How can any bus route be scheduled this incompetently? How can any bus route be scheduled this incompetently? Unless the PVTA has figured out how to slow down and speed up time, the G5 defies any sort of logic.

The bus at Union Station.

From Union Station, we headed onto Main Street, taking us right through the heart of downtown Springfield, as the name suggests. There were multi-storied buildings everywhere, housing businesses on their lower floors. We even went by a few proper “skyscrapers,” but we left the main drag when we turned onto Harrison Ave.

The rain made for some pretty bad pictures…

Next, we turned onto Dwight Street, passing parking garages and buildings that looked like they came from the ’60s or ’70s. The street became Maple Street and we rode it up a hill around a few curves, taking us up to a residential neighborhood. Now the scenery consisted mostly of apartment blocks.

That’s a steep hill!

After a convenience store located in an apartment building, we merged onto Central Street, taking us past some pretty dense houses. Next, we turned onto Pine Street, which consisted of houses and abandoned property lots. We got back onto Maple Street at a church and travelled down a hill onto Mill Street.

Making a turn.

We passed over a little river (or it could have been a canal), and there were a few businesses as the road gained a median for a bit. From there, we headed down Dickinson Street, which was entirely lined with dense houses. There were a few concentrated businesses at one point, then a bunch more at “The X,” a six-way intersection.

A side street.

Wow, this was bad – we were ten minutes late to The X! Could we make it to the terminus in time to get our connection? Oh well, no way to find out except to stay on. It went back to dense houses after The X, with some concentrated businesses around Olmstead Drive. Eventually, though, we entered the woods.

Some construction.

It was forest for a little while, broken only by a few temples. We passed the Georgetown Apartments, but I’m inclined to believe based on the map that only the inbound G5 actually deviates to serve them. We still turned onto Converse Street to serve Jewish Home, a lifecare center. And we were…five minutes early? Now how did that happen? Now we would have to wait for five minutes here.

Coming out of the Jewish Home.

Now in Longmeadow, we made our way back down Converse Street, which was lined with suburban houses with huge front yards. We turned onto Longmeadow Street next, which passed more houses and a few scattered businesses. We went by Bay Path University, then we went through what appeared to be downtown Longmeadow. It wasn’t much more than a common and some municipal buildings.

Some houses.

There wasn’t much diversity south of that – it was either residential, woods, or both. The scenery finally changed dramatically when we entered Enfield, Connecticut. The street became Enfield Street (an apt name), and it was lined with suburban businesses with parking lots. Next, just before I-91, we turned onto Bright Meadow Boulevard, taking us past a Holiday Inn to our terminus, the gigantic MassMutual office.

We’re not in Kansas anymore!

PVTA Route: G5 (Springfield/Dickinson/Jewish Home/Longmeadow)

Ridership: The G5’s daily ridership is about in the middle of the PVTA, with 556 passengers per day. From what I saw, though, the vast majority of those riders are concentrated in the inner section from Springfield to the Jewish Home. On our trip, the bus was empty past The X, and there was only one person who got on at MassMutual, even though it was the evening peak and cars were streaming out of there.

Pros: The inner Springfield section serves some residential areas that no other routes cover, while Jewish Home and the Georgetown Apartments seem like they could be big ridership draws.

Cons: Erghhhhhhhh…let me get the easy stuff out of the way first: the frequency is inconsistent on weekdays, ranging from 25 minutes to an hour, while on Saturdays the headways are huge – every hour and a half. It also seems ridiculous to me that midday and Saturday trips serve MassMutual. Surely there aren’t too many people working there then?

Okay, but now it’s time for the crazy thing: the schedule for this route is legitimately the worst I’ve ever seen. The bus is given 10 minutes to go from Union Station to The X – a distance which Google Maps says will take 14 minutes driving in the dead of night. Yeah, I checked it for times like 2 in the morning, and it still takes 14 minutes. During the day, it can take as long as 20!

Right, so we’ve established that the route is always guaranteed to be late to The X. But then why were we so early to Jewish Home? Well, the outbound route is given 20 minutes to get there. Wanna know how long it takes driving? In the heart of rush hour, it never takes longer than six minutes. This schedule legitimately baffles me – the bus will be insanely late to one timepoint and insanely early to the next! How is anyone supposed to plan around this thing??

Nearby and Noteworthy: Ehhh, not really – most of the route is residential. There are some businesses at The X, but that doesn’t strike me as the nicest of areas.

Final Verdict: 4/10
God, this would be a perfectly fine route if its schedule wasn’t horrible! I mean, come on, this is such an easy fix! I have never in my life seen any schedule this atrocious, and I doubt I will ever again! The PVTA said in their outline of service cuts that they want to cut this down to four rush hour trips per day – does that mean MassMutual trips (cutting most back at Jewish Home), or literally just four trips? This thing doesn’t deserve to be cut down to the latter option, because it really does serve some important areas, but by God, please please PLEASE fix the schedule.
UPDATE: Okay, turns out they meant MassMutual trips. Phew! There are now four of them per day, on weekdays only. All other trips end at Jewish Home.

Latest MBTA News: Service Updates

The B43 is one of the backbones of UMass transit…even though it’s not actually run by UMass Transit. Providing a crucial connection between Northampton and UMass (plus Smith and Amherst Colleges), this route can get absolutely packed during the school year. During the summer, unfortunately, I’m stuck with the reduced schedule, but the route still gets its fair share of riders.

The bus laying over at Smith College.

Most Northampton routes start at the Academy of Music, but the B43 goes just a bit further to Smith College. This does twofold: it provides direct service from Smith to UMass and Amherst College; plus, it means the bus doesn’t have to loop around Northampton via Salvo House, which a lot of routes do. After leaving Smith, it was a short ride to downtown Northampton.

A Smith College building.

We picked people up at the Academy of Music, then proceeded past the many businesses of Northampton. After going under the Amtrak tracks, Main Street became Bridge Street and we passed the Northampton Post Office. There were houses beyond there, as well as a cemetery.

Sheldon Field.

Next up was the Sheldon Field Park and Ride, a small free lot where people can park their cars and take the bus to UMass. It continued to be mostly residential past there, then we went under I-91. After that, we went onto a beautiful bridge over the Connecticut River with an incredible view.

Gosh, I love this river…

We were in Hadley now, and the street was called Russell Street. It was wide, and it went by a multitude of suburban businesses with parking lots…and also farmland. It was a strange mix. We passed West Street, which had a gigantic median, then we entered “Hadley Center,” for what it’s worth. It was mostly just more generic businesses…

Some sort of developing shopping center?

Gosh, there isn’t much else to say about the Hadley section of the route. We went over a rail trail, and the businesses with parking lots just kept on coming. Eventually, we turned off Russell Street in order to serve a Walmart. We continued across Maple Street and made our way around a side lot for the Hampshire Mall, arriving at the shelter.

In the midst of serving Walmart.

It was at this point that I encountered the PVTA’s main quirk for the first time: buses are always early. We had arrived at the stop seven minutes ahead of schedule, so we just had to wait for a while before being able to go again. When we could finally leave, we returned to Russell Street and continued past basically the same scenery we had been seeing for a while.

A gas station.

As we entered Amherst, the street became Northampton Road. Next, we turned onto University Drive, going by more businesses, a few clinics, and a post office. Eventually, it became pretty woodsy, but that didn’t last long as we entered the UMass campus.

Some UMass buildings.

We turned onto Massachusetts Ave, which gained a huge median, heading right through campus. We made our way into Haigis Mall, the B43’s main bus stop for UMass. After stopping there, we returned to Mass Ave, which curved south to become North Pleasant Street.

A side street.

There were a few straggling campus buildings, then we made our way around a park and entered Amherst Center. There were businesses everywhere, and they only got denser as we continued south. We continued south of the center, then looped around Amherst Common and arrived at Amherst College, the B43’s final stop.

The bus in Amherst.

PVTA Route: B43 (Northampton/Hadley/Amherst)

Ridership: I was actually surprised by how low the ridership of this route is. That’s not to say it’s bad – 2,226 riders per day is nothing to sneeze at – but based on the crowding this route experiences, I would’ve thought it would’ve been higher.


Pros: This is a crucial route connecting three of the five colleges, plus Northampton. In particular, a lot of people use this to get from Northampton to UMass, to the extent that the route uses 60-foot articulated buses during the school year. It has a good schedule, too, running every 20 minutes on weekdays, every half hour on Saturdays, and every hour on Sundays. The “reduced” schedule for vacation periods reduces all those frequencies to hourly, and although it’s inconvenient for me, it does make sense based on the lower summer ridership.

Cons: When we had to wait about six minutes at the Hampshire Mall, it seemed like a ridiculous awful calamity. I’ve been on a lot of PVTA routes since then, and honestly, the B43’s wait isn’t that bad. Sure, the padding really should be at the end of the route, but it’s not terrible in this case. I will say that the crowding for the route can apparently be insane during the school year, and the fact that it boards front-door-only doesn’t help that.

Nearby and Noteworthy: This is the easiest way of getting to both the Hampshire Mall and Northampton from UMass. I can’t say I like the mall, but Northampton is great!

Final Verdict: 8/10
The B43 is essential to the colleges it serves, but that does result in it getting a lot of passengers. It would be a lot better for boarding if the route used an honor system like the rest of the UMass routes – Five College students and staff are already subsidized to ride for free, and they probably make up most of the ridership, anyway. Still, this is a fast, frequent, important route, and it generally does a good job of fulfilling its functions.

Latest MBTA News: Service Updates

You know it’s a bad route when it reminds you of the GATRA. We’re not talking about the “empty, deviatory minibus” side of GATRA today, though…no, the R44 harkens most to the “somewhat less empty, deviatory full-sized bus” side of GATRA. It reminded me a lot of something like the 8. However, the 8 was a standout route only because the rest of the GATRA is so subpar – the PVTA is a legitimate bus system. Let’s see how the R44 stacks up.

The bus on its way to Florence Heights.

The route starts out with – of course – a deviation. It’s to serve the Florence Heights housing development, and Sam and I got there by walking from Florence Center. Once on the bus, we headed up the woodsy Florence Road, where houses hid behind the trees. They started to get denser as we continued further north, then we turned onto Pine Street and crossed over Mill River.

The river.

Pine Street passed by some industrial buildings, then we turned onto Park Street, going through a lovely residential neighborhood. After passing a cemetery, we curved onto Main Street, the main drag of Florence Center, which reminded me of a typical suburb of Portland, OR, for some reason. It was a reasonably nice downtown.

Florence Center.

The street became Locust Street, but we didn’t stay on it for much longer, turning onto Straw Ave outside of an apartment building. After crossing the Northampton Bikeway, we turned into Meadowbrook Apartments, a slowwwwww deviation with lots of speed bumps. Still, it was also well-used, with a few people getting on at each stop.

Trundling through Meadowbrook Apartments.

It took a while to get through here, but we finally turned onto Bridge Road, leaving the complex. The road took us past a field and a cemetery, then a bunch of houses and more housing developments. Next, we turned onto Cooke Ave, then Hatfield Street; both took us behind various buildings of Hampshire Plaza. As you would expect, we eventually made our way into the parking lot for the mall.

Inside the mall.

After serving the mall and its Big Y, we headed out onto King Street, which became lined with lots of suburban businesses with parking lots. We didn’t make it too far down the road before yet another deviation, this time into Kingsgate Plaza to serve Stop & Shop. We left that mall, and it started to get a little more industrial, with auto shops and gas stations coming up in between some of the businesses.

Anddddd…another mall.

There were a few houses lined up, then it all of a sudden got urban. We turned onto Main Street, and we were right smack in the middle of downtown Northampton. We didn’t get too far, though, before yet another deviation – this time, we turned onto Crafts Ave, taking us down a hill and past a few more businesses.

A side street in Northampton.

Now we were on Conz Street, which went through a mostly residential area. At Walter Salvo House, we pulled into the front drive of the apartment building, then made our way around it on Fruit Street. This narrow residential road took us to Old S Street, which we took up a hill back into downtown Northampton.

Pulling into Salvo House.

We turned back onto Main Street, once again passing by tall-ish businesses. We went by the Academy of Music stop, but we were on the other side of the road so we didn’t use the actual shelter. After that, we turned onto West Street, taking us past a mixture of houses and Smith College buildings.

An office building.

We went over Mill River, then the road became Chapel Street and we passed a big office building. Beyond there, it was a mixture of houses and fields, until we made an unexpected turn onto a narrow hilly road. This led us up to the last stop: Hampshire County House of Corrections. That’s right – the route ends at a real, proper prison. Needless to say, Sam and I stayed on the bus…

This is just so weird…

PVTA Route: R44 (Florence Heights via King Street and Bridge Road)

Ridership: In terms of average daily ridership, the 44 is below average for the PVTA, with 415 riders per day. It gets worse when you use other counting methods, though – it’s far below average for passengers per trip, carrying only 16, and dead-last for passengers per hour, with only 13.

Pros: There’s no denying that the R44 definitely serves a lot. It acts as kind of a Northampton circulator, serving housing developments and malls that no other buses serve. The schedule is also reasonable, with hourly service seven days per week.

Cons: Riding this thing from beginning to end is just miserable. It’s such a deviatory route, and it doesn’t help that for some reason, the worst buses in Northampton Garage always end up on this thing. Honestly, it would work far better as a loop, allowing for more efficient trips from the Florence area to Northampton.

Nearby and Noteworthy: Hampshire County House of Corrections all the way, baby! Or maybe, like, Stop & Shop or something…

Final Verdict: 5/10
This route serves a lot, for sure, and even though the ridership is low and the costs are high, it’s still important for the city of Northampton. Honestly, though, it would make a lot more sense as a bidirectional loop. The distance from Hampshire County House Corrections to Florence Heights is so small that you could have the same frequency with the same amount of buses. Take a look:

The loop takes about 41 minutes driving, so with padding, you could easily keep the hourly service with two buses, just like it is now.

Latest MBTA News: Service Updates

Being a big hub for the PVTA, one would imagine that Northampton would have a relatively substantial terminal. No? How about a moderately substantial terminal? A single shelter, huh? Well…okay, that works too…

Huh.

Yeah, it’s basically just a shelter, and a dingy one at that. I kinda hate waiting in there, what with the garbage everywhere and the pungent stench. Inside, there’s a map with route schedules and a screen that provides real-time information. Finally, there are some newspaper boxes outside the shelter.

A rather nice street clock with the plaza behind it.

I’m not really sure if this counts as the “station” or not, but the shelter is located next to a plaza where a lot of people choose to wait for the bus. It has folding chairs and some rather nice foliage – it seems like it would be a nice place to wait. However, it seems to attract some…questionable people. Finally, behind the shelter, there are some bike racks, a wastebasket, and a recycling bin.

Voila!

PVTA Station: Northampton Academy of Music

Ridership: Northampton is one of the PVTA’s principal hubs, so this place usually sees a good amount of people waiting for the bus. The routes serving Northampton aren’t that busy aside from the B43 and the B48, but the point is that people definitely use this stop.

Pros: It definitely provides some basic amenities – the bike racks are convenient and the real-time information is a nice touch. The plaza has the potential to be nice, but it’s usually…not.

Cons: This just isn’t a great place to wait for the bus. Everything feels dingy and dirty, and every time I visit it I think I like it less and less. This is a hard one to express in words, but it’s just…not a pleasant place to wait at.

Nearby and Noteworthy: Northampton is a lovely town. It’s like a combination of Cambridge and Portland, OR – it has the weirdness and attitudes of both cities, the northeastern charm of Cambridge, and the rebellious spirit of Portland. The downtown is really walkable, with lots of unique and interesting businesses. I love it!

Final Verdict: 4/10
When I first went to this place, I was alright with settling for a 5. However, I’ve done a lot of riding since then (believe me, I have so many PVTA reviews to do), and upon subsequent visits to this place, my rating has dropped to a 4. I think you have to actually go and wait there to understand what I mean when I say it’s not a pleasant place to wait, but…yeah, it’s not.

Latest MBTA News: Service Updates

Finally! Our first PVTA review! As you may know, I’m doing a Summer Transportation Institute at UMass, so it makes sense that the first review out here would be of one of the system’s UMass routes. The 31 is actually one of the busiest routes on the PVTA (Pioneer Valley Transportation Authority), and even in the summer, it had a good amount of people. Let’s take a look!

The bus at Sugarloaf Estates.

We started at Sugarloaf Estates, a housing development in Sunderland. From there, we made our way down Old Amherst Road, passing houses with farmland just behind them. There were a few small businesses as the street curved south, then we merged onto normal Amherst Road, passing a few more apartment complexes.

Coming onto Amherst Road.

There were some businesses with parking lots continuing south, then we got some really beautiful scenery with farms, woods, and the occasional house. We eventually got to a point where there were a few industrial buildings, businesses, and houses, then it was farmland and woods again. It continued like that for quite a while until we finally turned onto Meadow Street, where there were some houses and yet another apartment complex.

A field.

This street took us to North Amherst Center, which consisted of a few historical buildings and businesses. Here, we turned onto North Pleasant Street, taking us past lots of houses and more apartment complexes. There was one last farm and a few more houses, then we came into the UMass campus, and the scenery changed dramatically.

One of the housing developments.

We went through a roundabout, then there were university buildings everywhere. Some were old, some were modern, and some were awful brutalist constructions. We made stops at the Graduate Research Center, Integrative Learning Center, and Fine Arts Center, the three main stops at UMass. Along the way, we got a nice view of the campus pond with the tall library in the background.

An earlier bus at UMass.

The street curved to the left and we more or less left the UMass campus, but there were still a few straggling university buildings. Next, we turned onto East Pleasant Street, going around a park, with a few businesses on the other side. Soon there was retail on both sides of the street, and we came into lovely Amherst Center.

Amherst Town Common.

South of the center, we went by Amherst Town Common and Amherst College, along with a few houses. We got an absolutely amazing view of rolling fields and hills for a brief moment, but after that it was mostly residential. Eventually, we turned onto East Hadley Road, which took us past more houses before we got to the route’s terminus: Boulders Apartments. The bus slowly looped around the complex in order to turn around and head up back to Sunderland.

Man, I love this view!

PVTA Route: 31 (Sunderland/South Amherst)

Ridership: Like I said, this is one of the busiest routes on the PVTA – third, to be exact, with 5,114 riders per day! An even better figure is the passengers per trip, for which the 31 is number one, with a whopping 67 riders per trip. Since it was summer, ridership was a little lighter than that, but there were still about 30-40 passengers on my ride!

Pros: It may not seem like it based on a lot of the scenery I described (the route does pass through a lot of farmland), but this route serves a lot. Not only does it go by lots of apartment developments for off-campus students, who absolutely need this route, but it’s also one of the many buses plying the busy route from UMass to Amherst Center. Also, the schedule for the 31 is great – it’s every 15 minutes on weekdays, while on weekends and summer weekdays, it’s every 45 minutes.

Cons: This is a really minor thing, but I wish the route was better coordinated with the 30, the other key player on the UMass to Amherst Center route. On weekends, both routes run at different frequencies, so it’s harder to do, but on weekdays, they both run every 15 minutes with a 6 minute gap, then a 9 minute gap. It doesn’t seem like it would be that hard to coordinate them a little better…

Nearby and Noteworthy: I’ll have plenty of opportunities to talk about Amherst Center, but this is one of the main routes that serves it. Amherst Center is awesome – there are lots of interesting businesses and great restaurants everywhere, and for the most part, it’s very walkable.

Final Verdict: 9/10
The 31 is just great. It’s a well-used route, it’s frequent, it serves a lot, and it’s actually a really pretty ride at certain points! It may experience crowding during the school year, I imagine, but at least the all-door boarding can mitigate that to some degree (UMass routes are free). I still wish it could be better coordinated with the 30, though…it would be so easy to do!

Latest MBTA News: Service Updates