Reeti Malhotra, Contributing Photographer

The Jitter Bus, the staple coffee bus usually parked at the corner of Hillhouse Avenue and Grove Street, was burgled on Friday morning. 

According to a post published to the business’ Instagram page, the bus was broken into at approximately 1:30 a.m. at 847 Grand Ave. — the location of the Jitter Bus cafe, where the bus is parked after working hours — and its generator was stolen. The bus’ operations subsequently paused until Monday, while its storefront cafe remained open.

“I [had] arrived at the cafe at around 7:30 a.m. and noticed that the bus was open,” Dan Barletta, one of the co-owners of Jitter Bus, told the News. “At first I figured my business partner [Paul Crosby] had gotten there earlier than me, and was setting up for the day. But then I noticed that the cafe wasn’t open yet, and the back door of the bus was open. So I looked in there and the first thing I noticed was that the generator was gone, and I knew right away somebody had broken in and stolen it.”

Upon discovering the theft, Barletta called and informed the New Haven Police Department of the break-in. An officer responded within 10 to 15 minutes and evaluated the scene, Barletta said. Unable to find fingerprints, the officer took Jitter Bus’ security footage from a nearby camera, which displayed an unidentified man wearing a hood breaking into the bus, Barletta explained.

“There wasn’t really much to go off of, but he took down the information. And he let me know it’s likely they won’t find anything,” Barletta said. “Which makes sense as it’s hard if you don’t really have a full face of the person. So I kind of understood that [they] probably won’t catch the guy unfortunately.”

This is the second instance Jitter Bus has been burgled. A similar incident occurred in July, when three adolescents on bikes broke into the bus and stole petty cash from a tip jar. Due to the minimal damage, Barletta and Crosby chose not to inform the NHPD of the theft and instead internally strengthened their security and locking system.

However, the theft of the Jitterbus’ $4,800 generator was far more consequential.

“It affected our entire operation,” Barletta said. “The generator is the most expensive and vital piece of [equipment]. Thankfully we had business insurance, and had to pay a deductible of about $1,000 — that was the worst of it — when we got the new generator.” 

The Jitter Bus resumed its bus operations on Monday, according to the business’ Instagram stories.

According to New Haven’s crime summary CompStat numbers published by the city at the end of 2024, larceny from vehicles is up 10.8 percent city-wide from 2023, with 770 reported incidents compared to 695 reported incidents the year prior. 

NHPD Officer Christian Bruckhart said that specific thefts — of construction equipment, tools or even generators — are generally attractive for larceny crimes, with items stolen for personal use or resale.

“Once upon a time, maybe pawn shops would be the repository for a lot of [these] stolen goods. Now, sometimes [they] get sold on Facebook Marketplace or OfferUp,” Bruckhart said.

Barletta, as of Tuesday, also shared that he had not heard back from the NHPD regarding any leads associated with the burglary.

“We’re glad we were able to get back up and running so quickly. We felt a lot of love from our community [as well],” Barletta said. “It’s an unfortunate thing, and I hate to say it but it’s bound to happen again. I would urge other businesses to really make sure that their security systems are up to date. Look for any flaws. I thought we were safe enough, but you can never be too safe.” 

The Jitter Bus opened in 2016.

Ariela Lopez contributed reporting.