Planners, policymakers and elected officials convened at the Connecticut Department of Transportation in Newington on Tuesday for a tour of the CTfastrak bus rapid transit system. The tour, organized by TSTC and led by ConnDOT’s Maureen Lawrence and Mike Sanders, was attended by about two dozen transportation and policy professionals from Rockland and Suffolk Counties, the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, the Town of Babylon, NY and MTA New York City Transit. There were also staff members in attendance from the New York City Department of Transportation who are working on the much-anticipated Woodhaven Boulevard BRT line. New York State officials leading the Tappan Zee Bridge BRT initiative, as well as mayors from Nyack and White Plains, New York also joined the tour.

CTfastrak, unlike New York City’s Select Bus Service, is considered true BRT — that is, it meets all of the essential elements that define bus rapid transit — and may be the most feature-rich BRT system in the nation. When planners in the tri-state area want first-hand experience of subways or bike share, they go to New York City, and when they want to see light rail they go to New Jersey. Today, however, if you want to see bus rapid transit, Metro Hartford is the place to go.

Here are a few photos from yesterday’s tour: