RIPTA: 3 (Warwick Ave)/4 (Pawtuxet Village/Warwick Neck)
It doesn’t help that the route is really infrequent on its branches most of the time. Okay, so why not walk from one to the other? They look close. Yes, they’re geographically close…but the branches end on separate peninsulas! COME ON!!! Well, I’ll stop complaining about how hard it is to ride the route, and just…ride the route. We’ll start with the independent section of the 3A.
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| The bus coming down Narragansett Boulevard. |
Going southbound, the route first splits from the 3B at Broad Street. The 3B goes down Warwick Ave while the 3A continues down Broad, which started out with a lot of businesses. However, it quickly became residential, lined with dense but suburban houses.
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| Coming into Pawtuxet Village. |
Suddenly, the retail started to come back. Indeed, charming businesses were now lining the street on both sides! It felt like a classic New England town center – this was Pawtuxet Village. We went over the beautiful Pawtuxet River, which had a ton of boats lined up in a nearby cove. The road became Narragansett Parkway on the other side as we entered Warwick.
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| This is awesome! |
There were a few more businesses and a lovely park before it became a residential neighborhood once again. We zoomed past a ton of charming houses that were only broken by one apartment development, after which the road started hugging the huge Providence River. The houses sorta lost their charm at this point, looking more like typical Rhode Island suburban homes, as Narragansett Parkway curved westward.
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| Down by the river! |
We made our way back to Warwick Ave, joining up with the 3B. This was a big change from before – now we were passing gross suburban businesses and really ugly shopping malls with a ton of vacant retail space and huge parking lots (although I’m contractually obliged to point out this store). And just like that, we left the 3B again by turning onto West Shore Road. The 3 is two separate routes, I’m telling you!
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| Eww… |
There were some residual suburban businesses along West Shore Road, but it eventually made its way back into a residential neighborhood. That being said, we still did see some bursts of retail at various points, and in particular, there was a village of sorts called Conimicut. I didn’t think it had anywhere near the charm of Pawtuxet, as the businesses were more spread out and a lot less interesting.
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| Right by the water! |
There was a connection to the 29, another headache of a route to ride, here in Conimicut, but we were on our own again beyond the village. It went back to being mostly suburban houses, though we got a break with some marshland when we went down Tidewater Drive. This took us into the Riverview neighborhood, which was…more houses. And that’s about it.
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| A marshy river on Tidewater Drive. |
We turned onto Longmeadow Ave next, and then Samuel Gorton Ave. This took us to Warwick Cove, where we turned onto Warwick Neck Ave. We entered the Warwick Neck neighborhood along here, but since it seems to become much more wealthy the further south you go, the bus terminated at a tiny busway at the intersection with Barton Ave.
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| The bus laying over at its busway. |
From here, Josh and I made the walk to the 3B, which begins at a place called Oakland Beach. It is, in fact, a beach, and we took some time to step out onto the sand and appreciate the amazing view. “Hey, are you guys selling Pokemon cards?” a sketchy guy asked from his pickup truck. Okay, I guess shady things happen at Oakland Beach in the winter.
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| At least the views are still nice! |
We walked back to the busway past Iggy’s Doughboys & Chowder House, Iggy’s Boardwalk, an overflow parking lot for Iggy’s customers only, and a sign saying “Welcome to Oakland Beach – the home of Iggy’s” featuring a strange anthropomorphic something-or-other mascot. Boy, talk about a monopoly! There were a few other people already waiting for the bus, including someone who was having a very spirited (i.e. swear-filled) conversation with someone else on the phone.
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| There it is… |
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| Boarding the bus. |
There were a few beachy businesses along Oakland Beach Ave, but it was mostly residential, particularly as we got further inland. However, we eventually went by a skate park, an elementary school, and an intersection with a ton of suburban retail. There was a brief break from that, but once we merged onto Warwick Ave, that was it – suburban businesses with parking lots everywhere!
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| The intersection with West Shore Road. |
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| No idea what this is, but here it is! |
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| A gas station. |
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| Huh… |
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| This is one of them, I assume…? |
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| It was hard to get a good picture because we were speeding through so fast. |
The surprises weren’t done yet. Eventually, a train track came to the middle of Allens Ave. I have no idea if this thing is used anymore, but it’s really hard to imagine huge freight trains running straight down the middle of a four-lane thoroughfare! There were all these spurs into random industrial lots, as well.
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| A factory of some sort. |
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| Going by the hospital. |
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| Niceeeeeee! |
Kennedy Plaza
I’ve covered so much of the RIPTA, but I have yet to do a formal review of its main hub, Kennedy Plaza! This changes now.
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| Inside the main building. |
Kennedy Plaza’s indoor waiting area always has a ton of people in it. It gives you all the amenities you could ask for, including a ticket desk, a rack with paper schedules for every RIPTA route, seating space, wastebaskets, a nice mosaic, a water fountain, and a bathroom that was full of people doing, er, questionable things when I went in. Finally, there’s a vestibule where people like to wait as well, since it has screens showing the departure times for every RIPTA route that comes out of here! That’s very convenient.
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| Out on the plaza. |
I love how this huge downtown plaza in Providence is dedicated to transit. That’s just so cool! Kennedy Plaza proper features a main shelter in the middle that has system maps and ticket vending machines, while there are berths spread out all over the place. They each get nice, modern glass shelters with little screens showing when the next bus is arriving at the berth.
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| The main building from outside. |
RIPTA Station: Kennedy Plaza
Ridership: The station gets 69,000 people per day, according to a completely fabricated statistic on Wikipedia (believe me, I checked the source and this number doesn’t show up anywhere – the source did have RIPTA’s total ridership, which ended up being less than 69,000 a day). So that’s a bust, but regardless, this place is basically always busy – it gets good ridership, we’ll say.
Pros: Again, I love how Providence has dedicated its downtown to transit. There are plans to relocate the RIPTA hub to Providence Station and make Kennedy Plaza more of a recreational area, which should be…interesting (how will they get so many bus routes to fit in the tiny space around the station?), but for now, it’s a great setup. The building has a ton of amenities, and each berth is well-equipped with shelter and real-time arrival screens.
Cons: There’s no denying that the plaza is a breeding ground for questionable folks, and it’s apparently a big drug-dealing haven. As far as the station itself goes, the berth arrangements can be strange. They go way beyond the plaza itself, but signage around the station isn’t great, so it can be confusing to find them. Each berth can have as many as ten routes or as few as one, and there isn’t much rhyme or reason as to which route uses which berth.
Nearby and Noteworthy: We’re right in downtown Providence! Go and explore it! This is a really cool city, and it’s probably the most interesting place you can go on the Commuter Rail.
Final Verdict: 7/10
Kennedy Plaza really tries its best to be nice. Sometimes those efforts are compromised by some of the people that use the station, but I can’t blame it for that. At least it has lots of amenities and tries to be as welcoming as possible, unlike, say, Buckley. The one big problem I have with the plaza is the random berth locations and assignments – at the very least, there could be better signage that points the way to each berth.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
RIPTA: 27 (Broadway/Manton)
We’re still going to northwestern Providence, but this one is a little…weird. The 27 has a strange loop thing within North Providence, and I had a master plan to ride the whole thing around in separate chunks. Thus, we’re starting this trip at Stop & Shop to ride the section on *breath* Woonasquatucket Ave. That’s a long name!
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| The bus leaving the supermarket. |
From Stop & Shop, we immediately turned onto Fruit Hill Ave, then we merged onto Woonasquatucket Ave. The houses were dense along here, but they felt less apartment-like than some of the other homes we’ve been seeing along these RIPTA routes. It was generally residential, but there were a few, mostly industrial-feeling businesses that came up sometimes. That lasted until we looped around at Centerdale, the downtown of North Providence.
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| An apartment development – look at the size of that street sign! |
From Centerdale, Josh and I hopped on the 57 and took that into Providence. My master plan was to walk from Fatima Hospital on the 55 back to Centerdale in order to get a 27 on its other leg of the loop. Unfortunately, Josh and I were about a minute late, and we saw the bus leaving just as we arrived…
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| Darn it! |
So we were forced to wait for the next bus, which was another one down Woonasquatucket Ave. Luckily, from what I can see on Google Maps, the other leg down George Waterman Ave is more or less the same kind of scenery as Woonasquatucket, so we didn’t miss much. I guess we’ll just take this bus back to Stop & Shop and start the review from there to Providence…
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| The view from the deviation. |
We headed down the twisty Manton Ave, which was entirely lined with dense houses. There are a few random trips that deviate into Hillcrest Village Apartments, but ours was not one of them, so we just continued through the dense residential neighborhood. The intersection with Atwells Ave had lots of retail, though, and from that point, there were plenty of businesses mixed in with the houses.
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| A curvy hilly side road. |
It was interesting to see an old factory converted into a shopping center, and soon after that, we turned onto Westminster Street into Olneyville Square. This is the transfer point for three other bus routes, and we stay with one of them, the 28, from here until Providence. Thus, we headed down Broadway, leaving the square and making our way over/under/over (don’t ask) the Amtrak and Commuter Rail tracks and Route 6.
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| Olneyville Square. |
Broadway seemed like an up-and-coming street. It was mostly residential, sure, but there were businesses mixed in that seemed new and interesting. We soon crossed over I-95 and made our way onto Fountain Street, which was definitely less interesting than some of the more easterly parallel streets here in downtown Providence. Finally, we made our way into Kennedy Plaza.
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| The 27 became a 28 at the plaza, so here’s a photo from nearby. |
RIPTA Route: 27 (Broadway/Manton)
Ridership: The route seems to get great ridership. Our outbound ride from Stop & Shop had nine people on it, while the full inbound got about 15.
Pros: Along its main trunk, the 27 has great weekday frequency, with service every 20 minutes – that means that on the combined section with the 28, there’s 10 minute service! As for weekends, I’ll say that RIPTA did a good job coordinating with the 28: there’s a bus every 19 minutes on Saturdays and every 25 minutes on Sundays on the combined section.
Cons: However, this means that service on the 27 alone is lacking. I understand every 50 minutes on Sundays, but every 38 minutes on Saturdays is a really strange frequency for people to remember. Also, the route has two branches, so we have to cut the headways in half again – the branches get 40 minute service on weekdays, 76 minute service on Saturdays, and 100 minute service on Sundays! Also, since the two branches take different amounts of time to complete, the departure times from Centerdale have to alternate strangely. For example, the route has to run every 16-24 minutes from Centerdale on weekdays in order to maintain 20 minute service on the trunk. Finally, having two random trips serving Hillcrest Apartments on weekdays and Saturdays adds even more confusion to the departure times, since those trips have to leave a tiny bit earlier, and it just seems like a pointless deviation in the first place!
Nearby and Noteworthy: I gotta say, Broadway seems like a cool place to walk around.
Final Verdict: 6/10
Well, the chain of 8s is finally broken. I really don’t like the 27 personally, since it has really confusing headways and low frequency on each of its branches. I think it would be more effective to just choose one branch or the other and just stick with it, but maybe they get fairly equal ridership. Sure, the 27 is ostensibly a “good” route, but I still have a lot of problems with it.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
RIPTA: 55 (Admiral/Providence College)
We’ve got a theme going on with these 50s routes: direct, frequent lines to the northwestern parts of Providence. Yeah, they’re boring, but we gotta do them. The 55 has a few more deviations than the ones we’ve seen before…
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| The bus at Kennedy Plaza. |
We headed up Exchange Street from Kennedy Plaza, which took us over the Woonasquatucket River into a modern part of town with a ton of condo development. After pulling into Providence Station, we crossed the Moshassuck River (these are such Rhode Island names!) into the East Side. We turned onto North Main Street, which had a huge park on one side and charming historical houses and apartments on the other.
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| The diminutive Moshassuck River. |
We headed over the river again onto Charles Street, which had some apartments, but also a lot of office-type buildings with big parking lots. There was a brief one-way section as we went under I-95 and passed a huge USPS distribution center, then we went over the Commuter Rail and Amtrak tracks. Turning onto Admiral Street, we passed over yet another highway, Route 146, and finally, we were in a neighborhood.
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| There we go! |
Admiral Street was mostly lined with a ton of dense houses, but at certain intersections, there were bouts of businesses as well. Suddenly, we turned onto Huxley Ave, a narrow road with houses on one side and Providence College buildings on the other. This was a deviation to serve the college, and after doing so, we took a rotary back up to Admiral Street.
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| There’s a 51 going the other way. |
We were going up a slight hill, going by more dense houses and retail. It started to feel more suburban as we continued, with more spaced-out dwellings and a few apartment developments coming in now. Right after entering North Providence, the street became Smithfield Road and we did a deviation to Shaw’s that two other routes do as well.
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| Doing the ol’ deviation. |
Smithfield Road was a big change from before. Now it was very much suburban, with many trees, spaced-out houses, and a sidewalk on only one side of the street. It became more of a neighborhood eventually, with dense blocks and houses once again, but we didn’t stay in it for long – our final stop was a deviation into the Our Lady of Fatima Hospital.
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| The bus laying over. |
RIPTA Route: 55 (Admiral/Providence College)
Ridership: My Saturday trip got about 15 people, and that’s pretty good! I can’t speak for any other trips, but based on the route’s frequency, I assume it generally gets good ridership.
Pros: I really like that RIPTA has so many frequent routes to this part of Providence, and I think it needs them: the 55 serves a ton of dense houses, plus Providence College! It runs every half hour on weekdays and Saturdays and every hour nights and Sundays. There are a few really late trips on Thursdays and Fridays when Providence College is in session, too (12:07 and 1:07 departures from Providence)!
Cons: This one has a few more deviations than the others, but I think they make sense for the most part, and none of them are too painful.
Nearby and Noteworthy: This one was generally lighter on the retail than some of the other routes we’ve seen, but there is Providence College to make up for that.
Final Verdict: 8/10
Gosh, I’m just doling out these 8s! What can I say? This route has great frequent service, and it serves a dense and important part of the city. It’s great!
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
RIPTA: 57 (Smith Street)
Here’s another frequent, direct RIPTA route serving northern Providence. Indeed, this time we’re starting in North Providence, a separate town entirely! The 57 is the most direct route into Providence proper, so let’s see what it’s like.
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| The bus in North Providence. |
The route starts in downtown North Providence, which has dense single-story businesses along Smith Street. Once we went around a rotary, though, the businesses on Smith got much more suburban, as each one had a parking lot in front or to the side of it. There were also houses here and there, but the road was mostly retail.
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| The side streets were residential. |
There was a stretch where it did become all houses, but it was broken spectacularly by an ugly shopping plaza and some suburban businesses. That was quick, though – it was mostly residential once again after that, even as we entered Providence. We eventually passed the campus of LaSalle Academy, a catholic school, and near it was a retail block. From here on out, while it continued to be primarily houses, there were some business blocks at major intersections.
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| Somewhere in the residential section. |
Once the road curved past an ALDI supermarket, its character changed dramatically: now there was retail all along it. We were joined by the 56 at Chalkstone Ave, and together, we ran past all these businesses. After passing over I-95, there were government buildings everywhere, including the beautiful Rhode Island State House.
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| No photo of the State House, but I like this view of the East Side! |
We continued to loop around it by turning onto Gaspee Street, which also led us past Providence Station. From there, we turned onto Francis Street, which ran alongside the river-spanning Providence Place Mall. We then turned onto Memorial Boulevard, and made our way to Kennedy Plaza.
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| Gotta love the Providence skyline! |
RIPTA Route: 57 (Smith Street)
Ridership: This one is interesting, and it makes me wish that RIPTA still had its ridership statistics online. My trip only got two other people, which would lead me to believe that it gets awful ridership on every trip. Of course, there’s no way to prove this, and I’m sure other trips are better, but there’s no denying that mine was bad.
Pros: Like the 56, this is a direct route running down a major corridor. It connects North Providence to the station and Kennedy Plaza, and it’s the fastest one to do so. It runs with great frequencies, with service every half hour weekdays and Saturdays and every hour nights and Sundays.
Cons: The low ridership on my trip is a concern, but my guess is that it was a fluke. Why would they run the route every half hour if it didn’t get the ridership to support it?
Nearby and Noteworthy: North Providence is a somewhat major downtown, although I didn’t think anything there was too great.
Final Verdict: 8/10
Sure, I’ll give this thing an 8. I have no way of knowing for sure, but I think this route gets the ridership to meet its frequencies. After all, Smith Street is a major corridor, and it’s a direct connection to North Providence. This is another good bus.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
A Curious MBTA Rider Asks…
RIPTA: 56 (Chalkstone Ave)
It’s always nice to come back to a system that actually knows what it’s doing. The RIPTA runs the 56 every 15 minutes, which really is awesome. Though Josh and I rode it on a Saturday, when its service drops to half-hourly, it was clear that this is a great route.
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| Creepshot… |
Josh and I picked the bus up at Providence Station, because…well, it was easier than walking to Kennedy Plaza, and it’s not like a large portion of the route was missed. From there, we headed up Gaspee Street and turned onto Smith Street, running around the beautiful Rhode Island State House. There were some other government buildings along Smith Street, but once we went over I-95, it instantly shifted to dense businesses and houses.
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| I love that building! |
We were running with the 57 all this time, but eventually we turned onto Chalkstone Ave, beginning our independent section. Chalkstone was much more residential than Smith Street, and it had a ton of dense houses along it. After a park and a middle school, we went up a hill and served two hospitals across the street from each other: one of them, the Roger Williams Medical Center, had a roadside stop, while we did a deviation into the parking lot of the other, the Providence VA Medical Center.
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| It’s funny that a bus does this deviation every 15 minutes on weekdays! |
Chalkstone Ave got some businesses back after those hospitals, and we were once again in a residential/retail mix. It became all houses soon enough, though, aside from one more retail spurt at the intersection with Mount Pleasant Ave (where we connected with the 92). The route got a lot more suburban after that, as the road got much hillier and curvier. We went by a golf course, as well as more spaced-out houses, and finally, we arrived at Stop & Shop. End of the line!
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| Wow, another creepshot… |
RIPTA Route: 56 (Chalkstone Ave)
Ridership: Based on my ride, the 56 gets great ridership. There were 18 people on the Saturday I took this, and a bunch of them used it for local trips: about two thirds of them came from Kennedy Plaza or the train station, but there were a good amount of people just getting on at local stops. That was great to see!
Pros: The 56 serves an important corridor and it does it with great frequency for the most part. On weekdays, like I’ve said about a million times already, it runs every 15 minutes, while weeknights and on Saturdays, it’s every half hour.
Cons: It becomes every hour on Saturday nights, which I understand, but that same frequency on Sundays is questionable. After all, this is billed as a “Key Corridor Route”! Granted, I’m sure the ridership on Sundays matches the frequency, but it’s just sad to think that a key route would run every hour.
Nearby and Noteworthy: A ton of small businesses and restaurants, but nothing stood out.
Final Verdict: 8/10
There’s not much else to say about this one! It’s generally direct (aside from the one hospital deviation) and it usually runs with high frequency. Well, at the very least, the frequency always matches the ridership.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
UMass Lowell Shuttle: Yellow North Line (Inn and Conference Center (ICC), North, University Crossing, Downtown)
Guys, this is a one-off. I am not coming back to this ridiculously planned system that uses gas-guzzling, lung cancer-causing hunks of trash to run its routes! But let me back up. Ahem…the Yellow North Line. After the LRTA 20, Nathan and I decided to try out the alternative way of getting back to the ICC. The Yellow North Line is literally parallel to the 20, running between the same places and taking the same route. There’s just one problem…
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| What have we gotten ourselves into? |
What is that? Is that a really old school bus designed for elementary school children that is being used on a college shuttle? Oh lord, it is. I cannot even describe how awful these buses are to ride. I mean, the seats are all patched up, the thing is ridiculously loud, and the driver kept coughing, presumably from the horrible fumes of gases being released from the vehicle. Interestingly, though, Lowell’s public schools use beautiful brand new buses. Guys…I think UMass Lowell got its buses from the local public school system…
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| I would much rather be in a car than on this bus. Other vehicles on that list include a unicycle, a police car, and a GATRA truck minibus. |
We sputtered our way out of the UMass North busway and headed down Riverside Street. We soon turned onto University Ave, taking us over the Merrimack River. Once on the other side, we made our way to the University Crossing busway on Salem Street. The bus obviously had no stop request button, so the driver slowly opened the doors. “Is anyone getting off here?” he asked. Silence. “Okay…” and the doors slowly closed.
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| Crossing the river. |
We made our way onto Merrimack Street, which was lined with a mixture of apartments and businesses with parking lots. It started to get denser once we went over a canal, and eventually we passed Lowell City Hall. After one more canal, the street became lined with the many brick buildings and dense businesses of downtown Lowell. The bus pulled over and the driver opened the doors again. “Is anyone getting off here?” Again, silence. “Okay…”
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| Making a turn downtown. |
We turned onto Central Street, going by more businesses and over another canal. It was definitely less of a downtown feeling on the other side, but there was still more retail as we turned onto Hurd Street. This led us to the UMass ICC, which – thank goodness – was the final stop on the route. Time to leave this awful thing!
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| Ew. EWWWWWW. |
A quick aside: from here, we looked at the shuttle map and found that we could use a Yellow South Line to get closer to the Commuter Rail station. That route was using a minibus (much more tolerable than the school bus business). We asked the driver if he was going to the station, and he said he didn’t, but he could call dispatch to see if he could get us there. After a quick radio call, he said “Sorry, we don’t serve the station until after 7.” Oh, okay, sure…because 7 PM is really when students are gonna be wanting to go to the station! Also, the route goes within 500 feet of the station anyway! Were we really not capable of walking from there? This system sucks!!!!
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| Get out of here already! |
UMass Lowell Shuttle Route: Yellow North Line (Inn and Conference Center (ICC), North, University Crossing, Downtown)
Ridership: There were three people on my trip, while on the return, the bus got no one. Despite the Yellow North Line directly paralleling the 20, everyone chose to ride the 20 instead of this, even though the UMass bus left first. I guess UMass students have as low of a tolerance as I do for awful old school buses!
Pros: It connects UMass North to the ICC, and this time, it’s actually UMass running the route. Better than the 20, I guess…
Cons: The bus. The bus. THE BUS! It is so awful – I can’t even describe how much I never ever want to see, let alone ride, one of these things again. That’s the route’s most glaring problem, but it’s such a deal-breaker! This thing is more toxic than Back Bay Track 1!
Nearby and Noteworthy: Downtown Lowell, but if you wanted to use this to get there from the station, you would have to transfer from the Yellow South Line. After 7. GEEZ, I can’t get over how stupid that is!
Final Verdict: 2/10
I would say this is better than the 20, only because it’s actually operated by UMass. The LRTA should have no business trying to run the exact same route. That being said, I cannot express enough how terrible this bus is! It’s bad enough that I would rather walk the whole route than ride it. I’m sorry, UMass Lowell – clearly, your shuttle situation is miserable…
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
LRTA: 20 (Downtown/UMass North)
The LRTA added the 20 to its network of routes without much fanfare. It has a very slapped-together feel in that there’s no schedule. We just get the vague guideline of “service every 20 minutes” from 7:00 AM to 10:40 AM, weekdays only. What strange times! What could this possibly be?
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| The bus coming up to the UMass Lowell Inn and Conference Center. |
Another oddity of the 20 is that it’s the only LRTA route that doesn’t serve the Kennedy Center. Thus, Nathan and I walked to the route’s starting point, the Inn and Conference Center, and used the LRTA tracked to try to make some sense of this thing’s schedule. We couldn’t – the two buses on the route seemingly left whenever they wanted.
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| Wait for us! |
We got to the bus and the driver was starting a burrito. We both paid a dollar for the ride, but it turns out that UMass students get on for free! This was found out when someone showed his ID and headed onto the bus – “GET BACK HERE, YOU HAVE TO SWIPE IT!” the driver yelled. The student was flustered, needless to say!
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| Coming out from the ICC. |
We took the hill out of the ICC and turned onto Warren Street. Next, we briefly turned onto Central Street to get over a canal before going onto Market Street. This wasn’t quite the main drag that parallel Merrimack Street is, but it still had a ton of dense brick buildings and a variety of businesses along it. Unfortunately, there was some traffic along here, and the driver didn’t seem to be a fan – she kept edging closer and scarily closer to the car in front of us. Perhaps her aggressive tendencies were spurred by the metal music she was blasting?
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| The canal! |
After going by the Lowell National Park Visitor’s Center, we went over another canal (and the Lowell Streetcar track) and entered an area that was less dense. We had to do a construction detour onto Merrimack Street, which had a mix of businesses and apartments. Soon after going over another canal, we used Cabot Street to get to Salem Street. We arrived at the University Crossing Transit Hub for UMass Lowell shuttle buses. We deviated into the busway, got no one, and headed out again.
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| Leaving the busway. |
We turned onto Pawtucket Street for a block, then we headed down University Ave. This took us over the Merrimack River, and we went by UMass’s North Campus on the other side. Next, we turned onto Riverside Street and arrived at the UMass North busway. Well, sorta – a car was in the way, and the driver didn’t feel like going in, so she just dropped us off outside the busway. Five seconds later, she pulled in anyway.
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| Come on! |
LRTA Route: 20 (Downtown/UMass North)
Ridership: There’s no public data on the 20 yet, so we’ll go with the ridership I saw, and that’s four people. Not…bad? I will say that people opted to take this over the exactly identical UMass Lowell shuttle route, but we’ll get to why they might’ve done that in another post.
Pros: Taken on its own, it connects the UMass ICC to downtown to the North Campus. That’s a good connection, but…
Cons: There’s literally an identical shuttle run by UMass Lowell. Why did LRTA take this route into its own hands? It didn’t need to! There’s already a route that does the exact same thing! Also, LRTA runs this at max inefficiency, since the route is just long enough that it needs two buses to run instead of one. That’s right, they’re wasting two buses for this route that, need I remind you, already exists. Not to mention that the two buses just leave whenever they want – this thing has no semblance of a schedule. Google Maps lists completely random times at each stop: 8:00, 8:15, 8:40, 9:05, 9:25…what??? I thought it was every 20 minutes!
Nearby and Noteworthy: Downtown Lowell is the biggest thing along here, but this isn’t very useful to anyone not attending UMass.
Final Verdict: 1/10
This should not be the LRTA’s responsibility. It makes zero sense why the LRTA is using two buses to run this literally entirely redundant service. Oh, and it only runs from 7 AM to 11 AM, so after that, people have to use the UMass shuttle anyway! Maybe there’s a reason this exists, but I sure as heck can’t see it.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
Harvard Shuttle: Quad Stadium (Quad – River Houses – Harvard Square)
After the Extended Overnight, I can’t go around saying that any other Harvard routes are “hard to ride,” but this one comes pretty close – the Quad Stadium route runs from 5 AM to 7 AM, and that’s it. The early bird gets the worm, I guess.
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| Just gonna creepily take a picture from around the corner… |
Starting at the Quad, we came onto Garden Street, which started out lined with houses. It got denser very quickly, though, and we were soon running along the Cambridge Common. After a stop near Harvard Square itself, we looped around the Harvard Bus Tunnel portal and merged into the Cambridge Street tunnel.
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| The sun rises over the Common. |
On the other side of the tunnel, we headed onto Quincy Street, running along the eastern side of Harvard Yard. Now, the route is supposed to turn onto Mass Ave and loop around to serve Winthrop House. It’s one of the most annoying deviations on the Harvard Shuttle system, but if it’s a timepoint, then the route should do it. Our driver, though…he skipped right by it and continued onto Bow Street instead.
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| A classic Harvard gate. |
It became DeWolfe Street, running past a ton of Harvard dorms, then we turned onto Cowperthwaite Street. This was to serve Mather House, and from there, we made our way to Memorial Drive. The route is supposed to go right onto it, but…okay, I guess we’re talking a left instead…
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| This is not going as planned! |
We ran along the Charles River on Memorial Drive, then we turned onto Western Ave. This took us over the river and into Allston, where there was a ton of construction, including office buildings and more Harvard buildings. We made a tight turn onto Harvard Ave, which led us back up to the university’s athletic facilities. Turning onto an access road along the south side of the Harvard Stadium, we arrived at our destination, where strangely, there was no bus stop sign.
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| Man, I love that stadium. |
Harvard Shuttle Route: Quad Stadium (Quad – River Houses – Harvard Square)
Ridership: I was surprised: this thing gets pretty good ridership! The route is populated almost entirely by students on sports teams headed for practice, which makes perfect sense. My trip got about ten of those people.
Pros: I assume that many sports practices start early in the morning, so this bus is a great way of getting from Harvard’s dorms to practice. The route runs as often as it needs to, with service every 25-35 minutes on weekday and Saturday mornings. On weekdays, there are also two inbound trips at 7:40 and 8:40 that go back to the Quad.
Cons: Well, first of all, our driver completely skipped a major timepoint! Yes, Winthrop House is not a fun deviation to do, but it’s a timepoint, so the bus has to serve it. It’s not okay for the driver to just take a different route. Also, on Saturdays, there’s no way for students to get back to their dorms from the stadium! The Quad Stadium has no return trips, and the Allston Express doesn’t run until 5 PM (because that makes sense).
Nearby and Noteworthy: Isn’t Harvard Stadium beautiful? Well, no time to admire it. Drop down and give me 20!
Final Verdict: 6/10
This route is probably deserving of an 8, but I can’t get over its two main problems. Not only is there not a way of getting back from the stadium on Saturdays, but our driver just skipped a timepoint! Those are two really major cons! This is still a good route, but I have to drop the score down a few points for those issues.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
WRTA: 15 (Union Station Hub – Shrewsbury Center via Shrewsbury Street and Route 9)
In preparation for this review, I conducted an “extensive” “interview” with someone at my school who used to live in Shrewsbury. I asked her about the throngs of people that surely use the amazing 15 to get to the booming metropolis of Worcester. “Oh yeah, no one uses the bus,” my source said. “I think I rode it once, maybe.” Hmm…this may not be as packed of a route as I thought it would be.
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| The center of the shrews. |
Since we were going to Shrewsbury, what better street to take than Shrewsbury Street? There were a ton of businesses along this wide road leaving the Central Hub, but we also saw a park and some apartments between them (as well as the latter above almost every store). It started to get more suburban, so the businesses got parking lots and the apartments became houses, then we merged onto the eight-lane behemoth of Belmont Street.
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| Oh boy, rainy night pictures are the best! This is UMass Medical Center. |
We turned onto Plantation Street next, then South Road, taking us into the UMass Medical Center. Leaving the cluster of huge medical buildings, we took Lake Ave down to Belmont Street again, which went on a really nice lit-up bridge over Lake Quinsigamond. This took us into Shrewsbury, which was a mess of random shopping plazas and suburban businesses. And guess what the road was. That’s right, Route freakin’ 9! OF COURSE!!!
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| I wish the rain wasn’t there so this awesome bridge could be appreciated! |
We deviated into the newest plaza there, Lakeway Commons, which seemed to have been built very recently. There were a few more businesses along Route 9, and we went by one last plaza as we merged onto Maple Ave. This plaza, Fairlawn Shopping Center, is the terminus of some weekday trips. You know, because a half-vacant shopping mall with a Hooters in it is a place where everyone wants to go!
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| Next to a Walgreens. |
Going up a slight hill, we ran past a bunch of suburban houses. They were broken by the intriguing-sounding UMass Medical School Center for Mindfulness and a park right next to it. There was a complex with various Shrewsbury municipal buildings, including town hall, then we ran by suburban businesses on either side of the road that continued as we merged onto Main Street. Oh…this is Shrewsbury Center, huh? Nope, I can’t say this is doing it for me.
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| Okay, the church is rather nice. |
Main Street turned to houses as the center abruptly ended. We turned onto South Street, then Julio Drive, which took us to “Southgate at Shrewsbury,” a retirement community. This apartment development was the last stop on the route, and from here, Nathan and I called up an Uber to take us to Grafton Station.
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| And we never got to see the center of shrews! |
WRTA Route: 15 (Union Station Hub – Shrewsbury Center via Shrewsbury Street and Route 9)
Ridership: I wasn’t expecting huge numbers for this one, and they didn’t disappoint. The 15 gets 334 riders per weekday and 83 per Saturday, which is basically what you would expect for a suburban route like this. We did the last outbound trip of the night at 7:50, and it only had one other person!
Pros: Well, at least some Shrewsbury residents seem to use this thing! It’s a direct connection to Worcester, but I could see the 15 getting bidirectional ridership because of the malls it serves. The UMass Medical School is a big destination as well, and this is the most direct route there. Finally, the 15 is every hour, six days a week, which is a fine frequency.
Cons: On weekdays, three trips per day terminate at Fairlawn Plaza, and I’m not sure what the rationale is for making it those specific trips. They just seem random, and since two of them are in the afternoon, Shrewsbury Center only gets a bus every two hours from 1:20 to 5:20. Also, this is obvious, but the route doesn’t get very high ridership…
Nearby and Noteworthy: Shrewsbury Street in Worcester seems like an up-and-coming neighborhood, with a ton of great-looking restaurants lined up along it.
Final Verdict: 6/10
The 15 is basically in the same boat as the 2: it doesn’t get particularly high ridership, but it’s still worth keeping around. It’s nothing spectacular, but it gets its job done. Truth be told, I was hovering between a 5 and a 6 – I settled on a 6, since it’s no worse than the 2 in any significant ways.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
WRTA: 16 (Union Station Hub – Lincoln Plaza via Hamilton Street and Lake Ave)
Let’s just keep on going around the loop we started with the 31! The 16 is the eastern side of the two-route loop, and it’s got a few more deviations up its sleeve. Let’s take this back into Worcester.
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| The bus at the Lincoln Mall. |
We headed out from the Lincoln Mall onto Lincoln Street, running past some suburban businesses and industrial buildings. They continued after a roundabout, but we soon turned onto the woodsy Lake Ave. It took us under I-290, after which we pulled into a clinic. It was a well-planned deviation, however, as we used it to get onto the wide Plantation Street.
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| Nathan and I were up front talking to the really nice driver, so we’ll have some interesting front-view pictures for this review! |
We were more or less in the woods (aside from Plantation Towers Apartments, which a few trips deviate into) until a huge parking garage came out of nowhere. This was a sign that we were getting close to the UMass Medical Center campus, and sure enough, there were now huge hospital buildings everywhere. We turned onto South Road, entering the campus.
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| Some traffic on the way to the medical center. |
We went around a roundabout back onto Lake Ave, taking us past some businesses and apartment buildings. One of them, Lincoln Park Towers, required a harrowing deviation down a narrow and hilly driveway into the complex. After struggling to make our way out onto the road again, it got more residential, with a ton of dense houses along the lake we were running with.
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| Stuck at a red light coming out of Lincoln Park Towers. |
The road got a median and we entered a park, where we turned onto Hamilton Street. We entered a hilly residential neighborhood here, with suburban houses lining the twisty road. It gained a median, and the homes were slowly getting denser as we got closer to downtown Worcester.
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| Some houses, with the foggy North High School in the background. |
The houses became apartments by the time we got to Billings Square, which was more of an egg-shaped roundabout than a square. There were some nondescript businesses here, and they continued past there on Grafton Street. It got industrial just before we went under I-290, and finally, we used Franklin Street to get around into the Central Hub.
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| The spires of Union Station await! |
WRTA Route: 16 (Union Station Hub – Lincoln Plaza via Hamilton Street and Lake Ave)
Ridership: This end of the loop gets much less ridership than the 31’s section, with 380 riders on weekdays and 157 on Saturdays. My trip showcased the low trend, getting just four people going into Worcester.
Pros: The route serves eastern Worcester, some of which is dense and some of which isn’t. The UMass Medical Center connection is made a lot more useful with the loop arrangement, since riders from the 31 can continue on to the medical center. Just in general, this thing is way more useful with the loop!
Cons: First of all, the 16 has the same weird schedule as the 31, including the random weekday switch from every 40 minutes to every 80 minutes around 4 PM (but this time, it’s in the outbound direction). Also, the Saturday service is just six trips, also every 80 minutes. The 16 has the additional problem of too many deviations, including a few apartment ones that only get served at certain times or in certain directions. It also costs more than double the 31 for the WRTA to run.
Nearby and Noteworthy: This is the closest route to the Ecotarium, Worcester’s local science and nature museum. It looks like a great family experience, although the museum is a 15 minute walk away from the route.
Final Verdict: 5/10
Between the 16 and the 31, the 16 is definitely worse. It suffers from all the schedule problems on the 31, but it also gets less ridership and has more deviations. This isn’t a bad route, per se, but it’s certainly the lesser of the two sides of this loop.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
WRTA: 31 (Union Station Hub – Lincoln Plaza via Grove Street and West Boylston Street)
Back in Worcester already? Hey, like I said, it’s a system I’ve barely covered. Today we’re taking a ride on the 31, which runs up to the north side of Worcester through a variety of different neighborhoods. It also forms part of a loop with the 16, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves…
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| Well…this is dingy. |
Beginning at the Central Hub in Worcester, we did the classic WRTA rotary loop before running up Foster Street. There were some huge buildings along here, including a hospital, a parking garage, and a convention center. The architecture got older once we crossed Commercial Street, and it was now a mix of office and retail buildings (with a few urban parking lots thrown in there).
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| One of the parking lots. |
Foster Street became Maple Street, and it suddenly went up a steep hill and made some tight curves around a parking lot. It merged us with Elm Street, which went past various apartments and the Worcester Historical Museum. They eventually turned into dense houses, but it was a pretty nice neighborhood.
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| Rainy weather does not a good picture make. |
We came along to a park and, suitably, turned onto Park Ave. We continued alongside the beautiful park, which had a lovely lake in its center, but once it ended we were graced with…Price Chopper. Well, we got to see the athletic fields of Worcester Polytechnic Institute after that, and then we went by yet another beautiful park!
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| It would be even nicer if it wasn’t so dismal out! |
That park was about it for the nice scenery, though. Suddenly, we were bombarded by a ton of industrial buildings and suburban businesses, and the road split into two one-way sections. We were now on Gold Star Boulevard, but it sure didn’t earn a gold star in urban planning, ’cause it was insanely ugly!
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| The Greendale Mall. |
After twisting under I-190, we passed the Greendale Mall, which is virtually inaccessible in the route’s other direction because of the insane road patterns. Soon after that, we rejoined the inbound route on West Boylston Street, which went over a railroad track and twisted around next to it. There was an endless freight train on the track, while the other side of the road had some more gross industrial scenery (plus a few businesses and an actually nice-looking library).
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| It’s a bad picture, but I simply had to showcase this Halloween-themed store! |
Beyond the vast expanse of a grassy hill was Quinsigamond Community College, which looked like a haunted mansion in the foggy rain. We continued up West Boylston Street for a little more, still going by those suburban businesses, until we turned onto Mountain Street East. This was a nice break, as the road quickly became lined with houses.
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| The creepy community college! |
We went by a golf course eventually, while simultaneously passing the aptly-named “Fairways” apartment development. In fact, we were all of a sudden surrounded by apartment developments! We turned onto Clark Street, which went down a hill past a school, then Tacoma Street, which originally had office parks before the Great Brook Valley apartment development. And boy, it lasted forever.
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| Apartments as far as the eye can see. |
It took a seriously long time to get out of Great Brook Valley, but we finally did and turned onto Boylston Street. This road had some houses and businesses on one side and a big industrial building on the other. We headed onto Lincoln Street at a recently-built roundabout, and this took us down to the Lincoln Mall, where the 31 officially becomes the 16.
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| Some auto shop. |
WRTA Route: 31 (Union Station Hub – Lincoln Plaza via Grove Street and West Boylston Street)
Ridership: In its pre-loop form, the 31 got pretty good ridership: 475 riders per weekday and 238 per Saturday. My trip got a decent 13 riders.
Pros: The route serves as a nice direct trip to northern Worcester, as well as a crosstown trip from there to Lincoln Plaza. The WRTA only recently combined this with the 16, but it was a great decision – I like how people have the option to take a bus from one point on the loop to another.
Cons: These mostly lie in the schedule. On weekdays, it’s generally every 40 minutes, but for some reason it becomes every 80 minutes in the inbound direction only past 4 PM! The Saturday service is also every 80 minutes, leading to a measly six trips throughout the day.
Nearby and Noteworthy: The bulk of the route is pretty boring, but I like the section closer to Worcester. It serves some really nice parks!
Final Verdict: 6/10
The 31 does its job, nothing more, nothing less. It’s generally a good route, but the schedule is iffy, particularly on Saturdays. Time to continue the loop on the 16!
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
UMass Boston Shuttle: 4 (135 Morrissey Boulevard Lot – Campus Center)
UMass Boston recently (okay, a little longer ago than “recently”) added a new shuttle route, the 4! It runs from the Campus Center to the parking lot of the former Boston Globe building, which UMass has now commandeered. How would I describe the route? A hot mess.
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| Three problems: 1. No indication anywhere that this is a 4. 2. It’s one of UMass’s worst buses. 3. “Welcome to Boston”? More like “Welcome to a warzone”! Look at the state of the campus! |
So the bus pulled into the temporary busway next to the Campus Center in the middle of every construction project ever, and it didn’t have a destination sign. It also didn’t have a piece of paper in the window saying what route it was. How did the driver alert us to the fact that the bus was a 4? By shiftily holding up four fingers, of course! Great start, great start.
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| Okay, this is much better. |
We made our way onto University Drive South, which was a pleasant street that wasn’t in an eternal construction zone (mostly). There was a nice view of Dorchester across Savin Hill Cove on one side, while UMass buildings occupied the other side. We left the campus soon and turned onto the ridiculously overbuilt William T. Morrissey Boulevard – nine lanes. This has to be the widest street in Boston!
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| Is it just me or are we a little off-course? |
We went by Boston College High School, while on the other side was…the Boston Globe building. Okay, well, there it goes…yes, Morrissey Boulevard’s median meant that we couldn’t cross over to get to the building. We had to go all the way up to JFK/UMass Station, loop around (without actually going into the busway), and come back to the building. It was ridiculous!
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| Okay, these fences aren’t making this trip easy. |
Of course, as we were entering the complex, we could see that there was a u-turn road just before the Globe building…not that it mattered, because there was a secondary median blocking the path to the building (Morrissey Boulevard: most overbuilt road ever). That wasn’t where the problems ended, though. Getting into the lot required traversing an obstacle course of fences and barriers that felt way too small for a bus to be going through!
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| Well, at least the other bus has a “4” in the window! |
The lot was a mess, too. I get that it was hastily repurposed after the Globe moved offices, but man, they left it in bad condition! The whole thing feels like this decrepit old factory parking lot, and I guess that’s what it is, to some degree. At least UMass threw a few benches in for people to wait at.
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| Now why is our bus leaving first?? |
UMass Boston Shuttle Route: 4 (135 Morrissey Boulevard Lot – Campus Center)
Ridership: It seems to get light ridership, with one other person going in each direction. Maybe it gets busier at rush hour, but it’s definitely sad to see two empty buses running the 4 when every vehicle on the 1 is packed to the brims.
Pros: It connects the Boston Globe lot to UMass, and it seems to run frequently. Cool.
Cons: This route is so annoying to ride because of that stupid u-turn! You have to go so out of your way to get to this darn lot! Also, although it’s not as bad as the 3 running with a million buses on a 10 minute loop, the 4 has no semblance of a schedule. Why did my bus leave before the bus ahead of it? Now the frequency will be thrown out of whack from UMass!
Nearby and Noteworthy: A really awful parking lot. That’s it.
Final Verdict: 3/10
The 4 is so annoying to ride. Not only do you have to deal with that u-turn going towards the lot, but you also have no idea when your bus will come because the vehicles on the route seem to just play leapfrog with each other! Even the UMass website isn’t sure how often the 4 runs – it gives no frequency on there. Honestly, it seems like it would be faster to run this via Mount Vernon Street, because at least then it would feel like you’re going somewhere! I might even radically suggest combining the 3 and the 4 into a big parking lot loop, since neither route gets a ton of ridership in the first place. Hmmm…
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
Littleton/Route 495
It’s a good thing I reviewed this one after riding the LRTA 15, since I doubt I would’ve had any reason to come here otherwise – Littleton/Route 495 is in the middle of nowhere! It’s one of those Commuter Rail stations that’s really only meant to be a park-and-ride, which…well, it’s not exactly a rare thing…
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| Might as well start with the station’s main use. |
For a park-and-ride station, it’s interesting that Littleton only has 246 total spaces. Doesn’t seem like a lot, does it? At least there’s a convenient “restroom facility” in the parking lot, though (see above)! The station also has about 24 spaces for bikes, and there’s actually a bus connection here. Okay, it’s the MART Boston Shuttle, which runs three times a day and is no doubt awful and guaranteed to be really late, but…it does come here.
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| Down on the platform. |
There’s a great footbridge that leads over to the platform, going down to it on a long ramp. This station was completely renovated in 2013, as we can see from the awesome platform. It’s modern and it gets the job done, with plenty of benches and wastebaskets, as well as historical information about Littleton. The lighting at night was great, even on the substantial unsheltered section, and it was a pleasant place to wait for the train with the subtle din of cars from nearby I-495.
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| Darn it, it’s going the wrong way! |
Station: Littleton/Route 495
Ridership: I guess I didn’t have to worry about the 246 spaces thing, because the ridership here isn’t much higher: 313 people per day. Considering drop-offs and people who get here on bikes, I’m sure there’s enough space in that lot.
Pros: The 2013 renovation did wonders for this place. It’s really nice! Sure, this is nothing special, and it has no more than the basic Commuter Rail amenities you would expect, but that’s not a bad thing. The station’s proximity to both Route 2 and I-495 is an added bonus.
Cons: Maybe the lot is too small? I wish the MBTA still had its fill rate statistics online! Any Littleton commuters out there who could report on the state of the lot in the morning peak?
Nearby and Noteworthy: There’s practically nothing around here – a few offices, and that’s it.
Final Verdict: 8/10
Yeah, not much to report here. Littleton looks great, it functions well, and it’s in a good location for its intended purpose.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates