Well, now that we’ve finished the FRTA, there’s nowhere else to go but west. It’s time to tackle the BRTA, the westernmost RTA in the state, covering a big vertical rectangle of land spanning from Williamstown to Great Barrington. But before we can get to the system spanning lots of towns that neither you nor I have heard of, we have to review its hub, as well as the final Massachusetts Amtrak station to be reviewed on this blog!

Hmm…bad start.

We begin with an underwhelming part of the terminal: the outdoor bus area. It’s a barely-sheltered collection of some of the ugliest, most hostile benches you’ll ever see with numbered berths whose numbers don’t actually mean anything. And in the middle of it all is the road entrance to the station’s parking lot. Not a good start.

Ah, but we’re improving already!

Things take a sharp turn for the better once you take a look at the building. This thing is modern and beautiful – I love the giant BRTA logo plastered on the side. It’s fairly well-integrated with the street next to it, Columbus Ave, as well. There are entrances from there, and a few sets of bike racks give parking for our two-wheeled friends.

And things keep getting better!

The BRTA waiting area is awesome, too: it’s a spacious, airy room with lots of natural light. Interestingly, the seats all come with tables, which probably limits the capacity (who wants to sit at a table with a stranger?) but does give off a homely feel. A screen shows real-time information for BRTA arrivals and departures, while another one next to it displays schedule information for Peter Pan buses (although not Greyhound, boo-hoo). If you’re looking for a more futuristic experience, a computer with an awkward trackball mouse lets you explore a real-time BRTA map, take a survey, and even check the weather. Wowie.

Gotta include the bathroom photo!

And there’s lots more. Tickets for all buses that serve the station are sold at a booth, while BRTA gets an additional machine (one of the fancy RTA ones that prints out CharlieCards, too). I can’t get any information on if it’s still open, but when I was here, there was a cute café – if it is indeed closed, you can still get food from the vending machines. The BRTA customer service window was closed at the time, but luckily the bathrooms were open – the men’s room, at least, was great. Finally, there was a visitors center, but it was…closed. Darn.

We’re getting into the depths of the station now.

As if Pittsfield didn’t need more parking, the Intermodal Center gets an underground lot. I can’t get any detailed information about it online, neither from BRTA nor Amtrak, so I can’t tell you how many spaces there are or how much it costs to park there – at the very least, it offers overnight parking. You can get down here via a staircase or an elevator.

The Amtrak platform.

One more flight down the stairs or elevator and you end up at the Amtrak platform. It has as many amenities as trains per day: benches, and a wheelchair lift. One train in each direction. Not much else to say here – at least you can wait in the BRTA concourse.

No Amtrak trains, but here’s a freight train!

Station: Pittsfield (Amtrak)

Ridership: It’s dawning on me that BRTA is one of those systems that has no public ridership data. Wonderful. Well, this is their hub, so presumably it gets a lot. For Amtrak, the station got 8,270 riders in 2018, or 22 per day – honestly not bad for one train in each direction. Finally, Peter Pan and Greyhound probably add at least a little ridership here.

Pros: Pretty much every aspect of the BRTA building. It has a ton of amenities, and it’s a really pleasant place to wait.

Cons: Pretty much everything outside the BRTA building. The bus boarding area is ugly and functionally inadequate, while the Amtrak platform is super barebones.

Nearby and Noteworthy: Downtown Pittsfield: a place I didn’t get to explore at all. But you’ve got lots of restaurants, lots of businesses, and hey, a movie theater! This theater looks awesome, too.

Final Verdict: 7/10
The building counts for a lot. While both outdoor areas are pretty bad, you could always just wait in the building instead. Overall, this is a good hub for the BRTA, and it was a pleasure to keep coming back to it throughout the day.

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