MWRTA: 4S (South)
Oh man, these MWRTA are starting to get me down. Alright, here’s another completely useless one, the 4S.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!!!!
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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
MWRTA: 4N (North)
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!!!
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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
MWRTA: 10/11 (Natick Circuit Counterclockwise/Clockwise)
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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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!!!
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| 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
MWRTA: 2/3 (Framingham Circuit Clockwise/Counterclockwise)
Welcome to the MWRTA’s premiere routes, the 2 and the 3! Crazy schedule? Lots of deviations? Yes and yes!
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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
MWRTA: 8 (Wellesley)
From one of the busiest stations on the MBTA to a horrible bus route on a horrible bus system that only uses minibuses. Cool!
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| Ugh… |
After struggling to locate the stop at the Natick Community Center (it has no sign, and I had to ask an employee inside where it was), the bus pulled in. With that classic minibus “Bip!” sound, the doors opened and I stepped on. Little did I know how long and stupid this trip would turn out to be.
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| A house under construction. |
There were a few businesses at first, but it devolved into all houses as we headed down Central Street. Indeed, those houses soon devolved themselves into woods, which stuck around as we entered Wellesley. Soon after that, though, buildings for the college named after the town started to appear.
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| Oh, of course we have to deviate! Of course! |
Oh, darn it, we had to deviate into Wellesley College. This didn’t make any sense, either! First of all, the campus is huge, so what difference does it make to pull off the road a tiny bit just to serve the Campus Center? Also, who is going to use this bus from here? Wellesley College already has numerous shuttles to Cambridge that are more frequent, faster, and cheaper than using this bus and taking it to the T.
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| Aw yeah, just got the train in there! |
We came back to Central Street after the college and went through more woods. All of a sudden, there was a burst of retail along the road…but before we could run through it, we turned onto Weston Roa and crossed over the Commuter Rail tracks. It was time to start one of the stupidest and most long-winded deviations I’ve ever experienced.
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| Some houses. |
Weston Road was, aside from a few unremarkable Route 9 businesses, literally just houses. Just. Houses. Not a housing development, where people with lower incomes who might ride the bus are more likely to live. No, just houses. All with driveways. Some with garages! And we just went up this street for full minutes before just looping around on side roads and coming back. Wow. What’s more, the route only does this deviation going towards Woodland Station! That’s right, even if someone who lived here was inclined to use the bus, they would have no way of getting back. Oh, that’s truly wonderful. GEEZ!
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| A true neighborhood of bus riders, yessir! |
Were we safe from deviations yet? Nope. Before we could serve that block of retail I was talking about before, we had to go an extra block down Weston Road and turn onto Cross Street. Why? I don’t even know – it doesn’t show up on the map, and all we were serving was a parking lot. It does appear in the schedule, though, so it’s definitely supposed to happen! For some reason…
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| The businesses of Wellesley Square. |
We returned to Central Street and finally served the many interesting and diverse retail options of Wellesley Square. However, rather than continue on our merry way, we made a weird loop via Cameron Street, Spring Street, and Grove Street, and then headed back the way we came on Central Street…? Okay, are you telling me that this Wellesley Square stuff was also a deviation? And this only happens going towards Woodland too!
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| Going over the Commuter Rail again. |
We turned onto Crest Road, once again crossing the Commuter Rail, then we turned onto Linden Street. There was a variety of malls and shopping plazas along here, and based on the way this route was going, I was shocked that we didn’t have to deviate to serve any of them! Next up, we were on Kingsbury Street in order to go over the Commuter Rail yet again before turning onto Washington Street and actually picking someone up at Whole Foods.
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| An auto shop. |
With the Commuter Rail on one side and a big park on the other, we just sped down Washington Street for a while. Once we got to the Wellesley Hills area, there was retail all around, and it continued for a good while past the Commuter Rail station. We went over Route 9, and that’s where the street finally got residential.
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| Some businesses at Wellesley Hills. |
Home stretch, right? Nope, how about another deviation?! We turned onto Oakland Street, making our way through a lengthy level crossing with Route 9, all in order to serve MassBay Community College. So…why? After all, whereas this route costs $1.50 to ride and runs every hour and a half to Woodland, MassBay has a shuttle that’s absolutely free and runs every 15 minutes to Riverside! HMMMMM, SEEMS LIKE IT’S KIND OF A WASTE OF TIME TO RUN THE 8 HERE, METHINKS!
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| Sigh. |
After making our way across Route 9 again, we returned to Washington Street, which was almost entirely houses. We did serve a minor “downtown,” though, in the form of “Lower Falls,” just on the border of Wellesley and Newton. We finally made it into Newton when we crossed the Charles River, where there were more suburban-type businesses and offices as we went over I-95. Finally, after passing the Newton-Wellesley Hospital, we made it to Woodland Station! Geez, that was horrible!
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| A minibus with a Green Line train…that just doesn’t look right. |
MWRTA Route: 8 (Wellesley)
Ridership: Oh geez. The 8 got a “whopping” 8,093 riders in the whole year of 2015, and that was when the bus also went to the Natick Mall, which greatly boosted ridership. 8,093 riders per year, incidentally, equates to 32 people per day. My trip had a total of 1 other person the entire time. OH ME OH MY!
Pros: Who knows? Uhh…it serves Wellesley. There you go.
Cons: Let’s break this down piece by piece. First, I’ll just get the crazy schedule out of the way. So during rush hours, it has a “commuter schedule” that reads vertically and makes absolutely no sense. Cool. Meanwhile, middays it runs anywhere from every hour and a half to over two hours, depending on the trip – they all have completely random departure times in typical MWRTA fashion.
But the deviations…oh my God, the deviations. Let’s go through them one at a time, using the MWRTA’s handy stop-by-stop ridership data to decide if each one is worth it. First, there’s the Natick Community Center, which is a strange place to end the route in the first place. This stop never gets more than 6 riders in a month, so yeah, that’s a waste – the 8 should be extended to Natick Center instead. Next up, there’s Wellesley College, which has its own shuttle, and the stop never gets more than 1-2 riders per day. Cut it. The Weston Road deviation (the one that just served a residential neighborhood and a few Route 9 stores) gets barely anyone, and it’s a huge inconvenience anyway, so we’ll cut that. The deviation to the businesses of Wellesley Square gets barely anyone, with the shopping plazas on Linden Street netting much more ridership, so we’ll just have the route go straight on that. And finally, although MassBay Community College doesn’t appear to be on the list in 2015, it has that really frequent free shuttle to Riverside, so I think we can assume the 8 ridership is virtually nil. CUT!
Nearby and Noteworthy: I’ll be honest, the 8 passes through a bunch of really charming downtowns. Lower Falls, Wellesley Hills, Wellesley Square, and Natick Center (if you want to count that) all seem to have some pretty unique and charming storefronts!
Final Verdict: 2/10
Okay, the 8 is salvageable. It’s not a 1, because I think it could be somewhat okay if the route was streamlined better. I’ll leave the commuter schedule untouched because A) it’s really confusing, and B) it’s when the route gets the highest ridership, so we’re going to focus on the midday schedule:
Just look at what cutting those deviations did! We can now get consistent every-hour service with a much faster and more streamlined route that now goes all the way to Natick Center. There might have to be a little more room created around the bus shelter there for layover space, but it shouldn’t be that big of a deal. With the more direct downtown-to-downtown service, this schedule would hopefully allow for greater ridership than what the route currently gets. At the very least, it’s way more service and it looks a lot nicer.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
Downtown Crossing
Downtown Crossing is a labyrinth. I mean, we’ve all used this station before, either to transfer or to get to Downtown Boston. But seriously…does anyone know just how many entrances and exits this place has? My friends and I walked around reviewing this hub for an hour and I’m sure I still forgot something somewhere! Oh well…we’re going to take quite possibly the most comprehensive look this station has ever gotten, and it’s going to take forever. Strap in!!
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| Continuing where we left off. |
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| Mamma mia! |
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| Coming toward the Orange Line platform. |
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| The Forest Hills platform. |
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| The exit to Temple Place. |
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| Okay, that’s awesome. |
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| I put about as much effort into this picture as the T put into building this stop. |
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| A terrible picture of the Otis and Summer Street stop from my 448 ride. |
It’s slightly dubious about whether the Otis and Summer Street bus stop counts as “Downtown Crossing” or not, but the bus announcements seem to think it is, so we’ll talk about it. It’s not much of a stop, with two unsheltered benches and a wastebasket, but it’s not used very much outside of rush hour, either. You’ve got one local bus connection (the 7) or two if you want to count the 11 at Bedford and Chauncy Streets, and then a myriad of express routes, most of which have very limited schedules. On Saturdays, Otis and Summer only has the 7 and the 504, while it’s completely dead on Sundays.
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| Just gonna ignore that product placement… |
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| Inside the first of many elevators. |
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| A weird slice of the mezzanine. |
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| A newer entrance. |
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| The end of the station concourse. |
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| This blew my mind when I discovered it. |
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| Now that’s signage! |
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| Continuing down the concourse. |
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| Further down the concourse. |
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| Woah, this is a change. |
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| The golden escalators! |
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| Oh…we’re back here? |
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| The other end of the concourse. |
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| How many exits are in this station?? |
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| The exit only…exit. |
UPDATE: James Rock on Facebook has let me know that the exit is from the Red Line Alewife platform. Thanks, James!
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| The modern entrance! |
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| Wow! |
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| The “modern entrance”‘s mezzanine. |
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| The Oak Grove platform with a train going by on the other side. |
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| Lots of construction. |
The end of the Oak Grove platform seems like it’s been under construction for a really long time. My good friend Wikipedia says that the T is installing elevators from the southbound Orange Line platform to the Red Line platforms…except that this construction is happening on the northbound platform! Sigh…who knows? One of you readers will let me know, I’m sure!
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| Deep in the bowels of the Transfer of Death. |
Alright, I’m not even gonna try to figure out how the transfers work here. It’s just a huge mess of long, ugly, low-ceilinged hallways that somehow connect two Orange Line platforms to two Red Line platforms. Some transfers are easier than others, some hallways are nicer-looking than others, but I seriously can never decipher this mess.
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| EW! |
I’m not going to pretend I remember where this hallway leads from (I’m 95% sure it’s from the Red Line Alewife platform), but no discussion about Downtown Crossing is complete without talking about the Perpetual Liquid Staircase. A long, narrow, tight white hallway with a rotting ceiling leads to a staircase up to the Forest Hills platform that always has some sort of liquid trickling down it. Anyone who’s had to use this staircase will know that it is disgusting.
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| The busy Red Line southbound platform. |
The Red Line platforms are right next to each other and are basically the same, so I’ll talk about them at the same time. This is a pretty typical T subway station, with wide platforms, some random pipes, and dark popcorn ceilings. It’s almost constantly busy no matter what the time is…well, unless there hasn’t been an Orange Line train in a while.
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| Aw man, it’s closed… |
There are a few other points of interest along the platform. For example, there is a vendor right on the platform that sells various food products and seems to only be open whenever it wants to be. Also interesting is the signage for the Green Line via the Winter Street Concourse – I would completely understand if it was on the Orange Line platforms (it’s not), but the Red Line has Park Street one stop away! I guess it’s useful if the next train isn’t for a while.
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| YOU!!!!!! |
Please observe the bench in the above photo. Tell me if that looks comfortable to sit in. If your answer is “No,” then congratulations, you have an iota of common sense. Seriously, there are way too many benches on the Red Line platform that are like this. I understand that artwork in a station makes it unique and interesting, but this is artwork getting in the way of functionality. It’s stupid! And I know this is a really sour and specific note to end on, but I could not get this review done without my bench rant. Ridiculous.
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| A “Silver Line” “rapid transit” vehicle at Temple Place. |
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| One thing I’ll say about the Orange Line platforms’ weird staggered layout is that it allows for cool pictures like this! |
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| A Red Line train flying into the station. |
Station: Downtown Crossing
Ridership: Psh, practically no one. No, of course I’m kidding – this is the second-busiest station on the system in terms of fare gate entrances (after South Station), getting 23,478 people per weekday. Slightly more of those folks use the Orange Line over the Red Line, while a hardy 404 riders enter here and walk to the Green Line via Winter Street. The real ridership at Downtown Crossing comes from transfers, though – about 25,000 people transfer between lines in each direction every weekday, adding up to around 50,000 transfer passengers! Oh right, and the SL5 gets a little over 2,500 riders here on weekdays. Kind of an inconsequential number compared to everything else…
Pros: As confusing as they are, Downtown Crossing’s many entrances mean that there are many different places where its hoards of passengers can feed from. That allows for a better distribution of crowds. The train platforms are generally pretty good (the Orange Line ones are among the line’s most aesthetically-pleasing, at least in its downtown section), while the direct retail entrances are a huge convenience for shoppers. Overall, given the complex platform layouts the station designers had to work with, the place is somewhat functional.
Cons: There are a lot of very specific complaints about very specific aspects littered throughout the review, but I want to focus on three main problems with Downtown Crossing: the layout, the looks, and the “experience.” First, there’s the fact that this place is just a labyrinth, and that’s a fact. It is near-impossible to figure out the mess of hallways, passages, and entrances here, and while I said that the design is somewhat functional, that’s only because there was no other way to do it given the stupid layout of the Orange Line platforms. Once the Red Line came in, the only possible solution was a Transfer of Death. The MBTA should absolutely produce maps of this madness and dot them around the station – that would make navigation ten times easier. There are already some maps around elevators, but they need to be more widespread.
Next, we have the looks of this place: it’s ugly. See, while Park Street also has some areas of questionable appearance, it’s clear that Park Street is trying to look nice. Downtown Crossing, on the other hand, is not trying at all. You’ll find bland white walls, chipping paint, unsightly popcorn ceilings, and hoards of random pipes in almost all of the station passageways. It’s not the biggest problem with the station, but it only adds to the feeling of being trapped underground that permeates through the whole complex.
And finally, the experience. That sounds vague, but I’m talking about the overall combination of the space, the heat, and the smell, that really come together to make using this place horrible. This station is downright cramped a lot of the time, particularly with its low ceilings, and it can feel very claustrophobic. It doesn’t help that the whole place is boiling – you have no idea how nice it was to get out of here into some fresh air after reviewing it for an hour. And finally, the smell. Anyone who’s used this station surely knows the “Downtown Crossing smell.” It’s hard to describe in print, but let’s just say that it is not pleasant. At all.
Nearby and Noteworthy: All of the stations are so close together in the city that it’s hard to pinpoint what places are closest to Downtown Crossing specifically, but there’s a huge variety of retail and activity around here! These are not the most vibrant attractions by any means, but if you happen to be going to Macy’s or Roche Brothers, you can utilize the direct entrances from the concourse for a more streamlined shopping experience. Fancy.
Final Verdict: 4/10
I absolutely despise using Downtown Crossing. In fact, I actively try to avoid using it if I can help it, preferring to use buses to connect between the Red and Orange Lines outside of downtown. That being said, for all of its flaws (and there are many, many flaws), the station still succeeds in its biggest goal of somehow harnessing tens of thousands of people who want to board trains. And yeah, this is absolutely the worst of the MBTA transfer stations, and it has way too many quirks and problems to count (just look how long this review is), but functionality still counts for something.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
143 stations down…1 to go.
Natick Center
Natick Center asks the question humans have been asking for millennia: why? More specifically, why does this station make absolutely no sense? I mean…
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| What the heck is this platform?! |
The inbound platform of this station is just…what?? Most of it is high-level, which would usually be a good thing, right? Except the part of it that’s not high-level is the part that meets the tracks. That’s right, in order to actually get on the train, you have to descend a small staircase (way too narrow to handle morning rush commuters) to the low-level section. Are. You. Serious??????
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| Along the platform. |
The high-level portion of the platform isn’t even good. Sure, there’s a nice mural alongside it, but the whole thing is way too narrow and the paint is chipping to an extreme degree on the shelter ceiling. Meanwhile, the outbound platform is just a rusty decrepit staircase leading down to a total of: 1 bench; 2 wastebaskets; a few signs; and that’s it.
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| The station’s flowery footbridge. |
I will say that the footbridge used to cross to the other side of the tracks is rather nice, with potted plants along its walls. It appears that the station doesn’t offer enough bike parking, though, since people have locked up their bikes right on the bridge! The southern side of the tracks features a touching plaza with memorials for Natick residents who served in various wars.
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| The entrance to the inbound platform. |
The inbound platform’s entrance is just a hodgepodge of random things. You’ve got a packed recycling bin, two completely different wastebaskets, a few newspaper boxes, an electrical box, a schedule, an alert about train boarding platforms, a sign saying not to lock bikes in the area (seems like lots of people follow that one), and the MWRTA’s horrible system map. This station is served by that system’s 10 and 11 routes.
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| An inbound train…from above. |
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| A train leaving the horrible outbound platform. |
Station: Natick Center
Ridership: As the fourth-busiest station on the Worcester Line, a lot of people have to subject themselves to this mess: 1,077 inbound riders per weekday, to be exact. I am so sorry to all those folks (although it has to be said that for a station with no parking, that’s some incredible ridership).
Pros: The plaza is nice…
Cons: Come on, that plaza isn’t even part of the station! Look, everything about this place is bad. The entrances are bad, the staircases are bad, the outbound platform is bad…and don’t even get me started on the inbound side. I think there’s some sort of reason involving freight trains why Worcester Line stations can’t be high-level, but with the closing of the Beacon Park railyard, would that change? All of the new Worcester Line constructions further toward Boston are high-level! Well, regardless, the layout of that platform is one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen on the MBTA – make it all high-level or all low-level, not both!
Nearby and Noteworthy: One thing about this station is that it’s right in Natick Center, so there’s a huge variety of buildings and businesses right when you exit.
Final Verdict: 2/10
Natick Center makes absolutely no sense. This is a horrible station that’s almost mind-bogglingly nonsensical. The inbound platform…why? Boarding takes so long with the current layout! Tie that to the high ridership here, and it seems like Natick Center is a prime location for a renovation.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
Ashland
Another boring Worcester Line infill station? Well, at least Ashland is the last one…
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| Holy moly, that’s a lotta commuters! |
The majority of the Ashland platform is low-level, with everything you would expect at a modern Commuter Rail station: a typical shelter, some ads, some benches, and some wastebaskets. There are mini-high platforms at the western end of the station, with the inbound one also featuring some newspaper boxes and a payphone.
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| The outbound mini-high with the footbridge overhead. |
In order to cross the tracks, you have to use the crazy-looking triple-decker footbridge. There are ramps leading all the way up, as well as stairs to make the journey shorter for those who are able to. The thing is littered with rust and bird droppings, but it’s functional enough. Ashland also has a ton of parking, featuring 678 spaces spread out on both sides of the station.
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| A train leaving…from above. |
Station: Ashland
Ridership: The station gets 691 inbound riders per weekday, making it the least-busy of the four infill stations between Framingham and Worcester (and yet the one with the largest parking lot).
Pros: The station has everything a Commuter Rail station needs, as well as enough parking and a footbridge to cross the tracks safely.
Cons: The footbridge is experiencing a lot of rusting and defecation by birds, which will only get worse over time. Also, the train tracks pass right through downtown Ashland, but the MBTA decided to build the station a mile west. Typical modern Commuter Rail thinking…
Nearby and Noteworthy: Practically nothing around the station itself. Like I said, downtown Ashland is about a mile east, if you’re willing to walk for about 20 minutes.
Final Verdict: 7/10
This is a pretty standard Commuter Rail station, and it does its job fine. There’s plenty of parking, a decent footbridge, and wheelchair-accessible platforms. That’s really all you need.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
Southborough
Southborough…I dunno, it’s Southborough. Not much to say here.
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| The platform. |
Southborough’s platform is a long low-level affair, with bike racks and shelters on both sides (featuring a bit of historical information) and benches and wastebaskets spread around. There are typical 90s-00s mini-high platforms at the western end of the station that offer a few more benches. The outbound platform has this weird abandoned field alongside it – there’s an exit that leads through it out to Southville Road.
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| Going down the ramp. |
A Fairmount Line-style ramp (with a staircase alternative) leads down to River Street from the outbound platform, complete with a bench in the middle of it. The inbound side is only a staircase, while the accessible ramp route is via the parking lot. As for parking, Southborough contains 364 spaces.
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| A train leaving the station. |
Station: Southborough
Ridership: This is the busiest of the infill stations added between Framingham and Worcester in 2000-2002, as well as the fifth-busiest station on the whole Worcester Line – it gets 1,051 inbound passengers per weekday.
Pros: The station is accessible and it has your basic Commuter Rail necessities. Cool.
Cons: Hmmm, there’s an abandoned field with no current purpose right next to this station whose parking lot fills up very early in the morning. It’s in a very undeveloped area that probably won’t see any big new buildings. How about building some more parking? Also, the mini-high platforms are the furthest they could possibly be from the station entrance, and since the ramps are the only way to cross the tracks, passengers could have to walk over half a mile to get to their cars coming home in the evening!
Nearby and Noteworthy: “Fitzgerald’s General Store.” That’s about it.
Final Verdict: 4/10
The station itself is okay, but I can’t get over some of its glaring problems. The walk from the outbound mini-high to the parking lot is borderline ridiculous, and I wish I could’ve properly timed it out when I was there. Also, the fact that the lot fills up really quickly shows the need for more spaces, which could be easily added in that field. Seriously, what the heck else is it doing just sitting there?
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
Happy Thanksgiving! I have officially started the Downtown Crossing review. NO idea when it’ll be complete, but I’ve started it!
West Natick
The Worcester Line is interesting because past Boston Landing, it’s basically half accessible and half non-accessible stations. What’s more, the line is split halfway between them, with all of the non-accessible stations in a clump; ditto for accessible ones. West Natick is supposed to be the first stop of the latter bunch, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case when I visited it.
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| That’s not accessible! Also, hi, artsy train! |
When Sam and I were here, the mini-high platforms were still being worked on. They had had some sort of structural issue that made them really dangerous, so they had to be repaired. Luckily, since then, they have been reopened, so everything at West Natick is accessible again!
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| The rest of the platform. |
Other than that, West Natick’s platform is standard stuff. The outbound side is nothing more than some signs, benches, and wastebaskets, while the inbound side gets a nice wooden shelter. One interesting aspect of the shelter is the marsh-type grass behind it, which gives it more of a unique flavor. To cross between the tracks, you have to use these annoyingly unstable wooden boards.
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| What is this, the artsy photos post? I don’t even know how this came out this way, but it looks cool! |
There’s a small plaza behind the shelter with a few old honor boxes, a single tree, and an old payphone. The station parking lot is tiny, with only 178 spaces – Dave’s Framingham/Worcester Line blog says it reaches capacity by 6:30 AM. West Natick has a good amount of bike parking, though, in the form of three completely different bike racks all lined up next to each other.
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| Yet another artsy train picture. |
Station: West Natick
Ridership: Believe it or not, this is the third-busiest station on the Worcester Line, getting 1,121 inbound riders per weekday. You wouldn’t think that from looking at it, would you?
Pros: I’m really impressed that this station gets so much ridership, considering that its parking lot is so small. Where the heck do those extra 900-or-so people come from? I mean, I doubt they’re coming from the MWRTA 10, which serves the station! Also, it’s good that it’s accessible again, thanks to the rebuilt mini-high platforms.
Cons: The whole station feels kinda ramshackle, what with its barebones platforms, the random bike racks, and those wooden boards used to cross tracks. Also, I know there’s no room for any more spaces, but man, that’s a small parking lot!
Nearby and Noteworthy: There’s a small shopping plaza next to the station with a few businesses, but that’s really about it.
Final Verdict: 5/10
For such a busy stop, I expect a little more than this. I mean, West Natick is passable, but it has a lot of issues. At least they fixed up that mini-high platform, though – otherwise, I would have to make the score even lower.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
SRTA: NB 1 (Fort Rodman)
During my brief stay in New Bedford, how could I not resist riding at least one SRTA route? I only had about an hour until my bus back to Boston was departing, so I had to do something quick. The 1 caught my eye: it runs every 20 minutes to a peninsula in southern New Bedford. Sounds great, let’s do it!
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| Taking good pictures in the SRTA terminal is hard! |
After I tapped my CharlieCard (why does the SRTA, a system that doesn’t even connect to the Commuter Rail, use it while systems like the GATRA and RIPTA don’t?), we headed down 6th Street. There were dense buildings everywhere, and they continued as we turned onto Spring Street. Next, we went down Acushnet Ave, where the taller buildings from before became 2-3 story affairs.
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| A pretty desolate side street. |
We went alongside a monolithic apartment development for a while before turning onto Grinnell Street, which was lined with triple-decker apartments. They continued as we turned onto County Street, which also had a few businesses and churches along it. At one point there was a retail-heavy section where almost every building had a business on its ground floor.
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| This picture is basically the 1 in a nutshell. |
We eventually made turns onto Cove Street, then Rodney French Boulevard, and both of them kept up the businesses in three-story apartment buildings pattern. Next, we swung onto Brock Ave for a block, then Ruth Street, which was entirely residential for a bit. This was a jog to serve a big apartment building, and once we headed past it, we turned onto East Rodney French Boulevard.
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| Making a turn. |
We were right by the water, but it was sadly blocked by a big wall. There was some brief industrial scenery as we turned onto David Street, but it went back to those familiar triple-deckers soon enough. We came back onto Brock Ave, passing more apartments and businesses, as well as a high school.
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| I can see the water way down there! |
One side of the street was occupied by a park for a bit, and as we continued south, some of the apartments became normal houses. We passed through another park, complete with a pond, and it was all low suburban houses after that. At the end of Brock Ave, the bus just made a u-turn and we headed right back up the way we came.
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| No triple-deckers? Where are we?! |
SRTA Route: NB 1 (Fort Rodman)
Ridership: I can’t find any SRTA ridership statistics, but I can say that when I rode this route, it was hoppin’ – there were about 20 people who rode in each direction! Let me tell you, after a day on the GATRA, it was amazing to see this many people on a bus.
Pros: This is a nice short route with a lot of local ridership. It’s also pretty darn frequent: weekday service is every 20 minutes, while Saturday service is every 40 minutes. I also like how only the outbound route makes the jog to serve that apartment building, since it speeds the bus up heading back the other way.
Cons: The SRTA seems like a busy enough system to be able to implement some form of Sunday service. I could totally see people using that on a route like this.
Nearby and Noteworthy: Triple-deckers, triple-deckers, and triple-deckers. Oh, also triple-deckers.
Final Verdict: 8/10
The 1 is a really solid route on a really solid network. I didn’t get to experience much of the SRTA, but from my ride on this bus, it seems like a great system. Maybe someday I’ll be able to come back and see some of its other routes…
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
GATRA: Wareham – New Bedford Connection
What the heck is this route and where did it come from? The Wareham – New Bedford Connection sprung up on the GATRA website with this announcement page, featuring two maps saying exactly the same thing, some points of interest at each terminus of the route, and the awkward sentence, “Starting February 6, 2017, GATRA and SRTA are starting a new bus service between Wareham and New Bedford.” This is all a lot of hype for a route that only runs Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, isn’t it??
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| It gets its own bus, too?! |
What exactly is the route? Well, this is a partnership between the GATRA and the SRTA to bridge the gap between the two systems and provide an important connection between Wareham and New Bedford. Okay, first of all, the SRTA is one of the better RTAs in Massachusetts (I’ll talk about my ride on one of their routes later on) while the GATRA is one of the worst, so…that’s an interesting partnership. Also, may I remind you that the route only runs Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday???
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| Cutting-edge farebox technology right here. |
I couldn’t see any fareboxes when I got on, so I assumed people just gave it to the driver. When I tried to do that, he pointed behind him at a rusty metal box. Oh my God, that is literally the farebox, isn’t it? Aside from that, the minibus was fine, but I got a good laugh out of the insanely primitive farebox.
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| A single train track. |
We headed down Cranberry Highway and turned onto Depot Street. This was residential for the most part, but there were some industrial buildings when we crossed a train track, then turned onto Minot Ave, joining the 1. It was mostly woods, aside from the occasional housing development.
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| Lovely! |
The street became Narrows Road, which was mostly marshy aside from a shipyard. Next, we crossed over the Wareham River and merged onto Main Street, going through Wareham Village. There were a lot of charming buildings that could theoretically house retail, but a lot of them were either vacant or boring.
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| Some side street. |
After leaving the village, we turned onto Chapel Street, passing the Wareham Library, Middle School, and Town Hall. There was a mix of houses and retail from there, including a Shaw’s that we had to deviate into. The road turned into Marion Road, and the scenery got pretty darn woodsy for the most part.
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| Wow! |
That didn’t last too long, though, as we soon crossed over the Weweantic River, giving us an absolutely fantastic view. This took us into Marion, where there were more trees and houses and the street became Wareham Road. We also got the occasional retail break, such as a shopping plaza and a fish market.
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| Some boats! |
After going by a cove, more businesses started to show up along the road. Soon after that, we arrived at a cluster of retail, but it was basically just a few gas stations and suburban businesses. We went by a private boarding school and the Marion Police Department as we curved south on Mill Street, then it was more woods. The route unfortunately bypasses Marion Center, which looks incredibly charming – it’s about a ten minute walk from the route.
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| A historic-looking cemetery. |
After a few industrial buildings and a cemetery, the road became entirely sparse houses and forest, eventually turning into only the latter. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a huge school came up…and then it was woods again. However, as we entered Mattapoisett, some residential and retail buildings started to appear once more.
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| Some houses. |
For the next while, it was mostly just houses and suburban businesses along what was now called County Road. There was one point where the retail with parking lots got just a little bit denser, and I think that might have been “downtown Mattapoisett,” in which case…gross! It became Fairhaven Road after that mess, and it continued to be that mix of houses and businesses.
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| Part of “downtown Mattapoisett”…ew! |
We went over the narrow Mattapoisett River, and after more of the same scenery, the road became Huttleston Ave and we entered Fairhaven. This leaned a little more on the residential side of things, but it was still that mix that we had been seeing for most of the route (albeit a little denser). All of a sudden, the road got really wide and a slew of shopping malls came out of nowhere.
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| Aw man… |
We turned onto Route 240 at this point, which was basically a highway. Next, we turned onto Bridge Street, then Mill Road, in order to serve the Southcoast Health System, two hospitals. We returned to Route 240 and continued north. It soon led us to an interchange with I-195, onto which we headed west for an express section!
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| Serving the hospital. |
The scenery was basically forest all the way until we crossed the Acushnet River into New Bedford. Once there, we took Exit 15 onto Route 18, another highway that went by a lot of industrial buildings. We eventually took an exit onto Purchase Street, which curved its way past a variety of dense buildings with different uses. Things started to get denser, but before we entered the heart of downtown New Bedford, we turned into the SRTA Terminal, finishing quite a long and diverse trip.
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| A minibus with a full-sized bus behind it…this just doesn’t look right! |
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| The back of the bus |
GATRA Route: Wareham – New Bedford Connection
Ridership: This is a very new route, so there aren’t any public ridership statistics yet. My ride had two other people – one of them was a very kind woman who talked to me for much of the trip, and made the journey unique and enjoyable. Two people is of course terrible ridership, but we’ll see why it’s that low soon.
Pros: This route has so much potential! It serves some decently populated towns right along their main drags and connects up important sections of the region, as well as two bus systems. Seriously, this route could be great.
Cons: The GATRA and the SRTA worked for four years to make this route happen. You would think that would mean they wouldn’t, I dunno, set it up to fail? Honestly, those 2 people seem like a lot more when you see that the route runs Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays only, with trips at 7:30, 9:30, 2:00, and 4:00. Yeah, you know what, if two whole people are willing to ride this thing with that schedule, that’s a heck of a lot of riders!
Nearby and Noteworthy: This is technically the only way to get to New Bedford by local transportation (Commuter Rail to Lakeville Connector to this)! Also, Marion Center looks really charming if you’re willing to make the short walk.
Final Verdict: 2/10
If this route ran, say, every hour throughout the week, I could see it getting a 6 or a 7…as well as a lot more riders. I seriously think that if two people are willing to use this (and obviously more people on other trips) in its current state, it could be a really successful route if it had an actual schedule! As it is, though, this route is absolutely useless. Just look at this article try to come up with ways you can use this thing! For example, when talking about making connections from GATRA routes in Wareham, it says “the buses run just a tad earlier than the Connection, arriving at Cranberry Plaza well before it arrives. However there are several fast food restaurants in the area to get a cup of coffee while you wait.” If that’s not reaching to make the route sound good, I don’t know what is.
UPDATE: 5/10
Thank goodness, it finally happened – this route now runs five days a week! It still has the same schedule every day, but this is a vast improvement over how it ran before.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
GATRA: Link 2 (Cranberry Plaza to Buzzards Bay)
Wareham is considered by some to be part of the Cape. I personally would disagree – to me, you’re only on the Cape if you go over the canal. Well…today we’re actually visiting the Cape, because the 2 heads into Bourne, canal and all!
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| I didn’t have time to get an exterior shot of the bus, so here’s a water park! |
We went onto Cranberry Highway from Cranberry Plaza, going by a mess of random places, including the water park seen above. Once we turned onto Main Ave, though, it became entirely residential, and they were dense houses at that. They continued even after we went over Broad Cove and merged onto Union Ave.
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| This review totally isn’t three months late…just ignore the people enjoying the summer beach. |
We reached the lovely Onset Village, but instead of going further into it like the 1, we went the other way, turning eastward onto Onset Ave. This took us right alongside Onset Beach, and the view was really nice. We went over the East River, and there was one last stretch of dense houses on the other side.
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| Why not, here’s another amazing view! |
The houses got further apart soon, though. We went by a golf course, and later on, we came very close to yet another body of water, Butler Cove. Next, Onset Ave went over some train tracks, the scenery got industrial, and we turned onto Cranberry Highway again. That became Main Street once we went over the Cohasset Narrows and entered Bourne.
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| This route is so scenic! |
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| That glorious railroad bridge really contrasts with the crap in the foreground… |
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| WE ARE LITERALLY GOING OVER THE BOURNE BRIDGE IN A MINIBUS!!!!!! |
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| This isn’t the Park and Ride! |
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| Well, there’s parking, but we’re still not in the right place… |
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| Finally! |
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| Another view from the other side of the Bourne Bridge! |
Pros: The more I think about this route, the more I realize there isn’t all that much that’s good about it. Well, it goes over the Bourne Bridge, and that’s absolutely amazing. Also, some of the trips time with Peter Pan buses in Bourne, which is nice. The route runs every hour on weekdays and every two hours on Saturdays, which matches the ridership all right. But…that’s really about it.
Cons: There are a multitude of problems I could talk about, such as the strange one-way routing to Onset Village, the inevitable traffic problems when crossing the Bourne Bridge, the weird padding (we left Buzzards Bay 6 minutes early going outbound), the confusing call-in flex service the route has in Bourne, or the fact that that whole loop we did before the park-and-ride was completely absent from the schedule. I think the biggest drawback for this route, though, is that it doesn’t need to run – it’s completely paralleled by the CCRTA Bourne Run route. Sure, that only runs every 90 minutes on weekdays only, but it travels much further (down to Mashpee) and it’s more direct to Bourne.
Nearby and Noteworthy: The Bourne Bridge! That view is so incredible!
Final Verdict: 3/10
This route is used by at least a few people, but I don’t know if it’s enough to justify keeping the service around, especially since the whole thing runs with the CCRTA. The CCRTA admittedly doesn’t run Saturday service on its Bourne route, but I still think the GATRA and the CCRTA should come up with some sort of agreement regarding this corridor – it seems to me that it would be much more efficient to just run the CCRTA along here.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
GATRA: Link 3 (Shangri-La to Cranberry Plaza)
Cool, a complete stinker that’s also really short. Let’s get the 3 out of the way.
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| NOT THIS STUPID TRUCK MINIBUS AGAIN! |
We headed out from Cranberry Plaza onto Cranberry Highway, which split into two one-way sections. Along this bit, we turned onto Glen Charlie Road, going along Union Pond and over Route 25. There were somewhat dense houses for about a minute, then it was just woods. Occasionally there would be sparse residences, but it wasn’t much. Eventually, we pulled into a 7-Eleven (although the schedule still calls it Tedeschi’s), and that was it.
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| Woods, woods, woods. |
GATRA Route: Link 3 (Shangri-La to Cranberry Plaza)
Ridership: For the first time…I don’t trust the numbers. Look, I just don’t see how this tiny route can get 26 people per day. That would mean over 6 people per round trip! But since my round trip garnered a total of one other person, the other trips would need to have over 8 people to meet that 26 number…and that just doesn’t seem possible! The driver even told me that only two people use the route every day, so something tells me GATRA made some sort of mistake when counting its ridership.
Pros: As far as I can see, absolutely nothing.
Cons: This route serves practically nothing. A few houses here and there, but nothing substantial enough to justify a bus service. There’s actually a sizeable residential neighborhood north of the route’s terminus, but since this has to get back in time to do the 4, it can’t go further. Anyway, even if the route did have a good ridership base, who would want to use it? It only has four hourly trips, weekdays-only – a very limiting schedule.
Nearby and Noteworthy: 7-Eleven, and that’s literally it.
Final Verdict: 1/10
I don’t trust those ridership numbers at all. Usually I’m a stickler for data, but my real-life experience with the 3 doesn’t match up with GATRA’s statistics, not even close. I could totally see GATRA making a mistake with their numbers, anyway. Yeah, this is a prime route to get rid of, because from what I can tell, it’s useless.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
GATRA: Link 4 (Cranberry Plaza to West Wareham)
Argh, I’m getting deja vu! The truck minibus…the double-deviation…this is literally the same thing as the Wareham Middleborough/Lakeville MBTA Connector. The only difference is that the Link 4 only goes about halfway.
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| YOU AGAIN! |
We left Cranberry Plaza on Cranberry Highway, which briefly split into two one-way sections before coming together again. It was industrial for the most part, with only the occasional residential neighborhood or cranberry bog popping up. And then, out of nowhere, we made a slight deviation from the MBTA Connector in the form of…a deviation. To the YMCA. Uh-huh, cool, good to see that my ride had exactly 0 people using the GATRA to get to the gym. What kind of stupid deviation is this??
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| Why?! |
We returned to Cranberry Highway and went over the Wareham River. After passing the sketchy-looking but apparently very good Mill Pond Diner, it went back to being mostly industrial. However, some businesses eventually showed up, and once we went over I-195, it was time for that double-deviation to the Wareham Crossing shopping center, then Walmart. Well…according to the schedule, at least. We just skipped right by!
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| Woods. |
Instead, we just continued down Cranberry Highway, going by more industry, houses, bogs, houses, woods, and industry, in that order. Once we got to County Road, which had a few businesses and Wareham District Court, we just pulled into a 7-Eleven gas station and turned around. That was it. Also, on the way back, we did do that double-deviation.
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| Yay… |
GATRA Route: Link 4 (Cranberry Plaza to West Wareham)
Ridership: The ridership for this route initially seems low: it gets 53 passengers per weekday and 29 per Saturday. However, because of the number of trips this route has, it ends up averaging out to about ten people per round trip. That’s not terrible for GATRA standards.
Pros: I find it interesting that this route gets a good amount of ridership, since from what I can see, it doesn’t really serve all that much. However, I guess a good amount of people does use this, so that’s a good thing! The route’s core schedule is sensible for the amount of riders it gets, with trips every hour on weekdays and every two hours on Saturdays.
Cons: First of all, that YMCA deviation felt really pointless. Maybe people on other trips take the bus there, but it seems a little fishy to me. Secondly, I don’t know why my trip skipped the double-deviation going outbound, but I really like that. Technically the route isn’t supposed to do it, but I like it a lot more. And actually, I have a sneaking suspicion as to why we skipped that deviation: this route seems to get late really easily. It gets absolutely no layover time at the terminus, and if it’s actually expected to perform all the deviations, it’s near-impossible to be on time. Also, it’s really annoying that the schedule for the 4 includes some (not even all) of the MBTA Connector trips – all it does is make everything more confusing. Keep them as separate routes.
Nearby and Noteworthy: Geez, I guess Wareham Crossing has some generic mall retail? There really isn’t much along the 4.
Final Verdict: 4/10
The 4 gets a 4! This is a route that’s clearly useful to a decent amount of people, but it has so many easily-fixable problems that drag it down. For example, does the YMCA really need to be served? Granted, I don’t have ridership data, so maybe scores of people use this route to get there, but I find that hard to believe. Secondly, the route is a recipe for lateness, and eliminating the double-deviation in one direction would help rectify that. It’s not that big of an inconvenience for passengers, although I personally don’t see much point in running the route beyond the Walmart anyway – there’s not much there. Finally, the schedule can be simplified by eliminating the MBTA Connector trips and moving them back to the timetable where they belong.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates