Most of RIPTA’s routes are of pretty normal length…but then there are the long ones that go miles and miles into the Rhode Island hinterlands. The least-used of those long routes (not including rush hour expresses) is the 14, which runs along the west side of Narragansett Bay, as its name suggests. Like the others, it’s a beast of a route, with its longer branch taking almost an hour and a half to complete! Settle in for the long haul here…

Bank of Newport, I guess?

I’ll be covering the Salt Pond Plaza branch of the 14 in this post, since it’s mostly unique while the Newport section essentially duplicates the 64 (although it is an absolutely beautiful ride). Thus, we left the really boring mall (seriously, half the slots for stores weren’t even occupied) and made our way up the wide Old Point Judith Road. This part was parallel to the 66, but it ended very quickly when we turned onto South Pier Road, starting our unique section.

A wide intersection.

South Pier Road was mostly residential, although we also passed long driveways to both the Narragansett Middle School and the Narragansett High School. As we got closer to Narragansett Bay, the houses got denser, but we turned onto Boon Street before we could properly reach the water. There were a few businesses along here between the houses, with fleeting views of the bay down side streets.

Wow, that’s not tilted at all…

Soon we arrived at a shopping development that blocked our way, so we had to make a one-block deviation to get around. Thus, we turned onto Kingstown Road, then Caswell Street, which became Narragansett Ave. This curved around past some condominiums, as well as a tiny marsh apparently known as “Lake Canonchet,” then we turned onto Beach Street.

Nice view…?

As the name suggests, we were running right alongside Narragansett Beach! Unfortunately, some rather large parking lots obstructed the view of the water. The street became Boston Neck Road as it curved north, and the scenery became some rather large houses obstructed by trees. Eventually we crossed over a river, finally giving us the view I was craving.

Hooray!

We ran through essentially open fields on the other side of the bridge, then some woods with low-lying trees. Eventually, some houses began to show up, many of them being fancy seaside properties. Indeed, there were occasional views of the bay through layers of trees and fields.

That house must have some great scenery in the backyard.

The residences started to get denser and a little smaller as we continued north. The road curved away from the bay again, and some suburban businesses and shopping centers with parking lots started to line it. There was a short break with some houses and a chapel, then the businesses came back, along with a park.

How exciting…

At Bridgetown Road, we were joined by the 64 on its way to Newport. The scenery got pretty woodsy, with houses hiding behind the trees and down side streets. As the road curved northeast, we entered North Kingstown, and there was a brief spurt of development (i.e. houses and a post office) at the intersection with Ferry Road.

Another view!

After that spurt, though, we went through pure farmland for a little while, and the open space offered another view of the bay. Entering the woods again, it became residential, with suburban houses along the road. We arrived at a few businesses, and after a park-and-ride, we crossed over Route 138, the highway to Newport. This is where the Newport branch of the 14 joins up, and we enter the route’s “main line.”

No view of the amazing bridge to Newport, alas…

There were more woods after the highway interchange, with the occasional open field. Eventually we started to pass some housing developments, as well as a gun shop (we were most definitely out in the countryside). There was an elementary school and some more businesses, and we crossed over the tiny Annaquatucket River near a marsh.

Another fleeting look at the bay down a side street.

There were more businesses on the other side of the river, ranging from a pizza place to a few auto shops to a motel. It got mostly residential after that, though, and the surroundings consisted of entirely houses for a little while. Finally, we crossed over Wickford Cove, then went through an intersection with Brown Street, Wickford’s main drag.

This route has been pretty scenic, eh?

Unfortunately, the 14 doesn’t directly serve Brown Street, but the charming businesses of the village are within easy walking distance of the route. Meanwhile, our road became Philips Street, and it consisted of mostly houses. We turned onto Route 1 (Tower Hill Road) next, going by a few suburban businesses and the Wickford Middle School.

A field for the middle school.

There was more retail at the intersection with Main Street, then we passed a combined building for the North Kingstown police and fire departments. It was mostly residential again beyond there as the street became Post Road, but it all changed once we went by a Rhode Island State Police building. After that, there were two motels and a bunch of businesses with huge parking lots.

A rather nondescript building.

The retail continued for a while, with a few random industrial buildings mixed in between them. Eventually the road went on a bridge over a train track and Route 403, then we made a strange deviation onto Gate Road. It took us out to a rotary and back, and basically only served to take the route slightly closer to a mall than if we had just stayed on Post Road.

The view of Route 403.

Post Road was much wider than before when we returned to it, and it was lined with businesses, mostly of the sketchy variety. “Black Lotus Tattoo Studios” housed in a strange industrial building? No thanks. There was a proper shopping plaza (Kingston Plaza) with slightly more reputable businesses, and across the street was…Rhode Island’s largest aquarium? Huh…okay!

Looks like a great place for a bus stop…

We went over the tiny Sandhill Brook, and there was a bit more retail on the other side. There was a bit of a break where we passed a cemetery and a church, but then the businesses came back. We crossed the Commuter Rail/Amtrak tracks, then passed some shopping plazas and entered East Greenwich.

Benny’s, I guess.

East Greenwich offered much of the same scenery as before, until eventually houses became the dominant surroundings. We passed a few apartment developments, then the businesses came back, although the parking lots were much smaller this time. In fact, they went away entirely when the street became Main Street and we passed through beautiful downtown East Greenwich.

My camera was dreadfully low on batteries by this point, so sorry for no pictures of Greenwich…

North of the lovely downtown, the street became Post Road again, and it got residential. Near some more apartment developments, we came up along the Northeast Corridor, which in turn was running right along the bay. We entered Warwick along this section, and eventually turned away from the tracks. There was a mixture of houses and businesses along the next section.

A side street.

The scenery got pretty diverse soon, ranging from housing developments to industrial buildings to businesses to houses to a cemetery. We crossed over Hardig Brook, then Post Road curved right, becoming a one-way street. This was Apponaug, but aside from some beautiful historical buildings near an intersection and a bunch of traffic, there wasn’t too much of note.

A view of Apponaug.

There were a few houses along the street as we left “downtown” Apponaug, then the street curved up and it got really industrial. The Route 1 designation left Post Road, but we stayed on it, going past a mixture of houses and businesses. Just as it started to become industrial, we made a few curves and took a ramp onto…oh, I guess it’s still called Post Road. Also, it was Route 1 again!

Some random parking lot.

It continued to be industrial, with a few airport-related businesses along the way as well. Speaking of airports, we turned off onto the T.F. Green Airport Connector Road, taking us into the terminal. After stopping there, we made our way back around, turning back on ourselves to run the other way down the road – but it wasn’t just a “road” anymore. No, it was time for the express section to Providence, and we were on a highway!

The T.F. Green Airport walkway to the Commuter Rail.

We went through the woods for a while, then merged onto I-95. We passed by some industrial-looking buildings, then it was a bit more forest…then industrial buildings again…then forest again! We entered Cranston when we crossed over the Pawtuxet River, and beyond there, we saw industrial buildings on one side and houses on the other.

Barry Manilow is great!

We passed through a rather large interchange with the Huntington Expressway and went over the Northeast Corridor after that. From there, we got a nice view of the Roger Williams Park Zoo, beyond which dense houses lined one side of the highway. Next, we curved around into that gigantic industrial area south of Providence.

The view of the zoo!

Easing its way around the Rhode Island Hospital, the highway made its way into some dense areas south and west of downtown Providence. By the way, did I mention that we had been stuck in traffic since Cranston? And that Nathan and I had a very short amount of time to make our train back home? Yeah, by this point, all we wanted was for the bus to leave the traffic-stricken highway and get the heck onto some side streets, but we kept on chugging…

The industrial area.

Finally, at a gigantic interchange, we merged onto Memorial Boulevard, right outside the Providence Place Mall. We turned onto Francis Street, then Exchange Terrace, taking us along the northern side of Burnside Park. As it turned out, the 14 uses one of the closest Kennedy Plaza berths to the Commuter Rail station! Nathan and I got out and sprinted for our lives to the station, just barely making the train. This seems to happen a lot…

The bus allllllll the way back at Salt Pond Plaza…

RIPTA Route: 14 (West Bay)

Ridership: Like I said, the 14 is the least-used “long” route on the RIPTA, since it doesn’t serve any particularly big ridership hubs (the 54 serves Woonsocket, the 60 serves Newport more quickly, and the 66 serves URI). Thus, in 2012, it only got 789 riders per weekday and 325 per Saturday, with most of them coming from the inner section of the route, before it splits in two.

Pros: Despite the fact that ridership isn’t as good as the other long RIPTA routes, the 14 still serves a huge part of Rhode Island. It’s the only route to some fairly important places like East Greenwich, Wickford, and Narragansett Beach, so clearly a lot of areas fall under the influence of the 14.

Cons: The problem is that the schedule is infrequent and inconsistent. It runs about every hour on weekdays, but it’s not consistent at all. There are bouts during the rushes where it gets more frequent, but again, it’s inconsistent. On Saturdays, it leaves about every hour and a half, but once again, the times are completely random. Also, the fact that it’s every 90 minutes means that service to each branch is once every three hours. Then there are some weird express trips that happen mostly during the evening rush that add an extra layer of complexity to an already crazy route, and we’re left with just a big mess.

Nearby and Noteworthy: Of all the towns the 14 serves, my favorite was East Greenwich. It’s surprisingly big, and simply oozing with charm, with a bunch of hills and dense businesses! If only it wasn’t such a pain to get there by public transportation – the 14’s schedule is hard to deal with.

Final Verdict: 6/10
The 14 is an important route, but the schedule completely drags it down. I think hourly headways do make a lot of sense, but why can’t they be more consistent? It also seems like it’s not particularly worth having Saturday service to the branches – if they cut it back to maybe Gate Road, they could improve the frequencies, plus it would improve ridership efficiency. Perhaps even Sunday service could be tried with this arrangement?

Latest MBTA News: Service Updates

After seeing the insane Fridays-only 301, it’s time to take a look at Westerly’s “primary” bus “route”…although it’s still incredibly barebones. The 204 is a flex service, which is why “route” is in quotation marks: you can call in to request the route to take you anywhere within the “Flex Zone,” which covers most of urbanized Westerly. Three times a day, however, the route breaks free of its zone and runs out to Narragansett to serve Salt Pond Plaza and connect with other RIPTA routes. This should be an interesting review…

The bus at Westerly Station.

Confusingly enough, there are certain times of the day you can get on the Westerly Flex without having to call in – certain “Flex stops” at certain times of the day allow you to just get on and go wherever you want. Nathan and I got on at Westerly Station for the 2:00 PM “trip,” which operates almost as a fixed-route to Narragansett.

The inside of the bus.

After some passengers boarded, we left the Westerly Station drop-off area and headed down Railroad Ave. As the name suggests, we were paralleling the Northeast Corridor on one side, while on the other side there were businesses and the “Westerly Armory,” which looked awesome! The road became Oak Street, and it was industrial for a few blocks before becoming residential.

I’m not sure what this is a lot for, but that boat is intriguing.

It got industrial again after a bit, but then we unexpectedly entered…a highway interchange? Yes, I guess we were going onto an express section! We ran down Route 78, which is a short circumferential expressway around Westerly, but an expressway regardless. The driver pumped on the gas as we proceeded through the woods before the highway ended at an intersection with Route 1.

Well, this was unexpected!

We turned onto Route 1, otherwise known as Post Road, and after some suburban businesses with big parking lots, it got more residential. We passed Westerly State Airport and a few random inns interspersed between the houses, then it became businesses once again. At this point, we deviated to serve Walmart, the next “Flex stop” on the route.

Howdy, Walmart.

We continued down Post Road from there, and it was mostly woods, but there were a few random houses mixed in at various points. As we entered Charlestown, there was a section where the houses got slightly denser, and there were even a few businesses mixed in…including a minigolf course! We passed a surprisingly large amount of motels, as well.

Nice view!

There was a long section of woods that lasted until we got to the more developed part of Charlestown. However, we didn’t serve any of it, barrelling through on Route 1 – some businesses were visible from the road, though. As we entered South Kingstown, it became Commodore Perry Highway…and the scenery got a lot more boring.

*yawn*

For what seemed like hours, the bus was just running through endless forest, with only a few random buildings breaking it up on occasion. While there certainly is charm in woods and farms, the speed and warmth of the bus led Nathan to fall asleep and rendered me barely awake…I just robotically took pictures whenever it seemed fit. Thank goodness it eventually got interesting again.

Here we go!

Route 1 went up onto a bridge and crossed over Silver Spring Cove, offering a view of the boats parked at the marina of the same name. The gigantic South County Hospital was visible to the north, then a lot of development surrounded the road but trees mostly blocked the view. We headed up the highway for a while before deviating to serve the Stedman Center, some sort of government office.

This place gets a Flex stop?

For the record, I asked the driver if this place ever gets any people, and he said no…so yeah, how about not serving it? That would be efficient! We returned down the highway for a bit, but this time we got off at Old Tower Hill Road. This took us past the Wakefield Mall (although the Flex doesn’t stop there) and a bunch of other suburban businesses with parking lots.

The Wakefield Mall.

Okay, this next bit was kinda weird. We turned onto Cherry Lane, a residential street behind a shopping plaza, and waited outside of a house for a while. “Someone always gets on here,” the driver said, “let’s try calling him.” Okay…I was under the impression, based on the schedule, that this area was out of the “Flex Zone,” so I’m not sure how someone could have flexed here once, let alone “always.” I guess it was nice that the driver tried to call, but there was no answer, so we continued along our merry way.

A residential street.

The road became Robinson Street and curved westward, crossing over a bike path that eventually leads to Kingston Station. Next, we turned onto Woodruff Ave, which was entirely lined with houses. It stayed residential until a small office park, then we crossed over Route 1. Right after that, we turned into Salt Pond Plaza, where Nathan and I got off to catch another bus back to Providence…and civilization.

The bus at the mall.

RIPTA Route: 204 (Westerly Flex)

Ridership: It’s hard to judge the ridership of the 204, since the RIPTA doesn’t have any public information on it, so I’ll have to base it off of our trip. Overall, there were five other passengers in total – they all got on at Westerly Station, a scheduled Flex stop, and got off either at Walmart or Salt Pond Plaza (both scheduled Flex stops). Sensing a pattern? Yeah, something tells me people prefer getting a scheduled route without any hassle instead of having to call RIPTA at least a day in advance…

Pros: I believe that Westerly is a substantial enough town that it needs public transportation, and as limited as the Flex is, at least it’s something. So yes, that’s my pro: it’s a bus route in Westerly.

Cons: The thing is, it doesn’t seem like too many people use the Flex for its, you know, flexing. Everyone got on or off at the scheduled stops, which I think shows that Westerly needs a fixed-route service instead of this barebones Flex route. You could run it with this same minibus, since I’m sure ridership would be only slightly higher, but a fixed-route is so much easier for passengers than the annoying “call on the day before” mentality that “flexing” the Flex requires.

Nearby and Noteworthy: I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: Westerly is a great town. The central area is thriving and really interesting, with a bunch of diverse businesses. Amtrak is definitely the fastest way of getting here from Massachusetts, but the town could still use a bus route within itself…

Final Verdict: 3/10
It’s good that Westerly at least has one (weekdays-only) bus route, but from what I’ve gathered, people really only use this during the rare times that it actually has scheduled stops…and those times are indeed rare. It boards at Westerly Station and Walmart four times per day, and travels out to Salt Pond Plaza three times per day. Why not serve it all at consistent intervals by making this a fixed-route? Like this:

Yes, it’s every 2 hours…but unlike the current Flex route, this one has a consistent schedule, so it will allow people to actually rely on the bus coming. I have it serve Charlestown as well, since the route currently just blazes by there, and I got rid of Stedman Center service since it seems that not many people use it. Plus, the fact that the route is still using just one minibus means that it costs about the same amount of money to run as the current service. Yay!!

Latest MBTA News: Service Updates

Sorry for the lack of posts, everyone! AP tests and SAT tests fell in the same week, so that was a big drain on my time…but now everything’s done and I can work on the blog again! Finally, it’s time to look at the RIPTA 301 – possibly the strangest public transit route in my jurisdiction. There’s a lot to talk about here…

That’s right – the Rural Ride isn’t even dignified with a proper bus! It just gets a “RIde” paratransit vehicle…

How do I explain something as weird as the Rural Ride? Well, the route only runs on Fridays, and it only has one round trip and some change: an outbound from Westerly, an inbound back, and an outbound that traverses most of the route but not all of it. This truly is a “rural ride,” running through some very middle-of-nowhere parts of southwestern Rhode Island. Who could possibly use such a thing? Well…

The inside of the bus.

The trip started with a bang as the bus pulled into the Stop & Shop parking lot in Richmond. (How did we get there? Find out!) “You two are men,” the driver shouted to Nathan and I from the bus. “Help the ladies with their bags!” We helped the four old ladies waiting there put groceries into carts for the bus, then they each used the wheelchair lift one by one to rise into the vehicle. Once everyone was on board, the driver brought around a paper bag and we all put our money in. This was just the strangest start to any bus ride I’ve ever taken…

The beautiful Stop & Shop parking lot.

We left the Stop & Shop once all the ladies were settled in and the carts were in place, and we headed down the wide Kingstown Road. After going by a little park-and-ride for the 95X to Providence (it wouldn’t be our first encounter with that route), we went under I-95 and the street became Main Street. Still lots of suburban businesses with huge parking lots everywhere, though…

It gets more scenic later on, I promise!

We merged with Nooseneck Hill Road (very interesting name) and passed some baseball fields as the other side of the road was lined with houses. There were also a few businesses mixed in there, like “Ma and Pa’s Country Store,” as well as a post office. This was technically a “downtown,” you see – Hope Valley.

A street in Hope Valley.

There were a few more businesses and a fire station before we left Hope Valley and the surroundings became mostly woods with spread-out houses. It was starting to get truly rural, as the route name suggests, although there were still little bursts of civilization. For example, there was an auto shop, a housing development, and a golf course all in quick succession…but they were followed by a huge field and some woods, so I guess it evens out.

Rollin’ through the forest…

All of a sudden, we made a turn into a deviation, serving a clinic called Wood River Health. Next, we pulled into the Canonchet Cliffs housing development, and this is where we dropped off two of the ladies on board. They used the wheelchair lift to get off the bus, taking their carts with them, and then we arrived at an intersection within the development and waited.

That’s a sharp turn!!

“She said she was coming,” the driver said. “We’ll wait here a few more minutes.” All of a sudden, another old lady came speed-walking from her apartment to the bus. “I forgot my keys!” she said, “I had to run back and get them!” With a new passenger on board, we continued the deviation, dropping off the remaining passengers at Canonchet Cliffs II and picking up another old lady, then we returned to Nooseneck Hill Road.

Coming back to the main road.

For a while, it really was just unspoiled woods, broken only by the occasional house or farm. Eventually, a single business – the Hopkinton General Store – and a weird sideways traffic light announced our arrival into “downtown” Hopkinton. It barely felt like a downtown, though – there were no other businesses, and the only other points of interest were a post office and the “town clerk.”

A rearview shot of the empty road!

Here in Hopkinton, we merged onto the very narrow and very badly-paved Townhouse Road, taking us to Saugatucket Springs, an apartment building. We looped around the entrance to the building but didn’t pick anyone up, so we returned up the narrow street and made a sharp turn to get back to Nooseneck Hill Road. After a few industrial buildings, we went by another park-and-ride for the 95X and crossed over I-95.

This is about the extent of downtown Hopkinton…

There were more woods on the other side of I-95 that continued for a while until we entered another village of Hopkinton: Ashaway. Suburban houses lined the street for a bit, then there were a few lame businesses with parking lots out front. Next, we turned onto Ashaway Road, which featured – surprise! – more woods.

A curvy intersection.

After going under some telephone wires, we curved eastward, where we got to see some houses. There was a little grocery store and a gas station near the next intersection, at which we turned onto Main Street. We entered Westerly here, which is apparently a GIGANTIC town because we were NOWHERE NEAR the end of the route!

Well, isn’t this nice!

After crossing the Pawcatuck River, we ran alongside it for a bit with a huge factory on the other side. We were also in another village: Bradford, to be exact. It wasn’t much of a village, though – there was only a pizza place and a post office, and that’s about it. We crossed over the Amtrak tracks on Bradford Road, and there were a few auto shops and a school on the other side.

In the middle of a complicated intersection.

We continued down Bradford Road, where for possibly the first time on the entire route, the houses were actually consistent. Aside from a big field, the houses were evenly spaced for the most part. We passed through a complicated intersection with Westerly-Bradford Road, which leads directly to downtown Westerly, but we had a while to go on our route before we could get there…

Down on the farm!

Our street, meanwhile, became Dunns Corner Road, and it was lined with all manner of houses, parks, and farmland. There was even a road leading to what appears to be a gigantic trailer park complex. After all that, though, the ruralness of the Rural Ride ended IMMEDIATELY when America’s favorite big box store came out of nowhere – hi, Walmart!

Hooray…

We entered the parking lot, and this was where the two old ladies still on the bus finally got off. Now it was just me and Nathan, and it would stay like that for the rest of the trip to Westerly. Leaving the parking lot, we made our way onto Route 1 (Post Road), which was lined with a bunch of suburban businesses with parking lots until it got more residential.

An airport!

Aside from the houses, we also went by some sketchy motels, a middle school, and Westerly State Airport, which actually does have a scheduled flight – New England Airlines to Block Island! Right after the airport, there were businesses with parking lots all over again, including some malls. We directly served one of them, Franklin Plaza, although the timepoint on the route calls it “Aldi’s Grocery.”

I miss the farmland…

The street was called Franklin Street now, but we weren’t on it for too much longer, turning onto the narrower, residential Wells Street. We came up along the huge Westerly Hospital, then turned onto the even more local Westminster Street. This took us to the Westerly Senior Center, where we made a little loop on this strange elevated driveway in front of the building.

A local side street.

After that deviation, we headed down State Street, then turned onto Beach Street outside of a shopping plaza. The road was mostly residential, but there was a factory outside of which Beach Street curved northwest. We then turned onto Main Street, which paralleled the Pawcatuck River (but we couldn’t see it) and was pretty darn industrial.

There’s kind of a view down there…?

Due to one-ways, we eventually curved onto Union Street, then High Street, taking us through downtown Westerly. There were businesses on all sides of many different shapes and sizes, and they continued as we turned onto Canal Street. This took us up to the Amtrak station, where we made our way into the busway, ending this very long route.

I love the sad “301” in the window…

RIPTA Route: 301 (Westerly/Hope Valley Rural Ride)

Ridership: In total? Six old ladies. And it’s the same six old ladies every week! The driver said it can go up to as much as 16 in the warmer months, but the point stands that ridership is low…and consists entirely of old ladies wanting to get out of the house. All of the ridership went from the Canonchet Cliffs complex to either the Stop & Shop in Richmond or the Walmart in Westerly.

Pros: This is the only way for these senior citizens to be able to get out of the house. Every week, Fridays only, the little 301 comes to give them a chance to escape the dreary lifestyle of a housing development in the middle of nowhere and go shopping. It’s truly a bus route like one I’ve never seen before…

Cons: The problem is that it works horribly as a bus route! The one-way trip is almost an hour and a half long! The ridership is incredibly low! The schedule is extremely limited! I mean, for all intents and purposes, as a route, RIPTA should have eliminated this thing long ago!

Nearby and Noteworthy: Yeah, well…the Rural Ride definitely lives up to its name. There aren’t any places on the route really worth visiting, but the ride itself is very pleasant! You really do go through the middle of nowhere, and the ladies that ride the route are very nice.

Final Verdict: 3/10 for the route, 8/10 for the concept
This isn’t just a bus route – this is a lifeline. For the people living in Canonchet Cliffs, the 301 is the only way to get out and see the world. But the problem is that…well, it’s also a bus route. And it’s a really bad bus route with low ridership, low frequency, and low efficiency. Here’s the thing: the 301 should not be RIPTA’s problem. This should just be a shuttle from Canonchet Cliffs that runs to Stop & Shop and Walmart. Maybe they could run it to each location on different days to give people more days to go out! Please, Canonchet: take this away from RIPTA, because if they eliminate the route, it will have a tremendous, negative impact on these people’s lives…and they have every reason to eliminate it from an operational perspective. It’s a lifeline…it’s a really important lifeline.

Latest MBTA News: Service Updates