Gov. Ned Lamont reiterated his push for free bus fares for veterans and expressed interest in statewide free fares at the Connecticut Mirror’s “In the Room” event on Thursday evening. 

This year, Lamont proposed a total of $3.5 million for free and reduced buses for veterans and K-12 students. If that goes into effect as expected later this year, Connecticut could become the first state to make free bus passes available to veterans for use anywhere in the state. 

On Thursday, Lamont talked to CT Mirror Events Host John Dankosky about his prioritization of veterans this session. 

“Anything I can do for the veterans, it’s an enormous priority for me,” he said. “This is a priority for me and I’d like to get it over the finish line.”

Veterans and advocates have repeatedly gone to the governor and the legislature to stress the importance of cheaper fares. They say that many struggling veterans would benefit from free bus rides — to get transportation to work, to job interviews or to services like food pantries and medical appointments. Cheaper fares can also help veterans interact with other people more, allowing them to get to sports events, recreational activities, flower gardens and social gatherings — things that can also greatly improve a veteran’s mental health.

Lamont went on to talk about the time of the COVID-19 pandemic when the state had free bus fares for all. 

“More people took the bus, less cars, and it just made life a lot more affordable,” he said. 

While the program expired in 2023 after just a year — with Lamont citing pushback from the federal government and an expensive cost — the governor seems willing to revisit the program, starting with veterans’ fees.

When asked to clarify that he wants free buses for all, Lamont laughed. 

“Mamdani likes the idea,” he said, referring to New York City’s mayor Zohran Mamdani, who ran his campaign on a promise of free buses in the city. 

“You guys look around — two-thirds of these buses are two-thirds empty, two-thirds of the time,” Lamont said. “Why aren’t I taking care of people?”

Connecticut’s bus fare legislation, focused on veterans and students, currently sits in the Appropriations Committee’s midterm budget proposal, which awaits negotiation with Lamont’s office, mostly regarding other areas of funding.

On Thursday, Lamont discussed a variety of other issues as well, notably funding for education in the state, which has been a contentious issue. He mentioned that the state, through its fiscal guardrails, has managed to set aside $500 million for “affordability.” Lamont proposed this money to go toward a previous plan for a $200-per-person tax rebate that would hit just before Election Day. Some of the money from this pool could be used to fund education.

“My instinct is, a lot of that is going to go to education,” Lamont said, either to municipalities or to schools directly. 

Lamont also mentioned that he wanted to think more about special education, which takes up 35% of the state’s education budget. He said he wants to look at reforming special education, and to think not only about “how much more money you’re going to give the schools, [but] also how do you put that money to work and make a difference for the kids.”

Hesitant to rely on volatile revenue and capital gains, which he said can be “very short term,” Lamont expects a lot of the $500 million to be used on one-time payments like rebates, but he suggested $100 million to $150 million for schools and “probably a little bit of extra for some of our schools that have really fallen behind… starting right here in Hartford, Connecticut.” 

Lamont also said he still would not support overdose prevention centers, also known as safe drug injection sites, though he’s open-minded. 

Currently, Rhode Island and New York are the only states with these centers, which allow people to bring illegal drugs and use them under the supervision of trained staff equipped with supplies, like Narcan, that can prevent and reverse overdoses. Lamont said he wants to see more evidence and outcomes from these centers before he would support opening one in Connecticut. 

“The good news is, our opioid deaths have gone down dramatically the last few years. We do have harm reduction centers, we do have recovery centers,” Lamont said. “My personal feeling is, one or two states have just started trying to do safe injection sites and I’m a little hesitant about that.”

He said it’s very early in the experimentation process of the centers. Lamont said he’s “not ready to go there yet.”