The 212 by itself will not take you to the Hamden Shopping Plaza on Dixwell. You could, however, board the 212 bus and stay on as it reaches its last station Downtown. The bus should continue on as 238, which will take you to the Hamden Shopping Plaza. Alternatively, you can walk to Chapel St / Church St and just board the 238 there.

Download the transit app for better and clearer instructions for the bus. The bus is free till March 31, 2023 (for now).

Make sure the 238 is actually going to hamden plaza. At some point they all actually do but some go a long, round about way, either via circular Ave or benham st, which takes longer. 90% of the 238 buses go straight to hamden plaza, but as a bus driver myself, most of the people who are not familiar with the bus system seem to get on the few that don’t normally go straight there. And for the. And for the most part all 212 buses continue on to a 238, but if they don’t the driver will say so once downtown. And the 238 of very frequent so it won’t be long u til the next one comes.
*edited typos

Sorry if this is late. I have found that Google maps offers the best advice for local buses. You can input your departure or arrival time/date and it will tell you what his to take. Will also tell you if it is running late.

I find the CT transit schedules to be confusing, since many of the bus lines have multiple variations.

Thank you for the insight! I appreciate it!

Thank you!

>Thank you!

You're welcome!

Thank you! Might have to ditch Apple Maps for google maps.

There's a phone app simply called Transit, already mentioned by ankly98, that's designed just to give you bus and train and other mass transit info. I find it a lot more convenient than using a general purpose mapping app when I simply want the damn bus schedule and not the other stuff Apple and Google put in my way to get there. It's free to use though some of the extended features require a paid subscription.

https://transitapp.com

Happily, it does recognize and show you all the invisible "transfers" where buses change route numbers while you're sitting in them, like the 212 to 238.

Thank you! The Transit App is very helpful.

Update: In case any one is interested, I successfully made my trips to and from Hamden. Thanks for all the help, as a Midwest transplant in the northeast, I am certainly not familiar with using public transit 😅 but look forward to utilizing this system more!

And I just now saw this announcement:

https://portal.ct.gov/DOT/CTDOT-Press-Releases/2023/Transit-Royale-Upgrade

CT is now picking up the tab for us to use the paid tier of the Transit app for a year, which makes it even better.

You are very welcome. Any other bus questions feel free to ask or pm. I’ve been a New Haven city bus driver for 5 years. So I know the system very well

Download the Moovit app for future bus route trips

It lets you know in real time when they arrive etc

You can plan out any trips from your location to destination at anytime

It also lets you click on depart and arrive times of your destinations

Yeah the 238c goes down circular. Sometimes. Why isn't that consistent? Figured the c would be for the alternate route but sometimes the driver just takes the c all the way to the plaza.

It’s usually during rush hour and commuter times. It’s also for the kids that go to sacred heart academy. Though not many actually use the bus. More used to but don’t anymore. But it’s so rare they cut a route that it just stays.

How can one tell what route a bus transfers into once it gets to the green? I can find schedules online, but none of them tell me transfers/when to stay on the bus for a new route.

Normally once the driver opens the door at the green, the automated announcement will say what route it is. (Unless it’s not working) The paper schedule on the bus will also say it on the time table. And most drivers will tell you when you board if you ask. Some can be jerks though and ignore you. But if you get me ( white girl with glasses, piercings and grey hair) I’m super sweet and will definitely help you out!

Thank you for the response!