Newtown Needs

Public Transportation

To the Editor:

It seems like everyone is talking about the high cost of gas and food. In a few more weeks, many of us will need to sit down and take a deep breath before we open the oil bills that are sure to arrive. As things snowball it becomes necessary to take a fresh look at all things that may help us save energy (money).

Alternative ways of commuting are options, but living in Newtown generally means not having access to public transportation. Or does it?

Last year HART did a feasibility study to see if it would make sense to add a bus line between Bridgeport and Danbury, through Newtown. They did propose adding the line which would have express service between Danbury, Exit 10, and then down to Route 111 in Trumbull by way of Route 25 in 2009. This would reinstate a service that was available from the 1920s until the late 1970s. It is certainly a great first step in the right direction, and the people of Newtown and Monroe should be asking their state representatives to support this change ASAP.

I would also like to see HART consider a route that would pass through Fairfield Hills, past Newtown High School, and through Sandy Hook Center as a way to connect the commercial areas of Newtown. It would be a significant benefit for seniors who would be able to easily get between the commercial and municipal areas of town. Students from the high school would not need to have cars to get to local jobs or other areas in town.

Public transportation for Newtown is long overdue and given the cost of gas, quickly becoming a necessity. HART currently services every other local town in the “Danbury Area,” including New Milford and Brewster, N.Y. Why not Newtown, why not now?

Margaret Oliger

196 Brushy Hill Road, Newtown                                       July 7, 2008