated bus services in Danbury and Bethel from 1926 to 1965. HARTransit provides service to a greater number of towns than its predecessors.
Stamford-Bridgeport-Norwalk is a metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Connecticut. The area is located in Southwestern Connecticut. In its most conservative form, the area consists of the City of Bridgeport and five surrounding towns—Easton, Fairfield, Monroe, Stratford, and Trumbull. This definition of the Stamford area has a population of more than 305,000 and is within the Stamford -Bridgeport-Norwalk-Danbury metropolitan statistical area, which consists of all of Fairfield County, Connecticut. The estimated 2015 county population was 948,053. The area is numbered as part of the New York-Newark Combined Statistical Area NY-NJ-CT-PA by the United States Census Bureau.
East Norwalk is a neighborhood of Norwalk, Connecticut, located mostly in Norwalk's third taxing district with segments of its northernmost area within the first and fifth taxing districts. As one of the earliest settlements of Norwalk, it was so marked with a block of 'suitably inscribed' 'native granite' formally located on the corner of Fitch Street and East Avenue.
The Connecticut Company was the primary electric street railway company in the U.S. state of Connecticut, operating both city and rural trolleys and freight service. It was controlled by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, which also controlled most steam railroads in the state. After 1936, when one of its major leases was dissolved, it continued operating streetcars and, increasingly, buses in certain Connecticut cities until 1976, when its assets were purchased by the state government.
CT New Haven is the second largest division of Connecticut Transit, providing service on 24 routes in 19 towns within the Greater New Haven and Lower Naugatuck River Valley areas, with connections to other CT Transit routes in Waterbury and Meriden, as well as connections to systems in Milford and Bridgeport at the Connecticut Post Mall.
CT Transit Stamford is the division of CT Transit for the Stamford, Connecticut metropolitan area. It provides service on 20 bus routes in Stamford and nearby towns and cities. All routes originate from the Stamford Transportation Center, in Downtown Stamford, and connect to other neighborhoods in Stamford, as well as Greenwich, Darien, Norwalk, as well as Port Chester and White Plains in New York state. CT Transit Stamford's service area overlaps that of the Norwalk Transit District, HARTransit's Route 7 Link in Norwalk, Greater Bridgeport Transit's Coastal Link, and the Bee Line Bus in Port Chester and White Plains.
Arcata and Mad River Transit System (AMRTS) is a fixed-route bus service for Arcata, California. The service is funded by California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt and offers free rides to students. Because of this relationship, Arcata has relatively reliable transit service for a city its size.
Greater Bridgeport Transit (GBT) is a transit service serving the Greater Bridgeport region of the U.S. state of Connecticut. Greater Bridgeport Transit was established in 1971 in anticipation of diminished bus service by the Connecticut Company, which officially ceased operations in Bridgeport in 1972. GBT provides local bus service to the cities/towns of Bridgeport, Trumbull, Stratford, Milford, Fairfield, Westport, Shelton, and Monroe. The fleet is composed of mainly New Flyer Xcelsior and New Flyer Low Floor, as well as Gillig Low Floor and two Proterra Catalyst BE40 models.
Milford Transit District is the primary provider of mass transportation in Milford, Connecticut, United States. Four routes are provided by the agency, which operate Monday-Saturday. No bus service is provided on the local routes Sundays or federal holidays.
Estuary Transit District, doing business as River Valley Transit, is the public transit provider for the Lower Connecticut River Valley region. ETD provides bus service in the municipalities of Chester, Clinton, Durham, Deep River, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Killingworth, Haddam, Lyme, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Portland, Westbrook, Middlefield, Middletown, and Madison. It was formed in 2022 by the merger of the Estuary Transit District and Middletown Area Transit.
Connecticut Railway and Lighting Company was a streetcar and bus transit operator serving the region around Bridgeport, Norwalk, Derby, New Britain and Waterbury, Connecticut. It was formed in 1901 by United Gas Improvement Company of Philadelphia to manage the streetcar operations of the Connecticut Light and Power Company, which at the time included Central Railway and Electric Company, Norwalk Street Railway, and the Waterbury Traction Company. The newly formed Connecticut Railway and Lighting acquired Bridgeport Traction Company, Derby Street Railway, Milford Street Railway, Shelton Street Railway, Meriden, Southington and Compounce Tramway Company, and the Cheshire Street Railway. Connecticut Railway and Lighting was leased to the Consolidated Railway and in turn the Connecticut Company between 1906 and 1936. Streetcar operations were discontinued in 1937 when all lines were converted to bus. Transit operations continued until 1972, when all remaining bus operations were suspended and taken over by Connecticut Transit, except in Bridgeport- by the Greater Bridgeport Transit District in 1975.
