In comparison to the last route, the 51 is a rather straight connector between Amesbury and Haverhill. It’s also the busiest route based out of Haverhill, despite the fact that it runs more infrequently than the other Haverhill routes. Weird!

The bus in Amesbury, coming right off of the 54.

We pulled out of the Costello Transportation Center and headed down Elm Street into Amesbury Center. Like always, it was gorgeous, with diverse small businesses houses in marvelous brick buildings. We turned onto Friend Street and navigated a roundabout onto School Street, where there were some municipal buildings, houses, and a church.

I couldn’t get any good photos of the Center, so here’s…this.

We officially left the Center as we headed down the residential Sparhawk Street. Dense houses continued when we turned onto Highland Street, although they were broken at one point by a hospital. We merged onto Haverhill Road, passing a big cemetery, some suburban businesses, and an industrial area.

Help wanted at Shea, I guess. Apparently they make concrete.

Eventually the street got more residential, and it was lined with either houses or woods for a while. Businesses started to show up again once we entered Merrimac and it became East Main Street, along with other attractions like a trailer park and a senior center. We came into Merrimac “Square,” a cluster of businesses around a roundabout.

Traversing the “Square.”

We continued down West Main Street in the Haverhill-bound direction, but then we made a strange route jog via Locust Street, Middle Street, and School Street. The neighborhoods it served were mostly residential, and the goal of the deviation was to serve Merri Village, a rather small housing development that didn’t feel like it needed the service. We returned to the Square and headed back onto West Main like nothing ever happened.

A narrow street on the deviation.

It was mostly houses along here, continuing until there were a few industrial buildings over the Haverhill border. The street was Amesbury Road now, and it was a mix of all different kinds of buildings, including residential, retail, and industrial ones. We eventually went under I-495 and turned onto Elliot Street, beginning another deviation.

Oho!

Frankly, I didn’t see the point in serving Northern Essex Community College in the summer, but a few people actually got on there, so I guess it was worth it! After looping around the campus, we made our way back to Amesbury Road, which went alongside Kenoza Lake for a bit with an awesome view. We merged onto the residential Kenoza Ave next.

A field along Amesbury Road.

The street started to get more urban, with denser houses and apartments and some retail coming in. We went down Main Street for a block, which had some shopping plazas, but it was mostly dense houses again when we turned onto White Street, then Emerson Street. We were almost in Haverhill, but for some strange reason we had to deviate to Winter Street and Welcome Street, only to come right back to Emerson. I have no idea why that was, but once we were back on Emerson, it was only a few blocks until we reached the Washington Square Transit Station.

The bus enjoying a hearty lunch of passengers.

MVRTA Route: 51 (Haverhill – Amesbury)

Ridership: Like I said, this is the busiest route based out of Haverhill. Unfortunately, its ridership was at a low in 2015, with 109,127 riders during the year. That means the route got about 300 people per day, which is still pretty good for the number of trips it has. In fact, ridership may have even gone up since then – my ride had 30 people on it!

Pros: The 51 is the gateway to Amesbury and beyond via the 54, offering a quick trip (around half an hour) from Haverhill. It clearly gets a good amount of ridership, but since most of it is concentrated at certain major stops, it allows the route to still move quickly most of the time.

Cons: Because this is interlined with the 54, it has the same annoying headway of every 70 minutes. The really sad thing is that the 51 could be straightened if the Merri Village deviation was eliminated (it doesn’t seem necessary to me), but I don’t think it would improve the time all that much – maybe 5 minutes per round trip. Thus, I think we’re stuck with the 70 minute schedule unless changes are made on the 54.

Nearby and Noteworthy: I would love to spend some time in Amesbury Center, and this is the best way to get there: take the train to Haverhill, pray that the bus times well, and you’ll be in Amesbury in about 30 minutes!

Final Verdict: 7/10
This is better than the 54 because it’s busier and mostly deviation-free, but it’s certainly not perfect. I would absolutely love it if the 51 could get a consistent hourly schedule – unfortunately, I don’t think it’s possible unless some major deviations are cut. Of course, by all means cut Merri Village, because it really doesn’t seem all that important.

Latest MBTA News: Service Updates

Another MWRTA route that has the potential to be great but is dragged down by a horrible schedule? I’m really getting sick of these. It’s the 7!

The back of the bus at the Banana Lot.

From the Banana Lot, we made our way up to Franklin Street, an industrial road. That didn’t last long, though – soon enough, it was houses galore. After an abandoned shopping plaza, there was a brief section of woods, but it went right back to being residential when we turned onto Maple Street.

A playground!

We turned onto State Street next, and that took us right into the campus of Framingham State University. It was also a small campus, though – once we got onto Salem End Road, it went right back to houses. We soon turned onto Temple Street, then we deviated into a Stop & Shop, because it’s the MWRTA and they need to deviate into everything.

UH-OH!

Oh no, next it was time for a stretch on ROUTE 9! What kinds of horrible buildings would we see? Suburban businesses? Check. Parking lots? Check. Monolithic apartment towers? Check. A rather pretty reservoir? Oh…apparently, that’s a check, too! Well, that’s a nice change!

This isn’t the Route 9 I know!

Eventually one of those apartment towers was deemed deviation-worthy, so we pulled into the Jefferson Hills Apartments. We went back onto Route 9 after that, making our way through a complicated interchange with I-90. There were lots of office parks on the other side of the interchange, and we took a strange off-ramp onto Staples Drive to serve one of them. That’s right, it was a deviation to Staples Headquarters!

Coming out of Staples.

This next part is pretty darn nonsensical. We’ve got Crossing Boulevard, left on Pleasant Street Connector, right on Boston Road, right on New York Ave (going by some big office parks), right on California Ave, straight into “Route 9 Park and Ride.” It was, uh, kind of an odd place for one. And it was a real ragtag operation. Oh well, we served it anyway.

Alright, well, the shelter’s kinda nice!

Luckily, the route would be deviation-free after that mess. We went down Route 9 for a bit before turning onto Central Street. Now in Southborough, it was mostly houses along here, but once we turned onto Boston Road, we got a really nice view: the street went over a lake!

Ahhhh, lovely!

There were more houses on the other side, but it all changed once we turned onto Main Street. We were now in, as the MWRTA puts it, “Downtown Southborough”! Wow, that is a really hyped-up name for a really boring town center. Seriously, if I hadn’t known from looking at the map, it would’ve just seemed like some random clump of a few boring businesses.

Here’s a side street or something. Who knows?

We turned onto Marlboro Road next, passing by some fields and a fancy-looking private school. It became a mix of sparse houses and woods next, all the way up until we entered Marlborough and the road became Maple Street. Then it was gross industrial buildings!

Hi, Marlborough…

Some houses started to show up as our street became Bolton Street. It started to grow wider, culminating at its intersection with Main Street, onto which we turned. Now this was the real deal! Two-, three-, and four-story buildings lined the main drag, all housing (mostly boring, sadly) businesses.

A side road from Main Street.

As we left the downtown, it got a lot more residential in the form of dense houses – I had no idea Marlborough was this urban! We turned onto Broad Street, going by some apartment buildings, then there was some retail as we turned onto Lincoln Street. We headed onto Mechanic Street next, which curved around to become the wide Granger Boulevard, and at that point, we went into the perfect place to end the route: the Marlborough Senior Center. Wonderful.

Bye!

This picture at Jefferson Hills is the only one I have with the actual route number in it.

MWRTA Route: 7 (Southborough/Marlborough)

Ridership: This route actually gets good ridership! On weekdays in 2015, it got 54,262 people, which divides out to about 208 per day. It’s nothing special, but hey, this is the MWRTA we’re talking about. My ride got 10 people total!

Pros: Aside from the weird mess of office park deviations along Route 9, the 7 is generally straight and efficient. It actually functions as a bus route, connecting two sizeable cities and serving a variety of attractions in between.

Cons: Oh hi, schedule! How’s it going? What’s that? You want the weekday headways to be anywhere from every half hour to every 87 minutes, with a bunch of varying times in between? And you want the route to only run four times per Saturday, with more random headways, all over every two hours? Awesome!

Nearby and Noteworthy: There isn’t all that much of note in Marlborough, but it’s the most exciting place you’ll find on the 7.

Final Verdict: 6/10
It’s becoming abundantly clear that the schedule is the only reason that a lot of the MWRTA’s routes are bad. The 7 gets good ridership and serves multiple towns and attractions, but that schedule is just awful! Not to mention that the route still does those office park deviations on midday and Saturday trips, because that makes sense. Should I lower the score to a 5? Ehhhh, I won’t, but it’s very close.

Latest MBTA News: Service Updates

Oh man, these MWRTA are starting to get me down. Alright, here’s another completely useless one, the 4S.

Minibuses galore.

We went down Blandin Ave and merged onto Irving Street, then Loring Drive. It was mostly industrial until we came to one of the largest parking lots I’ve ever seen attached to one of the largest buildings I’ve ever seen. This was ADESA, a car auction center, and right across the street from it was a prison. We made a little loop here and…uh…went right back the way we came. What an odd deviation!

This picture does not capture the hugeness of this building.

We went all the way back up to Irving Street, onto which we turned as if nothing had ever happened. We continued onto Leland Street, which had houses until the Commuter Rail tracks, where there were some industrial buildings. We turned onto Beaver Street next, then Second Street, entering an apartment development.

Coming out of Second Street.

The street curved out of the development and we turned onto Waverly Street. This was a mix of various industrial buildings and suburban businesses with parking lots, but we were only on it for a few blocks before turning onto Taralli Terrace, then Beaver Park Road. We were back in the same housing development from before, and we did in fact go right back onto Beaver Street the way we had come.

The MWRTA needs to “STOP” with its stupid routes!

Turns out we were using Beaver Street to go back to the Blandin Hub. Okay, first of all, that’s not on the map, even though it’s in the schedule. But more importantly, why????? Why does the route need to serve the same housing development twice when it’s far slower than just staying on Waverly Street and going back to the hub that way? This is one of the most bizarre routings I’ve ever seen!!!!

Back here again.

We once again left the Blandin Hub and went down Blandin Ave, but this time we turned the other way down Irving Street. Next, we turned onto Arlington Street, which was residential for the most part. We turned onto Waushakum Street after that, then Hollis Street, running past dense houses and a nice pond at one point.

A residential side street.

We entered Ashland, and soon after that happened, we deviated into a shopping plaza, primarily to serve its Market Basket. There was a section of forest after that, and it remained pretty woodsy for a while aside from some random suburban businesses. We soon arrived at Shaw’s, the end of the route.

Shaw’s Plaza.

MWRTA Route: 4S (South)

Ridership: In 2015, the southern section of the 4 got about 35 riders per weekday and 19 per Saturday. I have no idea if it gets that level of ridership nowadays (my weekday round trip had about 5 riders, which would be way above average), but if it did, that would be incredibly low.

Pros: Geez, this is hard. I dunno, it gets a few people. Maybe.

Cons: It’s an MWRTA route, so you know what we’re going to start with! For the most part, the 4S runs every 42 minutes. Except for a few trips where it’s every 43. Or 44. Come on, can we just standardize this to every 45 so it doesn’t look ridiculous?? Also, this is yet another route that’s redundant to others. Aside from its deviation to ADESA and the prison (which gets barely any ridership and is by request most of the time), the only place the route really serves is that housing development, and that’s a 5 minute walk from the 10/11 – the stuff in Ashland is entirely parallel with the 6. Even if that wasn’t the case, where does this route really take you? Sure, there are the supermarkets in Ashland, but the original intent of the 4 was to connect the apartment development to the Natick Mall. Now that it’s split up, there’s absolutely no coordination with the 4N, so it’s far better just to use the 10/11 to get up there directly.

Nearby and Noteworthy: Again, nothing exclusive to the 4S. ADESA, I guess…if you want to auction off your car, this is the route for you!

Final Verdict: 2/10
Maybe the ridership is higher than I realize for the 4S, but somehow I doubt it – I say my ride had 5 people, but two of them just went from Ashland to Framingham, something they could’ve used the 6 for. This route is basically just a loop to nowhere, and it’s essentially useless without that Natick Mall connection. Can it be fixed? I think so!

So here’s what I’m proposing: put the routes together again. On the map they’re split into two loops, but that’s just for visual aid – it’s one route. I’m cutting some of the pointless deviations like BJ’s and the whole Franklin Street jog on the 4N (except for the MetroWest Medical Center). As for the 4S, I’m cutting the Market Basket/Shaw’s section of the route on weekdays because the 6 already serves them – the transfers don’t always time great, but that’s more a problem with the 6’s horrible schedule that needs to be worked out. On Saturdays, when the 6 doesn’t run, the 4 will run down and serve those supermarkets. And here’s the schedule (it might be easier to view in its full document):

Now, I know what you’re saying: half hour service on the MWRTA? Is that possible? Or necessary? Well, it is definitely possible. Since the routes use two buses at the moment, we can put both of them on this new streamlined combined route to make one of the most frequent routes on the MWRTA (although because of the extra deviations on Saturdays, it has to run every 40 minutes instead). As for whether it’s necessary or not, it’s hard to say. On the one hand, half hourly service from Framingham to the Natick Mall seems pretty desirable. On the other hand, it’s the freaking MWRTA, so who knows if anyone will use it? The resources could be put to better use on the busier 2/3. Still, it’s certainly an interesting idea, and it looks amazing compared to the MWRTA’s other awful schedules! My one concern is that I skipped a Walmart on the northern loop that actually does get pretty good ridership, but deviating there could take up too much time. It might still be possible, but it would cut it close. There might be a way to have the 2 or the 3 go there instead.

Latest MBTA News: Service Updates

Oh come on, can’t this system have one good route? I thought the 4N was perfectly fine when I rode it, but further investigation has revealed that it’s almost completely redundant to other routes! ARGH!!!

I was going to get on this bus, but it broke down. Foreshadowing?

We took a few streets to get onto Ring Road, which went along the south side of Shopper’s World, then curved to the west side. We continued onto Shopper’s World Way, which took us to a deviation to BJ’s. From there, we made our way to Cochituate Road, then Calder Road, both going by many suburban businesses with parking lots.

Some random shopping plaza.

We turned onto Worcester Road, otherwise known as – uh-oh – ROUTE 9! Get ready for the onslaught of ugly, sketchy “Route 9 businesses”! Luckily it didn’t last too long, as we did a little loop-de-loop onto Concord Street, which took us over the highway.

A weird dead zone in the loop-de-loop.

Concord Street was a mix of everything, including houses, apartment developments, businesses, Framingham District Court, and a National Guard base! It was primarily houses, though, until we turned onto Lincoln Street, passing a few different hospitals, including the large MetroWest Medical Center. We merged onto Union Ave after that, which was mostly houses.

A tragically abandoned shopping plaza.

We turned onto Mount Wayte Ave, then Franklin Street, going back the way we came and revealing that this was all a really long, skinny jog in the route. Franklin Street was houses for a while, then after a small industrial patch, we turned onto Howard Street outside of a small park. This route purports itself to serve the Framingham Station Banana Lot, but it really doesn’t – Howard Street is considered to be the “Banana Lot” stop, which is pretty misleading.

Look, you can see the proper Banana Lot over there to the right!

There were some vestiges of downtown Framingham as we turned onto Concord Street, but we had mostly bypassed it. We crossed the Commuter Rail tracks and turned onto Irving Street, passing a bit of retail at first, but it switched to houses quickly. Next, we made our way around onto Blandin Ave and pulled into the Blandin Hub, marking the end of the trip. Oh wait, it’s a loop? It takes a different route back to the Natick Mall? DARN IT!

Leaving the hub again.

We went back onto Blandin Ave, crossed the tracks again, and headed up Bishop Street. After some industry and offices, it became a residential neighborhood, complete with a park with a few sports facilities in it. The houses continued as we turned onto Hartford Street.

A badly-paved street.

We went under some telephone wires, but that was about the only break from the constant stream of houses. Finally, we headed onto Speen Street, which went over Route 9 and past a few office buildings. This turned into Natick Mall Road, and thus it led us back to our origin, the Natick Mall!

Good thing the driver let me stay on back to Blandin! Too bad this picture is really out of focus…

MWRTA Route: 4N (North)

Ridership: The ridership data from this route is from when it was combined with the 4S (the MWRTA split them up when its new hub opened), but the MWRTA notes that about 60% of that ridership is on the 4N. That means the route gets about 52 riders per weekday (4 per round trip) and about 28 per Saturday (3.5 per round trip). Ouch!

Pros: I’m pleased to report that this is an MWRTA route that runs consistently every hour. Let’s give them a big round of applause!

Cons: The 4N is almost entirely redundant to other MWRTA routes! The western section from the mall to the MetroWest Medical Center parallels the 2 and the 3, and it actually takes a little bit longer on the 4N because of the BJ’s deviation (which, incidentally, gets an average of less than one rider per week). The jog up Union Ave and down Franklin Street also parallels the 2/3 and the 7, respectively. The part up Bishop Street is technically independent, but it’s only a six minute walk from the 2/3, and then most of Hartford Street to the Natick Mall is with the 10/11. So…why does this route exist, then?

Nearby and Noteworthy: There’s nothing that the 4N exclusively serves!

Final Verdict: 3/10
I’ll give it a few points for having a consistent schedule and for getting marginal ridership, but that’s about it for the 4N. I see no reason why this route shouldn’t be eliminated – the extra bus could be used for extra service on the 2/3, which those routes absolutely need. And sure, that would mean that there’s more frequent service in one loop direction than the other, but the bus could switch based on the peak direction, and the MWRTA is no stranger to weird schedules that don’t make much sense, anyway. There may also be a future for this route if it recombines in the 4S, which we’ll explore soon…

Latest MBTA News: Service Updates

You thought the 3 was crazy? Ha! You ain’t seen nothing yet. The 10 and the 11 are…well, let’s just review them.

The 11 coming into the Natick Mall.

First of all, the MWRTA does not have an online map for this route, so I am totally going by my pictures right now. Great, that makes everything easier, doesn’t it? Sigh…okay, so we left the mall and made our way onto Route 9, but we exited off of it in about 2 seconds in order to serve Sherwood Plaza. Oh boy, we’re off to a great start!

Very holiday-themed, yet I rode this route in the summer!

We returned to Route 9 for another 2 seconds before exiting off onto Speen Street, which took us past some office buildings, a hotel, and another shopping plaza. There were more suburban businesses for a while, but as the road curved west, they shifted into office parks. We turned onto Old Connecticut Path next, taking us over I-90 and into a residential area.

Going over the highway.

There were suburban houses for a while, aside from a brief break for Lake Cochituate (no view, alas). After the lake, we turned onto Plain Street, passing more houses with a brief deviation break for an apartment development. Next, we turned onto Main Street and headed through Cochituate Village, which was basically just one building with a few sketchy-looking businesses.

Basically the entirety of Cochituate Village.

There was a brief residential break, but at the intersection with Route 30, there was some more retail, this time in some more modern developments. We crossed I-90 again, going under it this time, after which it was a mix of houses and occasional suburban business developments. Once we got to Route 9, we had to deviate into 9/27 Plaza, a rather boring shopping center (albeit with plans to become more interesting). Strangely for the MWRTA, we were actually early, and we had to wait a few minutes before leaving.

Man, Route 9 is a real blast, huh?

We returned to North Main Street after the deviation had been completed, running once again through a residential area. As the street started to curve and get a bit denser, the houses turned into a lot of apartment developments. Finally, after a bridge over the Commuter Rail, we entered Natick Center, and there were businesses everywhere!

Clearly I did not photograph the most vibrant part of the center.

We turned onto Central Street at the Natick Common and left downtown, though there were still some straggling businesses. We turned onto Union Street next, which quickly became residential up until we deviated to serve the Leonard Morse Hospital. Once that was done, we came back up Union Street, deviated into a housing development, and used that deviation to enter another deviation to the Natick Community Center. Alright, I’ll give that one a pass – that’s some clever deviating.

Coming into the Community Center.

Once all those deviations were done, it was revealed that the whole thing was one super-deviation – we now had to return to the center. We turned onto Main Street once we arrived, then we merged onto Cottage Street and made a very useful deviation for Coolidge Gardens. You see, the entrance to the building is a whole 25 feet from the road, so it’s absolutely necessary that the bus goes into its front drive so people don’t have to walk that staggeringly long distance. Thank goodness for those savvy MWRTA planners!

Right up to the front door!

We went down Cottage Street for a little longer before turning onto Circular Ave, which was in fact not circular. It became Curve Street, although it didn’t really curve all that much, then we turned onto Cedar Ave. There was a slight hill, and it led us into Cedar Terrace, a housing development, which was separate from the housing development right next to it, Cedar Gardens. The route serves both, though, and for some reason it gets 4 minutes to get between them – needless to say, we had to wait for a few minutes because we were early.

Cedar Gardens. Or Terrace. Who cares?

We headed back to Oakland Street and took it to Pond Street. This road went by two ponds, actually, but also three cemeteries. There was a spurt of houses and then a few businesses at the intersection with Speen Street, onto which we turned. Next, we deviated into a Roche Brothers.

I’m getting sick of this!

We returned onto Speen the way we came, but this time we continued down it past lots of houses. Next, we merged onto Kendall Ave, which actually went by a farm! Don’t worry, though, it went back to typical suburban houses soon enough. We arrived at another apartment development, Sherborn Meadows, but surprisingly, we didn’t have to deviate! Oh man, that’s worth a celebration.

Going past it!

We headed up Beaver Street, which was mostly dense housing for a bit before shifting over to industrial buildings. We curved around onto Blandin Ave next, and arrived at the Blandin Hub. This horrible trip was finally over! Oh wait, it’s a loop and I got on at the Natick Mall. Darn it, there’s still more to do!

I snuck a picture of the bus while the driver took a layover.

After leaving the hub, we went down Waverly Street, which had the Commuter Rail on one side and various industrial buildings on the other. We went by West Natick Station, but while the counterclockwise 10 does a deviation into a plaza next to it, we just sailed right by. Soon we turned onto Mill Street, and I only just realized this now looking at the map: we were literally a block away from that Roche Brothers we had served ages ago. This route is maddening.

Oh, a convenience store! Not gonna deviate, are you? Weirdos!!!!!!

We went over the Commuter Rail tracks and passed more houses, then we deviated into Sherwood Village, which consisted of two apartment buildings. Darting under some pylons, we turned onto Hartford Street, which led us past more houses to Speen Street. We took this over Route 9, then we had to deviate into Mathworks Lakeside, and office park. Finally, we returned to Natick Mall Road and made our way to the main bus stop AND THE ROUTE WAS OVER YAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!

The under-construction Mathworks building.

MWRTA Routes: 10/11 (Natick Circuit Counterclockwise/Clockwise)

Ridership: The two routes combined get pretty good ridership for MWRTA standards, although it’s awful ridership for any other standards: 136 riders per weekday, and about 55 people on Saturdays.

Pros: These are basically the premiere routes for Natick, and they even serve a bit of Wayland. Pros over!

Cons: As with any MWRTA route, it comes down to the schedule, first and foremost. Surprisingly, both of these routes offer consistent headways! The problem is that they’re awful – every hour and 35 minutes. And you know why it takes that long? Because these are incredibly long loops with FAR too many deviations. Riding the 11 was one of the few times that I really really really wanted to get off a bus, because it was just never-ending. I cannot stress enough how insane these routes are. And sure, they are bidirectional, so theoretically there’s always a shorter way around the loop, but since the frequencies are so low, it might take just as long to take the other route the long way around as to wait for your bus!

Nearby and Noteworthy: I dunno, probably some malls or something. Who cares? Geez!

Final Verdict: 3/10
I really can’t bring myself to increase this score. Yes, the 10 and the 11 are certainly useful, and together they get somewhat decent ridership for the MWRTA. But their layout and the schedule are just so prohibitive for the routes being at all usable! I think the only real solution for this is to split the routes up to make them shorter. That could mean creating two smaller loops, or maybe have certain deviations done by only one of the routes (they already do this with a few of them). Truth be told, the MWRTA’s lack of a map for these routes has made writing this post incredibly long and tedious and I want it to be over, so I’m not proposing any new schedule this time, but some sort of service change is absolutely worth studying.

Latest MBTA News: Service Updates

Welcome to the MWRTA’s premiere routes, the 2 and the 3! Crazy schedule? Lots of deviations? Yes and yes!

The 2 at the Natick Mall.

I boarded the minibus at the Natick Mall, and we looped around onto Flutie Pass. Next, we turned onto Shopper’s World Drive, then Ring Road, serving Shopper’s World – an apt name for a shopping plaza. Ring Road went up along the back of the plaza and we had a stop for Kohl’s, then we waited at the longest red light in the world before turning onto Cochituate Road.

I was so bored from waiting that I took this weird photo of the light!

The behemoth suburban shopping plazas around the Natick Mall started to dwindle, eventually becoming boring ol’ Route 9 businesses as we turned onto Concord Street and crossed over that road. There were houses on the other side, but we made some weird turns to get to Arsenal Road. This route jog was, from what I can tell, only to serve a housing development one block from Concord Street.

Some normal houses.

There was a base for the National Guard where we turned onto Normandy Road, then Rose Kennedy Lane, which was a…dead end. Oh, another housing development? Alright, alright, great. This section also served MassBay Community College, but I guess that didn’t warrant its own deviation, so we returned to Concord Street.

Some more houses.

There was a burst of retail, but then it became a mix between that and more houses. Things started to get denser as we turned onto Lincoln Street, then Pearl Street, and new types of buildings began to show up. We made a lot of one-block runs on narrow local streets, taking us past backlots of downtown Framingham, until we arrived at the Framingham Station Banana Lot.

Oh, we’re not even near done!

It was more side streets from there, featuring a pretty industrial atmosphere overall. The route finally stopped its twists and turns and settled on Union Ave, a street with many parking lots along it. After a high school, it turned into houses, staying that way until a college football field and a senior center came in a clump.

Back to my favorite road!

Union Street became Main Street, and we soon reached Route 9 again (the ugliest road in the world after Route 1 in Saugus). We were right near Framingham State University, but strangely, we didn’t have to serve it, instead opting for a jog to some businesses on Vernon Street. We took that road around a common and turned onto Edgell Road, which curved around past some houses and under I-90.

Pretty industrial here!

It was all residential for quite a while until we got near water street, where a few shopping plazas started to show up. We turned onto Water next, passing the “Nobscot Shopping Center,” otherwise known as the most depressing shopping center on the planet. Almost every retail space was vacant!

Wow.

There was a library and an elementary school, then Water Street became residential. It was almost all houses as we headed in a southeastern direction until Sudbury Pond. Not only was there a nice view here, but there were also some businesses!

Okay, “nice” doesn’t mean “amazing,” but it’s something.

We made our way onto Concord Street, which had a revitalized old factory along it for a bit. After going over a small river, we turned onto A Street, which had a smattering of houses and the gigantic Framingham High School. A Street merged with Concord Street again, and there were more houses after we went under I-90.

Well, this is a very nicely-landscaped traffic island.

Eventually the MWRTA planners decided the route was too straight, so we deviated into a Stop & Shop. There was a BJ’s next to it, but a different bus deviates to serve that one, so we made our way down Newbury Street. This became Whittier Street, then Shopper’s World Drive, and we were in the suburban, wide-roaded hellscape surrounding the Natick Mall once again.

What is this, suburban Florida?

We went by the big park-and-ride for Logan Express buses to the airport, as well as Shopper’s World again. Luckily we didn’t have to deviate into that plaza, instead turning right onto Flutie Pass. This took us right back to where we started: the Natick Mall. And you thought that loop was long and deviatory? Just wait until the next review!

I couldn’t get a picture of the 3, so here’s a 2 again.

MWRTA Routes: 2/3 (Framingham Circuit Clockwise/Counterclockwise)

Ridership: When I said these were the premiere MWRTA routes, I wasn’t lying – the 2 and the 3 are the two busiest lines on the whole network. Together, they get the huge number of: 332 riders per weekday and 165 riders per Saturday. Well, that’s a little anticlimactic! Also, while the weekday ridership is split pretty evenly, the 2 gets way more ridership on Saturdays than the 3. I have no idea why.

Pros: Well, given the number of trips, that ridership data isn’t half-bad! Most of the deviations on my ride got people, and the routes serve a big chunk of the MetroWest’s developed areas. I’m grateful for the fact that clockwise and counterclockwise loops are provided so that people don’t have to suffer through that many deviations to get wherever they’re going.

Cons: It’s the MWRTA, so of course the schedules are crazy! The 2 actually starts out with consistent every-hour service weekday mornings and Saturdays, but at all other times for the 2 and the 3, it’s anyone’s guess as to when they come! Every 65 minutes? Every 80 minutes? Every 71 minutes? These are all headways, and it needlessly complicates these routes. I know that traffic necessitates longer schedule gaps, but there has to be some way of making things at least a little consistent. Also, why do the two routes have to come to the Natick Mall at around the same time? Seems like it would be better if they were staggered to give the illusion of more frequent service.

Nearby and Noteworthy: Lots of malls. Malls, malls, malls. Natick has a lot of malls.

Final Verdict: 5/10
Well, isn’t this sad? These are quite possibly the two most useful routes on the MWRTA and they get a 5. As the ridership gets higher and more people are relying on the routes, the MWRTA schedules become less and less desirable. There are buses with way less consistent headways, but they’re less busy and much straighter; the high ridership and constant deviations of the 2 and 3 drag down the score.

Latest MBTA News: Service Updates