Cohasset
Cohasset. More Old Colony. Cool.
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| The parking area. |
The high-level platform is completely and totally standard: it’s long, with benches along the whole thing, with a higher concentration under the station’s modern shelter. Some paths lead to the parking lot, which has 410 spaces, including another shelter at which to wait for pickups. There are some bike spaces here, too, while an alternative pedestrian exit goes to East Street.
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| Oof, that’s bright! |
Station: Cohasset
Ridership: Cohasset’s ridership is on par with the rest of the Greenbush Line, getting 391 inbound riders per weekday.
Pros: High level platform, shelter, and parking! Also, a TOD building, which is rare on the Old Colony, so that’s nice to see.
Cons: Inbound trains cause two level crossings to go down when they board, which is annoying.
Nearby and Noteworthy: There’s a rail trail from here that goes into the woods – it seems like a nice walk! Also, this is the Greenbush Line, so of course the station is right next to a golf course.
Final Verdict: 7/10
Yup, Old Colony. These reviews aren’t too interesting, are they? But stay tuned for a HUGE VIDEO REVIEW tomorrow!!!
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
LRTA: 3 (South Lowell)
This is the route I reviewed with Rob Michaelson from NBC! And of course, because we had a big camera, the 3 had to be using a minibus! Being crammed onto a tiny vehicle with a big news camera was interesting, but it was a great experience…too bad the route is fairly uninteresting.
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| Of COURSE it’s a minibus! |
Our minibus left the Kennedy Center and made its way south down Thorndike Street. We went underneath the Lowell Connector, then we did a super sharp turn onto Gorham Street. This took us past the terminus of the Lowell Connector (since we were going north now) and some dense houses and apartments.
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| An apartment behind a small parking lot. |
There were some apartment buildings as we merged onto Veterans Way, and as we turned onto Church Street, we skirted the charming brick buildings of downtown Lowell. We passed a shopping plaza, then we went south again by turning onto Lawrence Street. This was mostly lined with dense houses, save for some retail clustered around Rogers Street.
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| As far as shopping plazas go, this isn’t bad! |
We went by some brick apartments and old factories as the street made an s-curve, and we came up along the Concord River. There were some parks, then we went over the river and past a cemetery. We turned onto Woburn Street at an intersection with a few businesses, but it soon became houses once again. The road crossed over Marginal Brook, and a few seconds later, it went under I-495.
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| Nice view! |
The houses were still dense, but it was starting to feel more suburban. Indeed, we left the city of Lowell, entering Tewksbury – once this happened, the scenery got industrial, with random office parks separated by tracts of forest. We once again entered a new town, Billerica, and the street became Billerica Ave.
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| Some office building. |
We went under a huge set of pylons, and the road was lined with suburban houses after that. Suddenly, along came a huge parking lot, marking our arrival at North Billerica Station. The bus pulled over at the edge of the lot, and we were let out straight into it. Not the best busway in the world…
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| Time for a long layover… |
LRTA Route: 3 (South Lowell)
Ridership: The LRTA doesn’t have publicized ridership data for the 3, which is too bad – we’ll have to judge it based on our trip. We got a total of 8 people, and that’s not awful for a minibus route. That being said, if it was using a full-sized bus (which it often does), it would’ve felt like less.
Pros: The route offers a relatively quick trip from Lowell to North Billerica, clocking in at just 16 minutes. It runs every hour on weekdays, with additional half-hourly (sort of) peak service. On Saturdays, the route is combined with the 4 to form a loop, which makes sense, and it’s one of the LRTA’s better “combination” trips.
Cons: Here’s how to make it even shorter: don’t have it do the weird jog to almost-downtown Lowell! But honestly, the route is so short that it should probably be combined with something longer – the LRTA suggested the 15, but combining it with the 13 would also work. Either way, it would be taking two routes that have excess capacity and putting them together at very little inconvenience to the passengers. Finally, the fares of the 3 really bother me: it costs 50 cents more to leave the city, even though it only takes ten minutes for the thing to leave Lowell! I guess that’s considered “suburban” in the LRTA’s eyes…
Nearby and Noteworthy: There were some local businesses along the way, but I’m not sure if any were gems.
Final Verdict: 6/10
Overall, the route is a nice connector from the southeastern parts of Lowell and North Billerica. It has office parks near the end, so there is potential for reverse-commute ridership, but the route is overall under capacity. Combining it with a long-distance route would make sense, and then the hiked fares for leaving the city would feel at least a little more justified. Also, making the route more direct would be a huge help.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
Hello to anyone coming from NBC! I hope you stick around – there’s plenty of great stuff here, and more down the pipeline!
Nantasket Junction
Nantasket Junction. Old Colony. Let’s go.
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| This is about all you need to see. |
It’s a single track, so it’s just one platform. There are benches along the whole thing, but there’s a higher concentration of them (plus wastebaskets) under the shelter. The station has 495 parking spaces for cars and a few bike spaces. It has entrances going both east and west: one to Summer Street, and a pedestrian-only one to Kilby Street.
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| Ahoy! |
Station: Nantasket Junction
Ridership: This station gets very average Greenbush Line ridership: 381 inbound riders per weekday.
Pros: It has all that sweet Old Colony stuff: a high-level platform, shelter, historical information on the signs, multiple entrances, and a big ol’ parking lot.
Cons: There are level crossings on both sides of the station, so no matter what, incoming trains will set one of them off. Also, it’s a little boring, but that’s no surprise.
Nearby and Noteworthy: The South Shore Model Railway Club and Museum left flyers on every car here advertising their open house…but they’re way closer to West Hingham! Oh well…yeah, there’s nothing around here.
Final Verdict: 7/10
Yup…it’s what you would expect.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
RIPTA: URI Services (211 Ram Line, 69 Hill Climber, & 70 Engineering Line)
Time for a gauntlet-style review of all of RIPTA’s URI services! Spoilers: they’re not too useful.
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| Shh…it’s trying to camouflage with the trees! |
A well-timed 66 from the 210 took Sam and I up to Fairgrounds Road. We got off here and walked down to Schneider-Electric, the starting point of the 70. This is the site of temporary lab spaces for engineering students while a new engineering building is being built on campus, so this route may only be temporary. There was also a sign for university parking here, though, so maybe it’ll stick around as a parking shuttle.
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| “70” occupies a whole slide to itself? Come on! |
We headed up Fairgrounds Road, which had some industrial buildings along it. We then turned onto Kingstown Road, going over the Amtrak tracks (and Kingston Station) and passing a few houses. It was forest from there until we entered the URI campus, and we soon turned onto Lower College Road. This led us to Memorial Union, the final stop of the short route.
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| That’s better. |
RIPTA Route: 70 Engineering Line
Ridership: No one on our trip. My guess is that this is a “peaky” route, only getting people when engineering classes start and end.
Pros: It’s a free link to Schneider-Electric, so it’s a necessity for anyone taking an engineering class. It’s a direct route with no frills or deviations, and I like that it leaves right from Memorial Union.
Cons: The route comes “every 20-30 minutes” weekdays only. Okay, you can’t play the headway card when the route is that infrequent! This kind of thing works when a bus is every 15 minutes or less, but “every 20-30 minutes” could mean anything! I guess you could always use URI’s awful tracker, but…ew! Also, of all routes, why is this the one that runs until 8 PM while the others end at 7?
Nearby and Noteworthy: Schneider-Electric, and nothing more!
Final Verdict: 3/10
This is the one URI route that truly goes somewhere, so I’ll give it some credit for that, but the schedule drags it down a lot. When a route is as infrequent as this one, there needs to be a schedule to look at! And I’m not saying it should be more frequent – on the contrary, the route would be much more efficient if it just timed with classes. That would give it a lot of layover time where it’s not doing anything, but it could go onto the 210 during those times.
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| Is there a stop here? |
From Memorial Union, Sam and I walked up to the library to get a 69. We thought we could cut through the building, but…turns out that’s not possible. So we had to go around, but then we couldn’t find a stop, so it took some extra time to locate the sign. Clearly, URI is investing a lot to make sure its students know where the shuttle stops!
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| The bus coming down the narrow, twisty road. |
The driver asked us where we were going. Since the 69 runs in a loop, we said the Pharmacy, which would more or less get us around the whole thing. “That’s right up there,” the driver said. “Oh well, I have nothing better to do than just drive around anyway.” Huh? We went down West Alumni Ave on the regular route, but then we…turned onto Butterfield Road. And headed onto Flagg Road. And turned onto Greenhouse Road. So we completely ignored the route, which isn’t supposed to take Butterfield or Greenhouse. And we only did, like, 10 percent of it. But…I think I’ve learned what I need to know.
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| Okay, bye… |
RIPTA Route: 69 Hill Climber
Ridership: Well…no one on our ride. We saw a bus later that had three people on it.
Pros: This route loops around the north side of campus, serving mostly…parking lots. The route runs every 6-12 minutes weekdays only, which is a big difference in headway, but it’s fine, I guess.
Cons: So…this is basically a taxi service, huh? Tell the driver where you want to go, and he’ll take you there directly? This is furthering my theory that URI should just use an on-demand system. Also, the 69 may serve all these lots, but why is it just a loop around the north side of campus? The whole thing has this useless air to it.
Nearby and Noteworthy: Just…URI stuff. Yeah.
Final Verdict: 1/10
“Oh well, I have nothing better to do than just drive around anyway.” Couldn’t have said it better myself.
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| Finally, the 211! |
I’ll say that the 211 seems to be more useful. It’s way more deviatory than the other two routes we’ve seen, but it actually serves stuff. We began at the Library, and from there, the bus took a left onto Butterfield Road. We were passing lots of dorms and dining halls, and they continued as we turned onto Campus Ave. However, then we turned onto Fraternity Circle, and…of course URI has a whole circle dedicated to frats.
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| A curvy road. |
We did a deviation to the Kearney Road parking lot and the Ryan Athletic Center before returning to Fraternity Circle. We came back up to Memorial Union, and this is where Sam and I got off to catch a 62 to Providence. From here, the bus goes by some more dorms before returning to Alumni Ave.
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| See ya! |
RIPTA Route: 211 Ram Line
Ridership: Okay, okay, this one actually got 5 people, so it’s not awful!
Pros: This makes more sense as a college shuttle. It connects dorms and frats to Memorial Union, athletic facilities, and classes. It runs every 8 minutes until 1:30 PM, and then every 15 minutes until 7 PM. I don’t know why that is, but it’s fine.
Cons: So I did the walking test on Google Maps: the two furthest points on the route (Kearney Lot to the Fine Arts Center) are a 15 minute walk away from each other, meaning that if you just miss a bus after 1:30, it’s faster to walk. But the thing is, most people aren’t going between those places – they’re most likely coming from the dorms, which are in the middle of the route. That means that even in the morning when the 211 is more frequent, it’s probably still faster to walk.
Nearby and Noteworthy: Frats, dorms, athletics, classes…
Final Verdict: 2/10
It’s better than the 69 as far as on-campus shuttles go, but I still don’t see much use for the 211. It’s often faster to walk, and the route is twisty and all over the place.
The problem with this system overall is that URI is just a small campus. Does it have much need for a fixed shuttle system, barring the 70 when it’s needed? If a fixed system was kept, I would have Memorial Union be the hub for everything, rather than the current system where the 69 is just running around on its own to the north. Ideally, though, this should be replaced by an enhanced 210 service with an on-demand app that people can use to request a bus. Ridership seems like it’s low overall, and if all these buses were put onto the 210, you would have an efficient system that would serve the needs of everybody. Also, this is such a party school – shouldn’t service run later?
UPDATE 9/1/18: These shuttles have been taken off RIPTA’s hands. They’re now being directly run by URI, so now it’s their problem!
RIPTA: 210 (Kingston Flex)
More Flex action! The 210 serves the URI campus, as well as some of the immediate surroundings, which presumably hold some off-campus student housing. Since our 62 would arrive a little later than the last timepoint stop on the route, though, Sam and I would have to call RIPTA to get the ride…
Unfortunately, this was easier said than done. RIPTA gives two numbers you can call: 1-877-906-FLEX, or 401-784-9700, ext. 200. The extension business seemed like a pain, so we tried the first number. Ringing. Ringing. Nope, doesn’t exist. Alright, extension it is. We dialed 401-784-9700200. Ringing. Ringing. Doesn’t exist. Maybe if we switch the phone we’re using and try the first one again? Nope, didn’t work.
Finally, I tried calling the number sans extension. “Please be advised that our extensions have changed to a four-digit system. Please add a 1 to the beginning of each extension to reach your party.” OKAY, THAT WOULD’VE BEEN NICE TO KNOW BEFORE! Although now that I look online, apparently you’re supposed to put a “pause” (*) to reach the extension, so our first dial wouldn’t have worked anyway – but still, we wouldn’t have known to put a 1 before it! Sorry, this is probably obvious to a lot of you older folks out there, but the younger generation has no idea how to use phones…
The call was positively painless compared to the Middleborough-Taunton Connection, though. All we had to give was our names. Oh, and the EXACT ADDRESS of where we were going. Even though “South County Public Safety Complex” appears right there on the route map, you can’t take the Flex there unless you know the EXACT ADDRESS. Boy, couple that with the extension thing, and the fact that these reservations have to be made a day in advance, and I think we’ve got an uptick in college students taking Ubers on our hands!
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| Coming into Memorial Hall! |
The minibus arrived early at URI, which suited us just fine – less time to wait in the rain. The driver opened the doors and we stepped up to the bus. “Who are you looking for?” the driver yelled out the door. “The 210,” I responded. “I’m Miles.” “Oh, okay,” the driver said. “Step on in!” We got on, and the bus headed out down Lower College Road.
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| Stop! (says the sign) |
“So what’s your story?” the driver asked. “Did you leave your cars down at the police station or something?” “Uhhh…it’s a long story,” we replied. “Oh, that’s okay,” the driver said. “Sorry to get in on your business like that. I hear lots of stories. Where are you guys from?” “Cambridge,” we responded. “Wow!” the driver exclaimed. “You have one HELL of a story!”
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| A woodsy road. |
We entered into a long queue of traffic on Kingstown Road. There were some houses around the university itself, but as the road turned south, there were longer patches of forest. We passed through a section with some suburban businesses and then pulled into the South County Public Safety Complex. That was it!
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| Off to do more Flex-y things. |
RIPTA Route: 210 (Kingston Flex)
Ridership: For a Flex route, the 210 seems to get busy. The driver told us a few stories about riders he’s gotten (including three girls who all broke their legs at a party – classic URI), so that seems to suggest that at least some university students rely on the route.
Pros: I think the Flex Zone is great, covering the university campus and some of the areas around it. It seems to get people, which is…rare for Flex services. It also runs seven days per week, making it even more useful for people living on campus.
Cons: What college student is going to call the route a day in advance to make a trip across campus??? That is absolutely ridiculous, especially with the whole “1 before the extension” thing! The route only makes timepoint stops once every two hours, and it stops running entirely at 5 PM. This is a party school! You’re really only gonna run this thing until 5?
Nearby and Noteworthy: I mean, it’s basically just URI, but that’s all it needs to serve.
Final Verdict: 4/10
It works fine as a Flex route – indeed, it’s one of RIPTA’s better ones. But on a college campus in 2018, no one is willing to call in a day beforehand to ride the bus. The 210 (the other Flexes too, but this one in particular) needs to update to an app-based system. Since the Flex Zone is so small, it could just be an on-demand service whenever students need it. If this change was made, it might make sense for RIPTA to put even more resources into this service, and take some away from the university shuttle system…stay tuned for that.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
GUEST POST: Ashland
Another one from Mike N. – thanks, Mike!
Ashland, Ashland, Ashland. The one interesting thing about this station is that it exists. Yep, this will be a boring one.
Well, the first thing I saw at Ashland was a warning for high speed trains. But that doesn’t make any sense. Almost all of the scheduled MBTA trains stop here, and CSX is only going 20-30 mph anyway. So, why the sign?
Ashland’s inbound platform is pretty basic. There’s one shelter aside from the mini high that has a bench and a schedule under it. Scattered throughout the platform are numerous benches and wastebaskets. The walk from the shelter to the mini high isn’t bad, so that’s a plus.
Ashland’s mini highs are small, with a bench, trashcan, and stairs and ramp to go to the outbound side. The mini highs and stairs are very grimy and the walkway is rusty, so it can be a disgusting wait.
Ashland’s outbound platform is very similar to the inbound side, with a small, dirty mini high, and a long platform with a shelter and scattered trash cans. On both sides of the footbridge, there are random benches on each level and there’s one box on each side that’s locked. Seems pretty pointless – maybe it’s for Keolis employees. Ashland also has plenty of parking, with 678 spaces spread out on both sides. There is also a driveway on the inbound side that goes up to a bridge for drivers, but when we went that way, there was a giant barrier preventing us from going that way! Also, the drive from the main road down to the station is a mile long. That’s kinda stupid.
Station: Ashland
Pros: This station has what a commuter rail station needs: shelters, accessibility, parking, and a footbridge to safely cross the tracks.
Cons: The stairs are disgusting, the footbridge will only rust more with time, the station is a mile from downtown Ashland, and it feels kind of depressing waiting for the train here.
Final verdict: 7/10
This station does its job well, has functioning mini highs, plenty of parking, and a footbridge. However, that should be repainted. It looks disgusting and the rust will only get worse with time.
Will Asks…
That’s an easy one. There’s no doubt about it, it’s Chestnut Hill Ave. The outbound platform is so narrow that you can’t stand on it without being on the yellow line! Yeah…the B Line is fun.
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| Get off the yellow line, Jordan! |
RIPTA: 62 (URI/Providence Station)
The 62 is a new route that was created to supplement the 66‘s service to URI. Can it do its job, or is it muddied up with useless deviations? Well, let’s find out!
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| You’re late! |
Both the 62 and the 66 were extended to Providence Station as part of RIPTA’s Downtown Transit Connector plan (I assume), but at the moment, neither route gets many people from there. Of course, Sam and I had to do the whole trip, though, so we boarded at the station and had the bus to ourselves until Kennedy Plaza (Exchange Terrace) a few minutes later.
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| The view crossing the Woonasquatucket River. |
One of my favorite parts about the 66 is how it starts its express portion right after Kennedy Plaza, so let’s go!! Oh…we had to serve something else first? Alright, let’s go onto Dorrance Street, then. This took us through Downtown Providence past lots of commercial buildings, then we ended up in the Jewelry District. This extended local section was to serve URI’s new Nursing and Education Center, so I guess it makes sense, but it was an annoying jog and no one got on or off there.
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| Finally, a highway! |
We used Ship Street to get to Clifford Street, which led to I-95. Turning onto West Franklin Street, we merged onto the highway, and it was finally time for the express! The highway took us past the Rhode Island Hospital and into an industrial part of Providence, lasting for quite a while. It was broken by Roger Williams Park, and we entered Cranston soon after that.
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| What a sight! |
We came tightly between two roads at one point, and while there were houses for a bit, it eventually got industrial once more as we entered Warwick. We got to skip the 66’s new deviation to TF Green Airport, which is really long and annoying, as I can tell you from experience. However, we still had to do the CCRI deviation, so we took the next exit, 12B, onto East Ave.
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| Some industrial buildings. |
We weren’t on East Ave for long, heading into the Knight Campus of CCRI. And, uh…boy, talk about a brutalist building. I mean, this was the absolute most brutalist building I had ever seen. Like, in a bad way. Oh well, we dropped someone off and made our way back onto the highway from there.
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| I wish I could’ve gotten a better picture, but GEEZ! |
It was mostly woods south of there, continuing as we made the exit onto Route 4. Interestingly, though, while the 66 and even the 65x take Exit 6 to get onto Route 2, we were able to stay express for a little longer. Instead, we took Exit 5A to Ten Rod Road, where there were some suburban businesses. We had to deviate to Wickford Junction Station, and then it was the other way down Ten Rod Road, curving onto South County Trail into Exeter.
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| Wickford! |
It was lots of farmland, houses, and forest along the ol’ South County Trail. Eventually businesses came into the mix, but it was still quite rural as we entered South Kingstown. We turned onto Kingstown Road next, going over the Northeast Corridor and passing Kingston Station. While the 66 goes into the station itself, we were spared from that deviation.
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| Middle o’ nowhere. |
There was some residential and retail development around the station, but we soon reentered the woods. This was a much shorter section of forest, though, and we soon came into the URI campus. Our final turn was onto Lower College Road, which took us to Memorial Hall, right in the thick of the university.
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| Going away, out of service. |
RIPTA Route: 62 (URI/Providence Station)
Ridership: Ridership on the 62 seems to depend on the time of day and the direction. Our trip in the afternoon going towards URI only got four people, but there were plenty on our inbound trip later in the evening.
Pros: URI is a huge ridership generator, so it’s great that RIPTA is using this to increase its service. Combined with the 66, service to URI is every 15 minutes at rush hour and every half hour middays! Keep in mind that the 62 is weekdays-only, but it’s not like the university needs anything more than hourly 66 service on the weekends.
Cons: To me, some of the deviations inhibit the 62’s usefulness. Instead of being just for URI, RIPTA has chosen to also serve the Nursing Education Center, CCRI, and Wickford Junction Station. Now, I understand the importance of having a connection between these places, but why not have only the 66 serve them? That route seems to be designed to cover everything, while I feel like the 62 should be more of an express just to URI, since that’s where most of its ridership comes from.
Nearby and Noteworthy: Most of the 62’s attractions are geared towards college students, so it’s lots of…colleges!
Final Verdict: 7/10
This is a supplement to the 66. It is faster than the 66, but it still makes a few questionable deviations that it may not have to make. It also seems to have issues with on-time performance – every 62 bus I saw was late. That being said, it still does its job, and the added frequency to URI is great.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
GATRA: 1 (Westside)
It’s another really short route that’s marginally more useful than the 9, I guess. Not much else to say, let’s look at the 1!
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| The bus at its berth. |
We turned west out of the Bloom Terminal, skipping downtown Taunton entirely. As we merged onto Kilmer Ave, it was basically all houses. We ran by Bristol Commons, a modern housing development, and merged onto Smith Ave. This became Highland Street, but we soon had to turn back onto Oak Street and deviate into the apartment development at Richard Dewert Terrace.
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| A typical view of the neighborhood. |
We came back onto Highland Street and used it to get to Winthrop Street. As we entered an area of suburban businesses, we turned onto Warner Boulevard and deviated into a Hannaford Supermarket. Continuing south from there, it was…a pleasant jaunt through the woods, apparently! Alright!
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| A shopping plaza. |
That went on for quite a while, save for a few tiny residential roads and offices. We even entered Dighton, a town that I had never been to before! However, we reentered Taunton quickly by turning onto Spring Street, which led us past a few businesses and a factory, over a river, and into a residential area. We looped around via Railroad Ave, Somerset Ave, and South Street, and then it was time to head back.
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| Weird place for a bus to end… |
GATRA Route: 1 (Westside)
Ridership: This one gets 58 people per weekday and 44 per Saturday. So…yeah, it’s pretty bad, too.
Pros: The 1 actually serves stuff that other routes don’t serve, unlike the 9. I like how the two routes interline to provide every hour service..
Cons: The route’s ridership is still really bad. Unlike the 9, though, there’s no easy way of fixing the problem. The 1 should still run, of course, but there’s no denying that very few people use this thing.
Nearby and Noteworthy: All there really is is Hannaford, and the suburban businesses around it. There was also this interesting place near the end of the route. Their website is…strange.
Final Verdict: 4/10
The route does its job and serves what it needs to serve, but it’s not great. I don’t think there are any good ways of increasing its ridership, so it might as well just go back and forth on its route and do its thing. Oh well.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
GATRA: 9 (Weir/Route 138)
Oh thank God, it’s a normal bus route. You don’t have to call in to ride it. It uses a proper bus. The 9 is just a normal short, stupid, pointless bus route.
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| HALLELUJAH! |
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| An alley downtown. |
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| Some houses, seen from 2nd Street. |
GATRA: Middleborough-Taunton Connection
I…I’m speechless. I really don’t know what to say. GATRA…out-GATRAed itself. I didn’t think it was possible, and yet this route…defies explanation. Get ready for a crazy ride…
Okay, at first glance, this doesn’t look so bad. It connects Middleborough to Taunton, thus bridging two separate entities of GATRA. That’s good, because the system needs better connectivity. It’s weird that it starts at the Council on Aging, but it still serves downtown, so it’s fine. Now, this route has a higher fare than most other GATRA buses: it’s $2.00 from Middleborough to the Raynham Walmart, and $3.00 to Taunton. Not sure why that is, but okay. Fine.
Wait, now I’m looking at the schedule, and I see it only runs three times per day: 10:00, 12:00, and 2:00 from Middleborough. Hang on, and what’s this…”Operates Monday, Wednesday and Friday”? Oh geez…this is getting worse. But hey, at least on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, anyone can use this nice bus to get from Middleborough to Taunton. Let’s go!
WHAT? No, seriously, WHAT???????? This is a call-in service?!!??!??!? But it’s not a flex route! This is very clearly a fixed route with a fixed schedule that runs on fixed roads!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE HECK EVEN IS THIS AEIOGMGEEGMLANCNAELCNAELNAEINGEAGN????????? Okay, okay, okay, it’s my duty as Miles on the MBTA to review the route. Let’s just calm down and give GATRA a call. Oh wait, no, it’s not GATRA, it’s the Middleborough Council on Aging. *breathe*…AOHGAEIOGAEEGMEAGMAEGEGMKL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, let’s call them.
Now, I had forgotten to call them by 1:00 PM the previous business day, so I left them a message at around 10 PM the night before Sam and I were going to ride the route. I assumed it was hopeless, but they actually called me back a little before 9 AM the next day, which was very nice. A pleasant lady answered the phone:
LADY: Hello, is this Miles? You left us a message last night saying you wanted to ride the 12:00 Taunton bus.
ME: Yes, I did, sorry about that.
LADY: It’s okay, we can absolutely get you on that trip.
ME: Awesome, thanks! It’s okay if I bring a guest, right?
LADY: We can accommodate a guest. Just make sure you get to the Council on Aging early – our driver likes to leave right on time.
ME: Will do. Thank you very much!
LADY: You’re welcome. Bye!
I didn’t need to get so worked up about that! That went very well. Cool, so now we’re scheduled to get the trip! I…oh, hang on, my phone’s ringing again.
LADY: Sorry, I just realized you’re not in our system. Could we get some information from you?
ME: Sure.
LADY: Okay, what’s your last name?
ME: Taylor.
LADY: Great. And what’s your date of birth?
Wow, that was quite a jump in privacy level! Maybe they wanted to make sure I was over 18 or something. I gave her the DOB.
LADY: Okay. Now, what is your address?
Address? Why??? How does that affect my bus ride at all? Oh well, don’t question it – I need to take this bus. I told her my address.
LADY: Fantastic. And can I have an emergency contact?
ME: A what?
LADY: An emergency contact. Name and number.
OKAY…THAT’S DRAWING A HUGE LINE. EMERGENCY CONTACT????? THIS IS A PUBLIC TRANSIT SERVICE WE’RE TALKING ABOUT! I DIDN’T REALIZE GATRA WAS A BABYSITTING COMPANY, TOO!!!!!!! WHAT COULD THEY POSSIBLY NEED AN EMERGENCY CONTACT FOR???? IF GRANDMA JUDY GETS A CUT ON HER PINKY FINGER, WILL HER EMERGENCY CONTACT BE WAITING AT THE NEXT STOP WITH A BAND-AID TO SAVE THE DAY????????????????? After giving Sam an incredulous look, I gave her my mother’s name and number. Sam looked (rightfully) confused.
LADY: Okay, great! So, I think that’s it. See you at noon!
ME: Awesome, you too!
LADY: Hang on, you said you were bringing a guest?
ME: Yeah, I am.
LADY: We’re going to need all his info, too.
ME: Sure, just let me scream and bang my head against the wall a few hundred times.
Okay, I didn’t actually say that, but I really wanted to. I passed the phone over to Sam with an expression saying I’m so sorry. I knew Sam got to the emergency contact bit when he had that same incredulous expression I made. Finally, after affirming one more time that we needed to get to the COA early, the lady hung up. After that ordeal…we were ready to ride this bus.
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| It all began at Trucchi’s… |
Having completed our wonderful ride on the Downtown Middleborough Shuttle, we were going to walk from its terminus at Trucchi’s Supermarket to the Middleboro Council on Aging. The most direct route was an hour and fifteen minutes – not bad! Aside from a rather nasty intersection near the supermarket, the first leg of the walk on the residential Anderson Ave was quite pleasant. We turned onto Erica Ave eventually, which was a nice side street.
Google Maps then told us to take a right onto Route 44. This was a totally different beast – it was a wide road with a big median, nothing but woods along it, and a speed limit of 50. It was bordering on highway. “I wonder if walking along a street like this is illegal,” I said. “Wouldn’t it be funny if a cop car came along?”
*Beep beep!* Lo and behold, there was a Middleborough Police car pulling up behind us. A stern police officer came out. “Hi! What are you doing walking along a highway?” “Google Maps told us to walk on here,” we explained. “Okay…where you guys going?” he asked. Oh God, we were going to the Council on Aging. We were two teenagers walking down a highway going to the Middleborough Council on freaking Aging. This would not end well…
“Why are you going to the Council on Aging?” the cop asked. We explained the blog and how we were getting a bus route from there. “Okay. I’m gonna need identification. Please stand to the side of the road and don’t move.” He got our IDs and disappeared into the car. Sam and I were making small talk, but he was in that car for what seemed like forever, and I was sick to my stomach. Were we going to get a ticket? Maybe even get arrested? I’m too young to get a blemish on my permanent record!!!
He came back out and handed the IDs back. “Okay, for future reference, don’t walk down Route 44. I’ll give you a ride to the Council on Aging.” Oh, thank God! We were okay! He let us into the back of the car. My seat was hard and uncomfortable, and there was no handle on black door. Still, my situation was better than Sam’s – he had the same conditions, but he was stuck in a plastic box! We talked for a little bit between the plastic barrier, but we were mostly silent. I was just so thankful we made it out of that situation without any consequences.
As we were running down Plymouth Street, the officer asked when the bus was leaving. “Noon,” we said. “Huh.” he said. “You might‘ve made it.” After just five minutes of driving, we pulled into the Council on Aging. We thanked the officer as he let us out, and we headed towards the front entrance. I was super thankful for the ride, but we were now incredibly early, so we just found a bench outside the building and sat down.
Under normal circumstances, Sam and I would’ve probably paced around the building as we waited, but the police car was just sitting there! I’m not sure if it was because they had nothing to do (Middleborough isn’t exactly an eventful town) or if they were making sure we didn’t do anything sketchy, but it restricted our movement to just the bench. By the time the car left, we had gotten comfortable, so I just reviewed the…uh…”bus stop.”
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| The only picture I got was the one where Sam was making the weird face…oh well. |
It’s funny that the Middleborough Council on Aging had better facilities than some Commuter Rail stations! I mean, the whole thing was sheltered, and there were four lovely benches at which to wait, as well as a wastebasket and some potted plants. There were tons of community flyers too, including one about the Middleborough-Taunton Connection, featuring an ancient GATRA dial-a-ride vehicle. There was one laying over right outside the building, so assuming that would be our bus, I snapped a picture of it.
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| Seems reasonable enough. |
I have to say, the Middleborough COA was a huge dial-a-ride hub! Those minibuses were coming in and out constantly! At one point, a driver went into the COA to drop off the fares he had earned, which were safely stored…clamped to a clipboard. Oh, GATRA…
Eventually, a different kind of vehicle came in – it was just a Middleborough COA van. An old man came out and walked toward the entrance. “You must be my 12:00 out!” he said to us – so he was the driver for the route. “Oh! Is that the bus?” I asked him, pointing to the van. “Yup!” the driver said as he entered the building. Sam and I looked at each other, then looked at the van, then looked back at each other…and started laughing uncontrollably. HOW MUCH CRAZIER COULD THIS DAY GET?????
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| The…uh…bus? |
The driver came back out. “Okay, you guys ready? Buckle up!” he said as he opened the van doors for us. And…yeah, it was basically a van in there. The one key difference was the inclusion of, of course, a jiggly wheelchair lift. Oh boy, who needs proper buses when you can have – literally – a van with a jiggly wheelchair lift in it?! Well…after all that, at least we made it onto the vehicle.
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| There it is! |
Alright, over 1500 words in, and it’s time to actually start the review! We left the COA on Plymouth Street before soon turning onto East Main Street. This was a residential road, but there were also sizeable patches of forest on certain stretches. Also, there was a place selling miniature horses, so if you want one, this is the route to ride!
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| Totally not sketchy at all! |
After crossing the Nemasket River, the houses started to get denser. We turned onto North Main Street, which eventually led us into downtown Middleborough. After going by its boring, bland businesses and its admittedly beautiful town hall, the street became lined with houses again. There was some suburban retail at the intersection with Grove Street, which we were supposed to turn onto, but we just kept on going. Where were we going? I-495! Express section time!!!
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| I just want to point out that we are currently on the highway in someone’s van. This route can’t get any weirder! |
We were only on the highway for a bit, but it was fun while it lasted – we soon took Exit 6 onto the infamous Route 44. This was a really boring road, consisting of bursts of suburban retail, then sections of woods. We passed through sections of Lakeville, Taunton, and Raynham in quick succession, but nothing along Route 44 changed.
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| At least the Taunton River broke things up a bit. |
After crossing Route 24, the suburban businesses were constant. Indeed, there were now a ton of shopping plazas along here, too! We also passed a small clinic that gets its own timepoint, for some reason – if you want to take the bus to “Route 44 Medical Walk-in,” you can! We entered Taunton soon after, coming up along the Taunton River. The road became Dean Street.
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| Can’t say I’m a big fan of the neighborhood. |
There was a mix between houses and offices, although not particularly big ones. Dean Street soon left the river, running along the lovely Church Green. Once it became Main Street, we were in downtown Taunton, running past tons of (mostly boring) businesses. Near the Taunton Green, we turned onto Court Street, which led us past some industrial buildings and a parking lot.
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| Going around the Green. |
We turned onto Washington Street, going over the Mill River. There were some suburban businesses along here as it became Oak Street, and finally, we reached the good ol’ Bloom Terminal. In a van. We pulled into one of the berths, and the driver opened the doors for us. “3 dollars each!” he said as he took out a ziplock bag. I don’t know why he had us pay at the end instead of at the start, but at least the ziplock bag was better than the clipboard from earlier!
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| That just looks so weird… |
GATRA “Route”: Middleborough-Taunton Connection
Ridership: GATRA has no ridership information for this route online, and I can only assume it’s low. I mean…our trip was just us! The woman on the phone did reference a “group” who was getting on at “Dunkin’ Donuts,” so maybe a few other people rode that day. Still, though – I’m very sure that ridership for this route is astronomically low!
Pros: NO NO NO NO NO
Cons: WHERE TO START? MAYBE I SHOULD JUST DO A BULLETED LIST…
- IT ONLY RUNS MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, AND FRIDAY
- IT ONLY HAS THREE TRIPS PER DAY
- THE ROUTE IS VARIABLE – CLEARLY, IT CHANGES BASED ON WHERE PEOPLE ARE GOING
- THE ROUTE MAP PUTS THE COA IN THE WRONG PLACE
- ON THE GATRA WEBSITE, THE ROUTE IS CALLED THE “MIDDLEBOROUGH-TAUNTON CONNECTION” IN ONE PLACE AND THE “MIDDLEBOROUGH/TAUNTON CONNECTOR” IN ANOTHER
- AT $3.00, THE FARE IS THREE TIMES THE NORMAL GATRA FARE
- IT WAS COLLECTED IN A ZIPLOCK BAG AT THE END OF THE ROUTE
- THE “BUS” WAS LITERALLY JUST A VAN
- THE DRIVER GETS PAID TO DO NOTHING IF NO ONE CALLS IN
- HECK, THE ROUTE HAS A TON OF LAYOVER TIME ANYWAY, SO IT’S STILL A LOT OF PAYING THE DRIVER TO DO NOTHING EVEN IF PEOPLE DO RIDE
- IN ORDER TO RIDE IT, YOU HAVE TO CALL THE MIDDLEBOROUGH COA BY 1 PM THE PREVIOUS BUSINESS DAY (SO YOU GOTTA CALL BY FRIDAY IF YOU’RE RIDING MONDAY)
- WHEN DOING SAID CALL, YOU HAVE TO GIVE THEM YOUR NAME, DATE OF BIRTH, ADDRESS, AND THE NAME AND PHONE NUMBER OF AN EMERGENCY CONTACT
- THIS IS LITERALLY JUST A FIXED BUS ROUTE, WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE SO COMPLICATED TO RIDE?
- EMERGENCY CONTACT, I MEAN, REALLY??????? EGJAIGAEEGAIGGAE!!!!
GATRA: Downtown Middleborough Shuttle
I think we’ve done it: we’ve hit peak GATRA. This route, the Downtown Middleborough Shuttle, seems to do absolutely everything wrong. For example, it only serves Middleborough Station four times per day: 11:05, 12:50, 3:05, and 4:45. They time with trains, but why these specific times that don’t benefit commuters in any way? Huh, I dunno! It’s honestly one of the less confusing mysteries of this crazy route…
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| Here it comes! |
Because the bus didn’t time with our train, Sam and I walked to Grove Street to flag down the bus. “Where ya goin’?” the driver asked as he used his minibus lever to open the door. “We’re going to Trucchi’s.” I said. “Oh, okay,” the driver said. “Just know that it takes a while to get there, I gotta go to a bunch of places first.” Oh yeah…he wasn’t lying.
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| Some houses. |
We dropped our coins into the non-electronic farebox to get to the dollar fare (because come on, coins are the only true way to pay for a GATRA bus) and sat down. One of the two passengers on board, an old lady with sunglasses, turned around to look at us. “Thank goodness for the bus,” she said through a wide toothy smile. “Yup,” Sam said. Now she was just staring at us. Grinning. Sizing us up. The other passenger, an old man, turned around. “The local school must be nearby,” he said in an aggressive growl. What had we gotten ourselves into? The wheelchair lift jiggled.
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| A deviation, of course! |
We deviated into an ugly, dead shopping center: Middleborough Crossing. The old sunglasses lady finally stopped grinning at us to let the driver know she wanted to get off at Ocean State Job Lot. The old man got out first, and she made her way off the bus mumbling about what she was planning on buying. Awesome, now we had some time alone!
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| Not too many cars parked here today. |
But alas, we would get more passengers as we pulled up to Hannaford. The first was a typical GATRA old lady. The second was a man with big, bulging eyes and a mask over his nose and mouth. He stepped onto the bus with two grocery bags, then he gave us a long, hard stare with those beady eyes. We could hear his deep breaths behind the bright blue hospital mask. At some point he decided we were suitably scared, so he got off the bus to get his other two bags.
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| Leaving the shopping center. |
Hang on, did either of those passengers pay? No, no, they absolutely didn’t! And now that I think about it, the farebox was empty when Sam and I put our money in, so sunglasses lady and growl man didn’t pay either! Do people just not pay for this route? Gosh, I wonder what the GATRA accountants say about this money-losing mess!
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| An apartment development behind a laundromat. |
We went over the Nemasket River after returning to Grove Street, then it was mostly suburban businesses on the other side. We passed the Middleborough High School (perhaps the “local school” growl man was referring to?), then a few housing developments. Turning onto Wood Street, we then made our way into Middlebury Arms, an apartment development.
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| Coming into Middlebury Arms. |
The road ended with a dead-end. So, we did what any normal bus route would do: reverse into a driveway and three point turn our way back out! Coming back onto Wood Street, we were about seven minutes early, so we pulled over into the route’s…uh…layover point? I guess that’s the most professional name I can give the patch of dirt next to the road we were sitting in.
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| Reverse, reverse! |
A person in a passing car knew the driver, so they both opened their windows and had a screaming conversation, blocking the traffic on Wood Street. Once the woman left, the driver turned on the radio, which was playing an incomprehensible ad for the South Shore Gutter Monkeys. It was parodying something, but it made absolutely no sense! And then…”Call 911! No, just kidding, call [actual number].” Geez, come on, that’s not okay!
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| An auto shop. |
Finally, we pulled out of the dirt patch and headed back the way we came on Grove Street. We went over the Nemasket River again and passed Middleborough Crossing without deviating. Also, the actual radio station came on here: “Welcome to the feel-good station, playing hits from when you were growing up!” Uh-oh…cue the absolute cheesiest 70s and 80s music you’ve ever heard. “Lonely Boy,” by Andrew Gold, anyone?
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| Okay, that’s an awesome town hall! |
There were some suburban businesses at Main Street, onto which we turned. It was residential for a bit, but we soon arrived at Middleborough Town Hall, marking the beginning of downtown Middleborough…except we turned onto Webster Street before reaching the thick of things, because we had a deviation to do!
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| Heading onto Webster Street. |
There were dense houses along here, and they continued as we turned onto Benton Street. We then turned onto Spencer Street, taking us down a hill to the Riverview Apartments. Using a roundabout within the development to turn around, we pulled over, and…oh, we’re three minutes early, so we have to wait? Sigh…
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| One of the apartments, with regular houses in the background. |
We finally pulled out of there, making our way onto Wareham Street. As it became Center Street, it took us into downtown Middleborough proper, which was a very…lifeless place. Everything about it was bland and dead. We turned onto Oak Street next, going by houses and a small hospital.
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| Woooooo! Downtown Middleborough!! |
We turned onto Maple Ave, then Maddigan Way, which was an apartment development. As we made our way down to Sproat Street, we entered a different apartment development, Nemasket Apartments. From there, we made our way onto Forest Street, although the route was supposed to return on Oak Street. Mask guy got off along here, and it took forever because he had to get his four bags out of the bus, while also staring at us the whole time. I was overjoyed to see him go, and I took solace in the fact that I would never have to be stared at by him ever again.
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| Coming off of Forest Street. |
We turned onto Center Street, and for the first time on the route, we were actually going somewhere without deviating! The road went over some freight and Commuter Rail train tracks, then we were in a mostly residential area. It was all houses, aside from Middleborough’s Central Cemetery. As the road made a southerly curve, it became Anderson Ave.
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| Finally, I was getting deviation withdrawal! |
We turned onto North Grove Street in order to serve…gosh, I don’t even know. The street just had sparse houses along it. We did a sharp turn around onto Grove Street proper, and there were a few…landscaping businesses there. Is that what GATRA’s trying to serve with this jog? There was a section of mostly woods after that, mixed in with a few suburban businesses, including two vape shops, apparently!
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| A very flashy diner. |
Near a State Police station, we passed a scheduled timepoint: Acorn Hill. I guess this is what we were serving? Doesn’t look like much to me! There were some suburban businesses as we went through an intersection with Anderson Ave, and then we pulled into Trucchi’s. Wait, hang on, we were supposed to go past it to deviate to Southeast Health Center! We’re not doing that, huh? Alright, then…last stop, Trucchi’s.
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| Give us a wave! |
GATRA Route: Downtown Middleborough Shuttle
Ridership: This route averages 46 riders per weekday, and based on what we saw, not one of them is under 65! The route gets about 5 passengers per hour, and since the route runs every hour, that means every 5 passengers per round trip. Pretty bad…
Pros: Well, I’ll say this: people are at least using it. It serves a purpose within the community. Sort of. And the every hour, weekdays only schedule is fine.
Cons: It’s sooooooo bad! It does almost everything wrong: it serves the Commuter Rail station at random times, the time given between timepoints changes on certain trips, the route is insanely deviatory, it doesn’t go the route it’s supposed to go, it costs $15.22 per passenger to run, it’s early everywhere so it has to wait, it has a 3.3% farebox recovery ratio, but it’s probably more like 0% because the passengers don’t pay (and are really creepy), and the route gets just 5 passengers per hour! WHAT DOES THIS THING DO RIGHT???
Nearby and Noteworthy: I have to say, Trucchi’s was the most GATRA supermarket I’ve ever been in. Just like on the bus, there was no one, worker or customer, under 65 in there!
Final Verdict: 1/10
There aren’t too many cases where I would say this, but come on – just replace this thing with dial-a-ride service. Everyone who rides it fits the requirements to ride GATRA’s dial-a-ride buses, and they’d probably get where they’re going a heck of a lot faster than on this route! The one problem is that dial-a-ride fares are $1.25 instead of a dollar, and, presumably, people would actually have to pay it. But I guess if GATRA wants to keep this free loop running around, that’s up to them.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
If you think this route was crazy, just wait until our next GATRA route tomorrow. It blows this one out of the water!!!
Bridgewater
The original Bridgewater station was closer to downtown, but I actually like the Old Colony placement more! Yes, you heard me: the Old Colony station is in a better location than the original. That’s because this stop now serves Bridgewater State University, and it’s right there.
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| Our first entrance. |
Bridgewater Station features four pedestrian entrances. The first one is at a little roundabout on the western edge of the station, and it has a payphone and some bike spaces. The other three are simple stairs or ramps leading from the parking lot. The easternmost one also has some more bike spaces, adding up to a total of 24.
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| The parking lot…from above. |
It’s an Old Colony station, so of course the parking lot is huge – it has 504 spaces. It can’t be seen in this picture, but I appreciate how the central entrance from the station has a sidewalk going straight across the parking lot, so it’s easier for pedestrians to get into the university. There’s a garage right nearby (from which I took the photo), but I believe it’s only for BSU purposes.
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| On the platform. |
This is an Old Colony platform, so there isn’t much to say, but I do like it. The Bridgewater platform has two shelters on separate sides of the station, which is great. Both of them have essentially the same things underneath: benches, wastebaskets, information, and screens. Great!
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| On to Middleborough! |
Station: Bridgewater
Ridership: It’s huge! With 1,036 inbound riders per weekday, this is the busiest station on the Middleborough Line and the 20th most-used station on the Commuter Rail.
Pros: It has all of the Old Colony amenities you would want (plus a second shelter!), including a high-level platform and a big parking lot. However, Bridgewater goes above and beyond that with its location. Yes, we’re right in the Bridgewater State University campus, and thanks to fantastic pedestrian paths, practically anywhere on campus is walkable. If not, there’s always the BSU Shuttle!
Cons: The station got so wrapped up in serving the university that it totally forgot about the residential neighborhoods to the south! Now, granted, this isn’t Anderson/Woburn – people in those houses only have to walk about ten minutes to get to the station. But seeing as it’s right there, a direct path would cut the walk down by a huge amount!
Nearby and Noteworthy: BSU, of course! Bridgewater Center is also rather nice – it’s a fifteen-minute walk away.
Final Verdict: 8/10
This is a great Old Colony station, and just a flat-out great station. It has a totally high-level platform and it’s very convenient for students at BSU. It’s too bad there’s no access from the south, but creating it would require a lot of infrastructure for not too many riders – they only have to walk ten minutes to get to the station, anyway.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
BAT: BSU Service (Bridgewater State University)
Since BAT labels its free student-run Bridgewater State University shuttle service as one route, I guess I’ll have to review its lines in one post! Although to show how much BAT itself cares about the service, that link on the BAT website has outdated information – this is where everything is up-to-date.
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| Oh no, don’t tell me this is a system of truck minibuses! |
Route 28 (Express to/from BAT Centre): We begin with the university’s only numbered service, a route that runs from Brockton down to BSU. Sam and I boarded the bus at its own special T berth in the BAT Centre, and we departed down Montello Street. This closely paralleled the Commuter Rail tracks, and it had some hardcore industry on that side, while the other side had dense houses. Interestingly, no other BAT routes travel down this road.
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| Okay, it’s no surprise why that’s the case. |
The street basically darted between residential and industrial sections, all the way until Keith Park. Here, we turned onto Plain Street along the south side of the park, then we went onto Main Street, joining up with the 2. This street was a smorgasbord of stuff, including suburban businesses, houses, some huge apartment buildings, and the BAT bus yard.
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| Coming onto Main Street. |
Suburban businesses eventually became the primary buildings along Main Street, and we passed some of the most decrepit and abandoned-looking shopping malls I’ve ever seen. The route actually used to begin at one of these shopping centers, and Brockton-bound riders would be forced to transfer to the 2! Good thing that’s not the case anymore.
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| A gas station. |
We continued beyond the terminus of the 2, entering West Bridgewater. There was a clear drop in development over the border – although suburban businesses still showed up in droves, there were no cross streets, and it was just forest beyond North Main Street. We eventually passed a cemetery and a solar farm, after which it briefly got residential with some proper woodsy sections.
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| The sun rises over the trees! |
West Bridgewater Center wasn’t much: there were just some chain businesses with parking lots surrounding a pretty inaccessible “common.” We made our way onto South Main Street here, crossing the Town River and going by mostly houses with a few industrial buildings in there. Eventually, we entered Bridgewater proper.
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| Liquors! Now open! |
After lots of houses, we arrived at Bridgewater Center, which was much better than its western counterpart! There was a pedestrian-friendly common here, and it was surrounded by some nice businesses in charming buildings. We turned onto Central Square, which went around the common.
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| Heading along the common! |
We turned onto School Street next, and that took us straight into the BSU campus. We made a stop at the Art Center, then we looped around a green to the second and final stop, Harrington Hall. Oh…or we could skip Harrington Hall entirely, instead turning onto Summer Street, then Plymouth Street, then Burrill Avenue, making our final stop at Hart Hall. Okay…I guess that works too?
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| Interesting place to end. |
BSU Route: Route 28 (Express to/from BAT Centre)
Ridership: My ride got about 10 people, which isn’t huge, but people are definitely using the service.
Pros: This is a fast connection to Brockton – it only takes about 20 minutes. And sure, the Commuter Rail takes 12, but this bus is free! It only runs five times a day, but I honestly don’t think it needs to come much more often than that.
Cons: The NextBus data for this route is really out of date. It has the bus only going as far as that shopping center just over the Brockton line, and it doesn’t mention anything about going to Hart Hall. Was that supposed to happen?
Nearby and Noteworthy: Brockton, of course – not that anyone who isn’t at BSU has much reason to take this there.
Driver’s Radio Preference: Top 40
Final Verdict: 7/10
This is a quick free shuttle for anyone coming from or going to Brockton. My guess is that the departure times reflect commuting patterns for students, and the bus would probably run empty if it ran more often. Its only big issue is the outdated NextBus data.
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| Hey, a proper bus! |
Green Line (East/West Connection): Next, we move onto the Green Line, which begins at Bridgewater Station and the parking garage for commuters next to it. We looped around onto Great Hill Drive from there, running through a bit of forest until a few buildings with parking lots. We turned onto Burrill Ave next, passing a few dorms – we did a deviation into one of them. However, we didn’t deviate into Miles Hall, so honestly, I should just give this route a 1/10!
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| Some of the dorms. |
We turned onto Hooper Street, passing Burnell Hall and a commuter lot. It was a left on the residential Plymouth Street after that, then we crossed the Commuter Rail track (with a painfully long railroad stop). From there, we turned onto Summer Street, and completed the route by looping around Boyden Hall, with stops at Harrington Hall and the Art Center.
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| Time for another trip back. |
BSU Route: Green Line (East/West Connection)
Ridership: My ride only got two people, but I saw another bus on the line that had a full-seated load. It was prime commute time, though, so I wonder what it’s like middays, for example.
Pros: Well, at least at rush hour, people do seem to use this thing! It runs about every 10-15 minutes from 7:15 AM to 7:00 PM, supposedly.
Cons: The problem is that it could be replaced by the “Red Line” at any point – we’ll get to that later. No, the other thing about the Green Line is that it’s kinda useless unless you’re really lazy. Thanks to BSU’s network of pedestrian paths, the furthest possible distance on the route is only about a 15 minute walk. That means that if you just miss a bus, it’s faster to hoof it!
Nearby and Noteworthy: Miles Hall, of course – duh!!
Driver’s Radio Preference: Soft Rock
Final Verdict: 4/10
I was wary of giving this route any higher than that. Sure, it gets used by commuters during rush hour, but it’s kinda useless for campus transportation unless you’re lazy. Everyone I’ve talked to who went or goes to BSU have said that they rarely, if ever, use the shuttle. Not to mention it’s unreliable, since it could be changed to a different routing at a moment’s notice. Gosh, maybe a 4 is too high…
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| The Blue Line bus…from above. This is on the other end of the route, but it’s better than the photo I got at the Art Center. |
Blue Line (Commuter Express): That’s a misleading name. Indeed, this “express” is the more annoyingly deviation-filled route on campus. We began it by heading out from the Art Center, turning onto Summer Street, and merging onto Plymouth Street. We were lucky because we were going eastbound, but the westbound route does a really long deviation just to serve a parking lot within a three minute walk of the main road. That deviation also comes really close to a mall, but for some reason it has no stop for it!
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| Looking down Spring Street. |
Plymouth Street became mostly residential past there, but once we arrived at a big football stadium, we turned onto an access road. This was a deviation to the Tinsley Center, where we looped around and headed straight back up. It was back onto Plymouth Street, where we went by a baseball field and some more houses. Next, we turned onto Great Hill Drive, which took a longgggggg, windy trip through the woods until we arrived at the Commuter Rail station.
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| In the parking lot. |
BSU Route: Blue Line (Commuter Express)
Ridership: My trip got two people, and I wasn’t able to see what other ones got, unfortunately.
Pros: Hey, the Athletic and Tinsley Centers are actually kinda far, so I can see how this route would be useful for those. However…
Cons: The longest possible distance on this route is an 18 minute walk. The route runs “every 15-20 minutes.” So again, if you’ve just missed a bus, it’s faster just to walk (it didn’t help that our driver was really slow…)! Also, why does this route bother to serve the Commuter Rail station? The Green Line already covers it, and the Blue Line could be much more frequent to its unique sections if it didn’t take that long trip there. Finally, that mall on the westbound Spring Street Lot deviation is legitimately far from everything else, and all that would need to be done is adding an additional stop on that deviation!
Nearby and Noteworthy: People mostly use this to get to the Athletic and Tinsley Centers, I imagine.
Driver’s Radio Preference: Country
Final Verdict: 3/10
This route has a lot of improvements that could be made to make it more frequent and useful. Eliminate the Commuter Rail section, run the shorter route more frequently, and add a stop on the Spring Street deviation for that mall. Also, this route can be replaced by the Red Line at any time, which is annoying! Speaking of which…
Red Line: Okay, so I didn’t actually get to ride the Red Line, but I can at least talk about it. The route is a combination of the Green and Blue Lines, doing every single one of their deviations. It comes every 15-20 minutes, and it runs…”as needed.” Okay, that’s vague. Based on a few inspections of the system at various times of day, the Red Line will just randomly replace Green and Blue Line service! Why can’t it just have set times, say, middays, while the lines run separately during rush hours? This whole “as needed” business just makes the system more complicated and unpredictable than it has to be.
Gold Line: There are a lot of routes for such a small campus, huh? The Gold Line is the only route that runs nights, from 7:00 PM to 2:00 AM. It’s also the only route that runs on weekends, but only during those nighttime hours. It’s similar to the Red Line, but it uses two buses (thus running every 10-15 minutes), and it has a few on-demand locations that can be requested by calling a number. I appreciate that these deviations can be done spontaneously, since that’s probably how most decisions are made by college students at 2 in the morning!
Overall, this all feels like a “courtesy” system more than anything. Most of the destinations these shuttles serve are within easy walking distance from each other, but these buses are here as a courtesy to those who are unable to easily get between them…or those who are lazy. I think it’s overly complex considering how many destinations it serves, but it is nice that the buses are student-run. Still, this system isn’t too useful, and it’s WAY too complicated for its own good. I’m going to have to give it a 3/10.
Wickford Junction
The MBTA has made many mistakes over the years. Wickford Junction is one of them.
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| We begin with the busway. |
Throughout this review, we’ll be talking about the various ways Rhode Island has tried to make this waste of a station into something that comes even close to its ridership projections. Here’s the first one: RIPTA abandoned one of its park-and-rides to reroute all of the area routes to Wickford. Thus, the 62, 65x, and 66 all deviate into the busway here.
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| Odd! |
The busway itself is fine – it’s just a few benches and…wait, this sign is interesting. They have a normal RIPTA sign, but they just threw an MBTA-style sign above it! Hey, did you know that MBTA Commuter Rail monthly passes are valid for free travel on the bus routes that come here? That’s Failed Ridership Booster #2!
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| Stairs up to the platform. |
There’s a line of parking spaces right along the platform in the loop area outside the station. I’m not sure if they’re any different from the ones in the garage, but they’re here. From these spaces, there’s a simple staircase up to the platform, as well as a ramp that takes a loopy route to get up there.
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| Looking over at the building. |
Well, for a modern station, this is an awesome building! It still has a good amount of character, what with its clocktower and an art piece on a second tower. I don’t know what the art is supposed to be, but hey, it was nicely lit up at night – I can’t complain.
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| Inside the waiting room. |
Wickford has a full-time waiting room whenever trains are running, which is awesome. The ground floor gets a few airport-style seats, a posted train timetable, and paper schedules for the RIPTA routes that serve the stop. There are vending machines, too – let’s take a closer look at those.
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| Woah, woah, woah, WHAT?? |
Like all normal people do, I thought I would check the expiration dates on the vending machine items to see how often they were being purchased. And…wow, they were very close to their expiration dates! How long could these snack items have possibly been in here? How often are these vending machines used??? How often is this station used?????
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| Inside the parking garage. |
So Wickford Junction has one of the largest parking garages on the Commuter Rail. 1100 spaces. But the lot would only get 213 cars per weekday in 2014. Now maybe there are more that park in there now, and they certainly have incentive to: the parking is free. Yes, it’s our third Failed Ridership Booster! Beautiful glass elevators traverse the four floors of the garage, whose parking, if I may remind you, is free! I can’t get over that!
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| Huh… |
There are signs everywhere at Wickford Junction saying “Restrooms located on Level 1! Restrooms located on Level 1!” Okay, we looked everywhere in the first floor lobby and couldn’t find them! Where the heck could they be? Oh…they’re in the parking garage…on the first floor. Okay, guys, let’s work on the signage, huh?
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| Inside. |
Well, these are very nice bathrooms otherwise. They have buttons that open the doors for disabled folks, which is a great touch, and inside they’re mostly spotless, although the men’s room did have some graffiti on one of the stalls. Overall, though, these are great. Too bad the door-opening button doesn’t work for the doorway going back into the lobby.
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| Up on the second floor. |
Believe it or not, Wickford still has more building to explore! There’s a whole second floor here! The second floor lobby features some seats for waiting, another schedule, some historical information, and a Wickford Junction FAQ’s placard about how the train is free to Providence “until the end of 2017.” (an outdated Failed Ridership Booster) There’s also a parking payment machine that has been turned off, with a piece of paper on it saying “FREE PARKING.” Finally, there are signs advertising a café coming soon, but the retail space where it’s supposed to be coming in looks pretty darn bare.
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| The platform. |
Wickford’s platform is surprisingly underwhelming, considering everything else. It’s what you would expect with a modern Commuter Rail station: the whole thing is high-level, and there’s a shelter next to the main building entrance with benches and wastebaskets underneath. The platform extends further out, and there’s a connection to the other end of the parking garage a ways down. Well…this was an anticlimactic ending.
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| This is the furthest from Boston this train can ever get, at least in revenue service! |
Station: Wickford Junction
Ridership: Alright, the most recent projection for ridership here (cited from a 2005 prediction, though) is 3,386 riders by 2020! Well, with those lofty aspirations, I’m sure Wickford Junction has to be very close to that amount. Let’s see here…on July 5th, 2017, the station got 353 riders. And that was right after Rhode Island started offering free train service from here to Boston. So even when the service is free, ridership is a tenth of the projection. Mm-mm, fantastic numbers right there.
Pros: Well, hey, the station itself is excellent! In its efforts to make it a welcoming place for Commuters, Rhode Island really did build themselves a fantastic train terminal. The platform is standard, but the building has a ton of awesome amenities, including vending machines, indoor waiting areas, and bathrooms.
Cons: Aside from the minor quirks I’ve mentioned above, Wickford Junction just has the little problem of being a huge boondoggle. It’s such an unnecessary station! There’s already extremely fast bus service from here to Providence, and hey, it’s free with a Commuter Rail pass! And good luck doing the 100-minute commute from here to Boston – have fun paying that $12.50 Zone 10 fare! Also, you gotta love that 10 trains per day, weekdays-only schedule. 3,386 riders per day indeed.
Nearby and Noteworthy: Walmart? Staples? Home Depot? There isn’t much around here…
Final Verdict: 8/10
Well, I’m here to review the station, not the service. There is no denying that Wickford Junction is a fabulous station. Also, I can at least imagine people commuting to Providence from here, since the $3.50 fare is very reasonable, but geez, who’s going to Boston from here? Honestly, Rhode Island would probably benefit more from its own commuter rail with closer stops – let’s let the T just go back to Providence, okay?
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