Our last SRTA route in Fall River is the other way of getting to Walmart, the 10. I’m pleased to report that it’s not as stupid as the 6, although to be fair, that’s not saying much.
The squat little bus at the terminal.
We looped around onto Rodman Street, which had a few blocks of houses, but there were a ton of suburban businesses at the intersection with Plymouth Ave, including a Stop & Shop. Past there, it went back to being residential, but some retail did come up in between the houses. We were mere blocks from the SRTA’s Fall River garage as we crossed Brayton Ave, and south of there, the houses felt more suburban. Eventually, we turned onto the narrow Kennedy Street, using it to get onto Jefferson Street. This led us back up north to the Walmart.
The picture I took at Walmart was horrible, so here’s a side street just south of it.
SRTA Route: FR 10 (Rodman Street)
Ridership: This route gets around 230 people per day, which is on the low side. I imagine that Walmart is the biggest draw here – it definitely was for my ride.
Pros: Unlike the 6, the 10 does serve actual neighborhoods on its way to Walmart. It’s hourly, weekdays and Saturdays, which makes sense for the ridership. Plus, like I mentioned in my 6 review, service is coordinated between the two routes to be every half hour (not necessarily in practice, but the inconsistency isn’t the 10’s fault).
Cons: This route’s problems are the complete opposite of the 6’s: the 6 is given too much time in the schedule, the 10 is not given enough time; the 6 doesn’t serve much because a lot of the route is industrial, the 10 doesn’t serve much because a lot of the route is suburban housing that, at least on my ride, didn’t generate ridership; the 6 spends too much time duplicating other routes, the 10 spends too much time doing its own thing (i.e. the route is just a long, skinny, and indirect U).
Nearby and Noteworthy: Walmahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhht.
Final Verdict: 3/10
Well, serving residential neighborhoods in a U is better than just duplicating other routes and serving industrial wasteland. The 10’s lateness problem is probably better than the 6’s earliness problem overall, although I’d rather the schedule just be accurate. Neither of these routes are particularly good, but of the two, I guess the 10 is slightly better.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates