10 “Boston Landing” Comments
So…my Boston Landing review kinda blew up. Thanks to posts on Universal Hub and Reddit, the post has gotten almost 3500 views in a few days! First of all, I want to thank everyone for reading, and welcome those who might be new – I hope you stick around. The exposure has also resulted in a bunch of feedback, and I found some pretty interesting comments. Let’s take a look at 10 of my favorites, eh?
2. On the topic of Allston, I got a good amount of comments regarding my description of the neighborhood Josh and I walked through. Hey, I’ve got nothing against Allston itself…but that neighborhood just to the east of Boston Landing is disgusting. I stand by that!
3. Alright, yeah, it was a pretty minor digression in the post when I said I was digressing, I’ll give you that one…
4. As it turns out, I really like my exclamation points. What can I say? They’re fun to use and add spunk to an otherwise boring sentence! That one in my reply is semi-ironic…
5. I have no idea who you are, Doctor of Taste, but your comment is amazing.
6. This thread led me to think about my writing style, and to be honest…I will continue writing “like a high school kid.” Because you know what, I’m talking about things that most people find boring. If I don’t make the posts conversational and enthusiastic, who would care outside of the hardcore transit fans? I’m not trying to write a professional blog or anything – my goal is to entertain you all while writing about what I love!
7. A whiny twit, eh? Well, it’s better than a “f***ing dweebus,” as one fellow who later deleted his comment called me. I also have to admire kittyscherbatsky for digging deep into the archives to find the super old posts where I talked about riding buses with my dad. Now there are some poorly-written reviews…
8. Um…no, I gave the station a 7/10. I don’t believe that constitutes as “sucks so bad”, last time I checked.
10. And finally, the true standout of these negative comments: someone took the “Cons” section completely out of context and wrote snarky parenthetical remarks to each sentence. Ahem…
- Yes, I have been to Ruggles, as another commenter pointed out.
- My complaints about the schedule regard consistency. Why provide all-day weekend service while leaving a huge hole in midday weekday service? The “Dictate!” bit is interesting, too…of course I don’t have the power to change the schedule, but I can at least show enthusiasm for the idea.
- “The cons mostly come in the forms of specific annoyances (like your review?).” Well played, well played.
- Just because many Commuter Rail staircases are falling apart doesn’t make it okay that a specific staircase is falling apart. That’s just common sense. This applies to the speaker comment, as well.
- This part about never being in a prison cell…I mean, did you read the post? How about going back and seeing what I actually mean when I refer to “prison cells”?
- “Josh needs to get a life.” So do you, buddy!
Boston Landing
There isn’t much that’s more exciting than a new Commuter Rail station! Well…maybe a certain Green Line Extension would be nice (COUGH), but that’s not the topic of today’s post! No, today we’ll be looking at the Worcester Line’s newest infill station, located in Allston and funded by New Balance (which feels weird to say): Boston Landing! For the record, I did visit this station on the first day of service, but I wasn’t able to write the review yesterday because of an event at my school…sorry!
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| The station’s surroundings…from above. |
Yeah, I figured I’d mention that this station’s surroundings are…weird. I mean, Josh and I came in from the 66 to the east, and walking down Braintree Street, it was just an industrial dump. Then, all of a sudden, the buildings immediately get newer and a little less sketchy…and there was Boston Landing, right on the tracks parallelling the street!
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| Eww… |
Unfortunately, you can’t get to the station quite yet. No, you have to traverse a really awful, old, decrepit stone staircase to get up to Everett Street. I know this isn’t part of the “station”, but from what I saw, a good amount of the riders came this way, so a ramp would be much appreciated…or at least an updated staircase!
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| Land ho! |
And now we finally get to the station itself. Along Everett Street, there’s an interesting setup where the elevator is on one side (with a nice T symbol!) and the staircase is on the other. The problem is that there’s no crosswalk between the two, so if a disabled person wants to cross the street to get to the elevator, they’re basically out of luck…and Everett Street can be busy!
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| The staircase entrance. |
Look, this staircase is fine. It’s all sheltered, and even though the roof is kinda bland, and even though the bars on the side will probably get rusty soon, it’s a fine staircase…but come on, what’s with this entrance? Why does it shift over when you get to the top? The sign is obscured by the fence when you look at it straight on! I’m sorry, but this just looks ridiculous!
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| Yeah, see what I mean? Look across the street! |
Luckily, the elevator is great, at least for now. It has a lovely new smell, and the glass walls allow for a view on all sides. I do think it’s rather interesting to be in this modern glass elevator with a disgusting old factory right across the street, though!
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| The Everett Street end of the platform. |
It’s kind of odd that the stairs lead to a pretty desolate part of the platform, but I guess that means better accessibility for people using the elevator…even though more overall riders will want to use the stairs, but I digress. This end of the platform doesn’t have much, but it does feature a fire extinguisher, a blue EMERGENCY pole, and fire alarms. The blue poles and fire alarms are prevalent throughout the whole station, so clearly there was a big focus on safety.
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| Big focus on…safety? |
Okay, this is weird. Both sides of the station have “emergency exits” that feature big ramps leading to what I can only describe as “prison cells.” I mean, they’re just chain link fences with an emergency call button within, and no way to leave! The better “emergency exit” would just be to jump off the platform! At least then you could actually, you know, ESCAPE an emergency situation. I’m sorry, but I cannot see the point in these prison cells that offer barely any protection from the disasters that would necessitate their usage.
UPDATE (5/24): The “jail cells”, otherwise known as “areas of refuge,” are apparently required by code, due to the fact that Boston Landing lacks a sprinkler system. They still seem pretty useless, but thanks to Dave’s blog for the information!
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| Looking down the platform. |
Okay, luckily the platform itself is great! Sure, it’s not the most exciting station in the world, but it’s nice and modern with a fully high-level platform. There are shelters that run for a bit next to each entrance, and they have benches and wastebaskets underneath. More benches sit out in the open area too, but they’re probably less likely to be used. Also, there’s a speaker system that reads out what the electronic signs say, but the audio quality is terrible!
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| Sweeeeeet! |
Other amenities on the platform include updated maps with the new station included, as well as some really neat historical photographs. It’s always sad to see how beautiful this corridor was before I-90 came barreling through (the highway makes for a noisy presence at Boston Landing), while there are also some amazing old streetcar shots! Additionally, I only found one grammatical error in the text, so…yay?
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| The station’s footbridge. |
The other side of the station offers a second entrance, leading to the its main attractions: the New Balance building and the Warrior Ice Arena. This entrance consists of a footbridge over the inbound track, with stairs and elevators leading up to both sides. I can tell you that the elevators were both clean and modern, while the stairs were…well, perfectly fine stairs.
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| The second entrance. |
This entrance plays host to an emergency light, a wastebasket, and a rather nice sheltered bike rack with a bunch of spaces! Surprisingly, someone actually had a bike in there on the first day. A concrete path leads to another Boston Landing sign, complete with a…really squashed schedule. I mean, it looks awful, and they only squashed it to be able to fit in a “See something? Say something!” sign…
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| The huge New Balance building. |
This station is, of course, primarily meant to serve some vast new developments that have been built in the area…after all, New Balance was the company that funded it! Their building is beautiful, and it already seems to be a pretty big hub of activity (aside from the incredibly overstaffed New Balance store inside, but…oh well). Hopefully as the development grows, so will station ridership and train frequency!
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| The platform…from above! |
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| An outbound train leaving. |
Station: Boston Landing
RIPTA: 301 (Westerly/Hope Valley Rural Ride)
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…
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| 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…
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| 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…
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| 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…
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.”
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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…
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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.”
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| I miss the farmland… |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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
Rural Ride Video!
The Rural Ride video is finally out! Does the most elusive bus route in my jurisdiction even exist? Find out here!!
Westerly (Amtrak)
Wow, talk about a missed opportunity. Westerly has some of the most beautiful architecture I’ve ever seen at a small-town stop, yet the buildings have all fallen into disrepair. Indeed, the main building has what looks like an amazing interior, but it was…closed by Amtrak in October? Actually, no, this isn’t a “missed opportunity” – it’s a station that willingly shot itself in the leg!
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| Looking down the platform. |
Well, the first thing I noticed about the platform is that it’s entirely low-level. That’s right, there’s not a single mini-high platform here! Sure, the Amtrak website claims this place has a wheelchair lift, but the only one Nathan and I could find was a stationary one on the northbound side that didn’t appear to be movable! THIS SEEMS PROBLEMATIC…
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| It looks great until you notice the trash can… |
The only kind of waiting facilities on the outbound platform are two benches under a small building – the rest is all bare. Still, one can’t help but admire the beautiful architecture of this building! I love all the arches and columns, and that roof looks great, and…hang on, when’s the last time that trash can was emptied? WOW, that is absolutely disgusting!
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| This feels so weird… |
Look, I’m sure the inside of this building was incredible when the station was in its prime. Now, though…well, you can see that it’s not in the best condition. There’s paint peeling from some of the columns, while litter occupies the corners of the room and a pungent smell fills the air.
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| Is that the ghost of Westerly Station at the bottom of the stairs? No, it’s Nathan! |
This building also houses the entrance to the “Westerly Subway,” which is just an underground passage to get between the two sides of the station. Interestingly, the staircase features a wheelchair lift that travels along the railing! The only problem is that it doesn’t work, and based on the rust it’s acquired, it seems like it might never work…
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| Ehhh… |
The tunnel definitely lacks the nice architecture we’ve been seeing in the rest of the station. I mean, this is just a bland, musty, echoey hallway that continues to harbor that awful smell from the building above. When you get to the other side, there’s another staircase with an old wheelchair lift – we were able to find on the lift that it was built less than 20 years ago, in 1998.
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| The entrance to the other building. |
The building on the northbound platform is even worse than the southbound side – this one doesn’t even have room to stand! It’s just the staircase, leading to a surprisingly modern-looking wooden door. But as for the rest of the building? Nope, like the other one, the architecture is beautiful, but it has certainly seen better days. Don’t get me started on the gigantic pile of clothes hiding behind the door…
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| The northbound seating arrangement. |
Alright, now the seating arrangement alongside this little building is just stupid. Look, there are a few benches and a wastebasket, but they’re separated from the platform by a railing! You have to walk all the way to the end of the building in order to step onto the darn platform! Also, see that payphone sign in the background? Yeah, there’s no payphone. False advertising, Westerly!
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| The sheltered seating area. |
At least the northbound side does have a proper waiting area, though. I mean, look, there’s a nice shelter, a wastebasket, some benches, and a good amount of bike racks! There’s also that wheelchair lift that doesn’t seem to be movable…but other than that, I think this place is pretty goo- HANG ON, IS THAT ANOTHER RAILING BLOCKING THE WAY TO THE PLATFORM?! OH, COME ON!
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| Wow…now that is a beautiful building. Also, there’s a minibus! |
Well, when you walk around to the entrance and see the building, you can definitely see how amazing the architecture here is. Just look at that! What a beauty! It’s also out here where you can get the three miserable RIPTA connections: the rush-hour only 95X to Providence, the weekdays-only 204 Westerly Flex, and the Fridays-only 301 Rural Ride. Really great service, huh? Car parking is just as amazing, with 30 whole short-term spaces and no long-term spaces! I’m sure those won’t fill up quickly!
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| Holy moly! |
Okay, why the heck did they close this building? Just look at that! That is absolutely gorgeous! I absolutely love the old-timey ticket office, and they probably had a bunch of benches in here and maybe a café…look, they even left the Quik-Trak machine on! What a waste of energy!
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| An Acela zooming through! |
Station: Westerly
Ridership: Over the course of 2016, this station got 42,560 passengers, which is about 116 people per day. Considering that this is an Amtrak stop and that a decent amount of trains skip through here, I would say that’s fairly decent ridership. It could probably be improved, though, as we’ll discuss later.
Pros: Well, the architecture here really is great. In its prime, Westerly must’ve been an impressive station! The Amtrak station also serves as the only weekend public transit to Westerly, even if using the Northeast Regional isn’t the easiest or cheapest thing…
Cons: I’m sure this station has been slowly falling apart for years, but I like the idea of blaming its neglect on the building’s closure. After all, without a station attendant, who’s going to repaint the walls, or empty the overflowing trash can, or pick up the…disgusting clothes lying around? I still can’t get over that last one. There are other quirks here that are awful, too, like the strange, seemingly immovable wheelchair lift (not to mention the other immovable wheelchair lifts on those stairs) or the lack of parking or the barebones RIPTA service.
Actually, it’s that last one that brings me to my next point: getting to Westerly is awful! I can’t blame this station for the RIPTA’s schedule, but the Amtrak fares from here are really expensive – the “Saver” fare from Westerly to Providence (requiring advance purchase, keep in mind) is $15.00! “Saver” fare from Westerly to Boston is $27.00! Okay, Amtrak, way to encourage commuting…or leisure travel…or, like, any kind of travel to Westerly. Going back to RIPTA, the 95X may only run during rush hours, but at least it’s only 2 bucks to Providence! Of course one would expect the train to be more expensive, but $15.00 is crazy – how about some sort of “Rhode Island Commuter Pass” that gives about a $10 or $11 value for Westerly to Providence trips? I think Amtrak does that kind of thing in North Carolina, but I could be wrong. Something like that could really increase ridership!
Nearby and Noteworthy: Westerly is actually a really fantastic town! It has a pretty big center that extends over the Pawcatuck River into Connecticut. There are lots of local businesses around, including two bookstores, a fantastic riverfront café, and…a PINBALL BAR?! WOW, THAT IS THE COOLEST THING! Too bad it’s still really expensive to get here…
Final Verdict: 3/10
In its prime, Westerly would have been the crown jewel of small-town stations. The architecture here is just amazing, and the inside of the building is beautiful! The inside…of the closed building. Yeah, that’s where the problems start. Closing that building has been a huge detriment to the station, leading to a lack of maintenance and wayyyyyy too much litter everywhere! The station isn’t accessible, it’s in disgusting condition, and it costs an arm and a leg to get out here. At least that architecture is good…
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
238 (Quincy Adams Station – Holbrook/Randolph Commuter Rail Station)
We’re really in the home stretch here! Ironically, despite this being a proper MBTA bus review, the route in question is one of the most suburban ones in the system! That’s not to say the ridership isn’t there, though – let’s talk about the 238.
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| Not the 238 I rode – I had to wait later in the day to get an in-focus picture! |
We left the Quincy Center busway and headed down Hancock Street, making a few twists and turns because of Quincy Center’s weird new traffic pattern. The street took us right through downtown Quincy, past a few office buildings, but mostly dense businesses on either side. We turned onto School Street next, where the businesses became interspersed with apartment buildings and a church.
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| Some houses alongside an intersection. |
Next, we made a bunch of turns within a quick period of time: Franklin Street, Water Street, Liberty Street, Quincy Street, and Burgin Parkway. It got industrial by the time we headed onto Burgin Parkway, a wide road that sped us further south alongside the Red Line tracks. The sight of a gigantic parking garage let us know that we were approaching Quincy Adams.
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| Racing a train! |
The 238 only recently started serving Quincy Adams on Sundays – before that, it would just go by without deviating. Thus, our Sunday trip turned into the ridiculously oversized Quincy Adams busway, although it happened to be getting use today because of a bus shuttle. Coming out of the busway, we made our way to Central Street, taking us back in a northwesterly direction.
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| Leaving Quincy Adams. |
The road was an odd mix of houses and industrial buildings, but it got more residential as we kept going. Just before a little “town center” served by the 215, we turned onto West Street. The road winded past a bunch of suburban houses after we went under I-93, and the driver was putting the pedal to the metal.
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| Some houses. |
We merged with Willard Street, going by an ice skating rink and an entrance to the Blue Hills Reservation. For a little bit, the reservation occupied one side of the street while houses occupied the other, but then it got…gross. As we entered Braintree and the street became Granite Street, it grew much wider, and we were surrounded by office parks, car dealerships, and parking lots.
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| A side street just before the gross section. |
We went under I-93 again, then passed multiple entrances for the South Shore Plaza without going into any. No, we had to wait for the very last one, which was a narrow road that ran through the woods and then served some office parks. As we turned onto South Shore Plaza Road, we arrived at the main mall stop, where many people got off, as expected.
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| The plaza. |
Returning to Granite Street, there were more suburban businesses with parking lots around, especially at “Braintree Five Corners,” which was little more than a five-way intersection with some retail around it. As we continued south, there was yet another shopping plaza, albeit a much smaller one, as well as Braintree High School.
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| If this was an RTA, we would’ve deviated to serve this awful plaza! |
There were some industrial buildings in view, then the street became Pond Street, with a mix of houses and industry. Soon, though, we entered Randolph and it became North Street – now the driver floored it again as we passed by mostly houses, albeit mixed with a few sparse industrial buildings. The road curved around a lovely park and cemetery…and then another park and another cemetery! Sure, why not?
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| Some more houses. |
From there, it was mostly houses up until Crawford Square, where retail was once again dominant. This is also where things get a bit odd for the 238: buses can terminate here at Crawford Square (nights, Saturdays, and some Sunday trips), they can run down Union Street to Holbrook/Randolph Station (weekdays), or they can go down South Main Street to Avon Square (Sundays only). I’ll get more into the service pattern later on, but for now, just know that it was a Sunday, so we were headin’ to Avon!
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| JOSEPH’SSSSSSSSS!!!! |
South Main Street was mostly residential for a while, with a few businesses interspersed between the houses. We went under some telephone wires right near a school, then after crossing a small brook, we passed some industrial buildings. The road became North Main Street as we entered Avon, and almost immediately after, we looped around a church, marking our arrival at Avon Square.
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| An awful picture of the next inbound 238 at Crawford Square, as seen from the bus. |
Route: 238 (Quincy Center Station – Holbrook/Randolph Commuter Rail Station)
Ridership: Considering the amount of trips it gets per day, the 238 gets really good ridership – 2,077 riders per weekday, 1,304 riders per Saturday, and 735 per Sunday. In fact, my Sunday trip got over 40 riders, which seems crazy! Only about half of them got on at Quincy Center, too, so the route has good local ridership.
Pros: Looking at this route, it seems like it serves a whole lotta nothing, but that’s apparently not the case! Sure, there are large parts of the route where no one got on or off, but the South Shore Plaza and Crawford Square are both huge ridership hubs! I also like the way this route is interlined with the 240, and they combine on Sundays to provide Avon Square service (Josh and I ended up staying on and just getting a ride back to Ashmont). The 238’s schedule is decent, too, with service every half hour during the rush, and every hour weekdays, nights, and Saturdays.
Cons: What about Sundays? Yeah, that becomes every 75 minutes! This is bad both for the 238 and especially the 240 – not only is it really infrequent, but people heavily use these buses on Sundays! If it was more frequent, I’m sure you could get even more riders – at least every hour! Also, the variations of termini depending on the time can be a little confusing.
Nearby and Noteworthy: It’s not quite as fast as the 236, but the 238 is still a great way of getting to the South Shore Plaza. Did you know that it’s apparently the 16th largest mall in the United States?
Final Verdict: 8/10
Sure, it’s a suburban route, but this ain’t the GATRA – people actually use the T, even if it’s not a city-dwelling line. Although the Sunday schedule leaves a lot to be desired, and the route could probably get away with increased frequencies at other times, too, it still provides an important link through Braintree and Randolph. Wow…only a few more MBTA bus reviews left, guys!
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
West Hingham
Oh boy, an Old Colony station…but not just any Old Colony station. That’s right, we’re looking at the Greenbush Line today! The Greenbush Line: taking the tried-and-true concept of sticking stations in the middle of nowhere with huge parking lots, but adding golf courses! West Hingham is no exception!
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| Woah, this is weird… |
Okay, so West Hingham has a special entrance for…pedestrians? Well, this is not typical Old Colony style! It was a really nice little path, too, running right alongside the track with little creeks on both sides. I wasn’t expecting it to be so naturey!
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| Ah, that’s more like it. |
Of course, this wouldn’t be an Old Colony station if it didn’t have an egregiously large parking lot. This one is fairly conservative in size, actually, but its 214 spaces only get about 50% full on weekdays. The station also has some bike spaces, located in a little plaza with some newspaper boxes and old honor boxes.
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| Typical. |
There isn’t much to say about the platform that I haven’t said a million times before, but I’ll go for it anyway! The whole thing is high-level, with a modern Old Colony shelter along a good portion of it. There are benches, wastebaskets, and information along the sheltered portion, while a few benches extend to the unsheltered section out in the woods.
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| Hey! The train is ignoring the red light! Oh wait, wrong vehicle. |
Station: West Hingham
Ridership: Well, this is the least-used station on the Greenbush Line, with 374 inbound riders per weekday…but that’s not saying much when you realize that the line’s ridership is pretty consistent across each station. The highest one, Greenbush, only gets 527 riders, so they’re all in the same general ballpark.
Pros: We’ll put this station’s Old Colony-ness under “pros.” After all, there’s nothing bad about that high level platform with the shelter, benches, and wastebaskets under it. The station also offers plenty of parking, plus some bike spaces.
Cons: It’s boring! Like any Old Colony station, there’s no character here to speak of. Also, it’s in the middle of nowhere, yet Hingham Center is right down the line with no stop at all. Imagine an underground Hingham Center station!!! Okay, that’s crazy and stupid, but it would’ve been great if they had built an actual station closer to there…but noooooo!
Nearby and Noteworthy: Did you know that four out of the seven Greenbush Line stations have a golf course within a 1.5 mile radius? WOOOOOOOOO! Although West Hingham is one of the stations to offer those amazing thrills, apparently there’s also a model railroad club across the street! Sweet!
Final Verdict: 7/10
Yeah, yeah, it’s a fine station, yadda yadda yadda. It’s gonna be very hard to not repeat myself as I review more of these darn Old Colony stations. They’re all the same!
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
Rural Ride (Trailer)
Nathan and I got up at 5 AM to take Amtrak to a rural place to ride a rural route. No, I’m not telling you what we tried to ride! Enjoy the trailer and stay tuned…
Harvard Shuttle: River Houses B (Harvard Square – Quad – Memorial Hall – Lamont)
During the day, getting to Mather House is pretty simple – all you do is board the Mather Express and it’ll take you there. But once the clock strikes 4:30, things spiral out of control when the route gets replaced by the (awkwardly-titled) River Houses shuttles. These all serve Mather House, but they are very slightly different (although the A is literally the same as the Mather Express) and they run at different times of the evening. The B is the most elusive, with only four trips from 6:20 to 8:20 – let’s see what it’s like!
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| Woah, I wasn’t expecting this picture to look as cool as it does! |
The River Houses B runs up to the Quad, which is where Nathan and I boarded. From there, we turned onto Shepard Street, then Garden Street. It was residential for a bit before we came into the Harvard Square area, where there were apartments and a hotel. Next, we ran alongside Cambridge Common, with a church and some Harvard buildings on the other side.
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| Oh boy, this review is gonna have some fun pictures, eh? |
Before we could enter the actual square, though, we circled the Harvard Bus Tunnel portal onto Mass Ave. We continued along the Common for a bit, then ran alongside the Harvard Law School. Across the street from some apartments, we turned onto Everett Street, then Oxford Street, which took us by some more Harvard buildings flanked by leafy parks.
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| Yup. That’s something. |
Oxford Street curved around to become Kirkland Street, and we came up alongside the beautiful Memorial Hall building. Our driver chose not to enter the busway, so we turned right onto Quincy Street, then Cambridge Street. Outside of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School, we turned onto Felton Street, then Broadway, then finally Quincy Street again.
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| Wow, you can tell what it is! |
We went alongside Harvard Yard, then made our way onto the narrow and twisty Bow Street. This led us to DeWolfe Street, which had some apartments along it. After some traffic heading onto Memorial Drive, we turned onto Cowperthwaite Street, finally taking us to Mather House.
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| Over near Mather House. |
Next, we turned onto the residential Banks Street, then made our way back onto Mass Ave by way of Mount Auburn Street. There were some tall buildings around, but as we returned to the Yard, businesses and Harvard buildings were once again abundant. We got off at the next stop, while the bus continued to run express back up to the Quad.
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| The bus at Harvard. |
Harvard Shuttle Route: River Houses B (Harvard Square – Quad – Memorial Hall – Lamont)
Ridership: My trip got some good ridership heading between all stops. There were people going from the Quad to Memorial Hall, people from Memorial Hall to Harvard and Mather House, and people from Mather House to the Quad. So yeah…not bad!
Pros: There are definitely a lot of people who would use a direct link from Mather House to the Quad, it would seem, and this route fulfills that need. It doesn’t sound like much, but the fact that it gets riders to all of its locations is pretty important.
Cons: The route only runs four times a day! What?! Okay, that’s not too big of a problem, since its replacement, the River Houses C, does pretty much the same route…but why is the C every 20 minutes while the B is every 40? What’s more, the B times horribly with the Quad Yard Express, which runs at the same time, but every 25 minutes. It would be great if they could put a second bus on the B and maybe give it some layover time to make it every 25 minutes too, to create consistent service to the Quad.
Nearby and Noteworthy: All that Harvard jazz, ya know…
Final Verdict: 5/10
This route definitely has serious problems, don’t get me wrong. However, its basic concept is still good, and it makes for a decent placeholder before the River House C begins service…except the River House C is every 20 minutes versus every 40! Sorry, Mather House, but you get terrible service between 6:20 and 8:20…
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
Ayer (feat. the Circus Train!)
This station sucks. Being stuck here for 4 and a half hours sucks. Sure, there was a nice reward in the end, as the title’s parenthetical remark suggests, but…this station still sucks.
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| Wow, that’s a lot of railfans! |
Alright, let’s start with the outbound platform. Actually, I’m just about done talking about the outbound platform, since there’s nothing on it. Okay, okay, practically no one is going outbound from here, but it’s still just so barebones! How about at least a bench? The inbound side must’ve been closed at some point, because there also appears to be a temporary concrete platform in the middle of the tracks.
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| The inbound platform…can you find Jordan? |
At least the inbound platform has some amenities, but they’re still pretty lame. The modern green shelter is okay, with benches, a map, and a schedule underneath, as well as some wastebaskets and newspaper boxes nearby. Along the rest of the low-level, unaccessable platform, though, there are only a few benches and an ugly bus shelter.
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| Well, there’s the bike rack! |
Yeah, if you can’t tell, this station is located in an industrial wasteland. It is such an unpleasant place to wait at, with no regard for safety at all – passengers can walk right into the abandoned mess of materials if they so wish. The station has no bike parking, and only thirty parking spaces for cars that double as municipal parking! Good luck finding a space!
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| A pair of CSX engines coming through. |
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| Being stuck at Ayer for hours means you get a lot of train pictures… |
And of course, I have to talk about the Circus Train, the whole reason me and a whole bunch of other people came up here in the first place! The train carries around “The Greatest Show on Earth,” but the show is soon to end – the train is on its last legs. Pulling the diverse group of cars carrying passengers, vehicles, and animals were some beautiful FP9 locomotives from the 1950s!
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| Wow! |
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| Old meets new, kinda… |
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| The train has started to move! |
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| There were four locomotives pulling the train. |
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| A few of the many passenger cars. |
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| That’s a lotta vehicles! |
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| The end of the long train. |
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| Goodbye! |
Station: Ayer
Ridership: For the Fitchburg Line, Ayer’s ridership is actually pretty good, with 435 inbound riders per weekday. The Fitchburg Line is one of the T’s best examples of why stations should be located in downtowns – this station has barely any parking, but it still gets a good amount of people!
Pros: Well, I rather like that modern green shelter on the inbound side. Also, it’s nice that the station is located right next to downtown Ayer, not that there’s much there. Oh, and I have to admit, it’s pretty cool that you can get from here alllllllll the way to Wachusett for only $2.75. What a steal!
Cons: Basically everything else. The station isn’t accessible, first of all, and it’s also a really unpleasant place to wait at. Everything to the south of it is industrial wasteland, there are no bike racks, and the rest of the amenities are abysmal!
Nearby and Noteworthy: Downtown Ayer is BORING. Trust me, I was here for four and a half hours!
Final Verdict: 3/10
I had my mind set on a 3 even before I was stuck here, so don’t think that influenced the score. Yeah, the circus train was really cool, but why couldn’t it have picked a more interesting station to run by? Oh well, at least we didn’t have to wait at Hastings!
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
MART: Gardner – Wachusett Commuter Shuttle
Poor ol’ Gardner is a really isolated city for transit, and there’s no easy way of getting from there to Boston…well, until Wachusett Station opened, that is! And sure, that station still uses the “drive and park” mindset that all modern Commuter Rail stations have, but the MART decided to give people an alternate way of getting there. The Gardner – Wachusett Commuter Shuttle times with trains and is a super quick trip…it’s just too bad that nobody uses it.
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| The bus at the “Gardner ITC.” |
After a rather late departure from the ITC, we turned onto Main Street, going by mostly industrial buildings. Eventually we merged into what can only be described as a gigantic rotary with a Hannaford in the middle. Main Street curved northward at the rotary, but we soon turned off of it, onto Willow Street.
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| Hello, Hannaford! |
Next, we turned onto the residential Connors Street, which took us up to the Gardner City Hall shelter. We picked up one passenger, then turned onto City Hall Ave for a block before coming back onto Main Street. The businesses of downtown Gardner stuck around for a bit, but things got a lot more parking lot-heavy as we continued south.
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| The view from City Hall. |
We got to that Hannaford rotary again, this time going down Timpany Boulevard. We went under some train tracks, then reached another rotary, merging around to an exit ramp that took us onto Route 2. Time for the express section!
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| Some random businesses. |
We were just sailing through the woods for a while with, uh, not much scenery to really talk about. At one point in Westminster, there were a few huge office parks in view, so that’s something? Things got more interesting once the Intercity/MWCC route joined us near a huge pond.
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| The best highway picture I could get, offering a “view” of Gardner. |
There was a road that ran right alongside Route 2 for a bit, playing host to a housing development and some random businesses. Pretty soon after that, we left the highway at Exit 28, which took us to Princeton Road. After crossing Route 2 on a bridge, we made our way into the Wachusett Station parking lot, ending the route at a nice shelter.
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| Two shots of the bus at Wachusett. |
MART Route: Gardner – Wachusett Commuter Shuttle
Ridership: Oh man, it’s so bad…one other person going in towards Wachusett, and no one waiting to go back – and going back was the peak direction! I mean, okay, the trip going back was timed with the 3:30 train from North Station, so maybe the route gets more people later in the evening rush? It’s so new that there isn’t actual ridership data yet.
Pros: I love this route so much. This is just the perfect way of getting from Boston to Gardner – it’s actually somewhat comparable to driving, taking only a few minutes longer when rush hour traffic is accounted for. Every trip on this route times perfectly with a train, and it nabs a decent amount of them, even getting a few midday trains! The route itself is also really fast, getting passengers from downtown Gardner to Wachusett in 15 minutes!
Cons: Why, oh why does nobody use it? Maybe my trip was a fluke? Maybe more people use it later in the rush? Please tell me people use this! I love it so much!
Nearby and Noteworthy: If you want to get to Gardner, this is your bus. Why would you want to go to Gardner? I dunno…
Final Verdict: 4/10 (but the route itself is a 9)
Please leave a comment if my trip was a fluke and this thing actually gets decent ridership! I really really like this route, and it’s absolutely perfect for Gardner commuters. If it does indeed get no one, then I think there’s a good solution to get people: put the route on the Fitchburg Line timetable. I’m not sure if the T would want to do this or not, but I’m sure if they showed that there’s a bus directly to Gardner, and they showed when it leaves, ridership would increase both for this route and for Wachusett Station! Just sayin’…
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
MART: MART ITC Gardner
“ITC” stands for “Intermodal Transit Center,” right? I mean, what the heck else could it stand for? The “MART ITC Gardner” has to be the central bus hub for all of the system’s Gardner routes! That’s gotta be it, right? It’s…it’s gonna be good, right? It’s gonna be…open to the public, right? Oh dear…
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| Look how nice this is! |
The outside of the building certainly makes it seem like it’s some sort of hub! This thing is beautiful! Surrounded by mostly industrial buildings, the modern structure stands out with its MART logo and sleek clock along a grey tower. It seemed like a fitting hub building to Nathan and I as we walked up to it…
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| That’s a lotta minibuses. |
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| Hmm… |
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| Hoo boy. |
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| 10/10 for comfort! |
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| Two stop signs! I see two stop signs! |
MART: Winchendon Link
Alright, everyone, raise your hands if you’ve ever heard of Winchendon, Massachusetts! Anyone? Anyone? Yeah, neither had I until I rode this strange little shuttle. Who the heck thought that a link from Gardner to Winchendon would actually get a few people?
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| The bus coming towards Gardner City Hall. |
We left City Hall and headed down Connors Street. There were buildings and businesses all around, but as we made our way onto West Street, we started to leave downtown Gardner. The surroundings were now mostly dense houses, with the occasional auto shop coming up.
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| These were not easy windows to take pictures out of… |
The houses got more spread-out pretty darn quickly, and soon there were large sections of trees between them, Eventually it became just woods, broken only by the Gardner Landfill and a cemetery. Later on there was a preschool and another cemetery, then the houses came back when the street became State Road and we entered Templeton. Bet you haven’t heard of that town, either!
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| A section of woods. |
We climbed up a slight hill, and near a church, we arrived at our first timepoint: Otter River. It didn’t feel like anything special, with mostly just more houses all around. After the road curved under a train track and became Central Street, thought, we did come to an important area. This was Baldwinville Village, and it featured some businesses, a town common, and a post office!
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| A gas station in Baldwinville Village. |
We turned onto Elm Street, whose houses got less dense as we got further from the village. We crossed over the track from before, then the street became Winchendon Road. After going by a campground, it was just pure middle-of-nowhere woods for a while.
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| I’m kinda surprised at how decent this photo turned out to be! |
The trees were unbroken for quite a while, aside from the very occasional house or some telephone wires. At some point along this stretch, we entered Winchendon. We arrived at our next timepoint soon, “Lake Dennison Picnic and Swim Area.” It consisted of a road leading to Lake Dennison and a Chinese restaurant. Woooo…
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| What a strange place for a car dealership… |
The street was called Baldwinville State Road from there, and we started to see some relatively consistent houses! Eventually the name changed to Main Street and we curved east, passing an ice cream shop and a strange-looking closed car dealership in the middle of a field. There was even some proper civilization in the form of Waterville Plaza! Yes, it was a terrible tiny place with really boring businesses, but it was something.
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| Civilization! |
The road became River Street as we passed two abandoned factories, then we reentered the woods again for a bit. There were some houses after we crossed over the Millers River and a nice forest view as we paralleled said river. The road started to climb up a hill, going way above the river down below as it flowed into a reservoir, offering an awesome view.
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| Too bad I couldn’t really capture it… |
We curved around onto Front Street, then we turned onto Central Street. This was downtown Winchendon, and it wasn’t much, but it was something! We passed a little shopping plaza, then some more traditional “downtown” businesses. Everything was kinda run-down, but I can’t say I was expecting Winchendon to have an actual town center.
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| A side street downtown. |
We went by a post office, a YMCA, and a few more businesses, but eventually we more or less left downtown. There were still lots of fairly dense houses along Central Street, though, and they continued as we turned onto Jackson Avenue. That street curved down to become Lincoln Avenue, where there were some industrial buildings.
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| Some houses in Winchendon. |
Next, we turned onto Grove Street, which was mostly residential aside from a rather large church. We turned onto Pleasant Street after that, taking us past more houses a block away from the main drag. Finally, outside of a lovely library and park, we reached the final stop on the route…and it actually had a sign!!
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| Would ya look at that…a bus in Winchendon, Massachusetts. Who woulda thought? |
MART Route: Winchendon Link
Ridership: Well, first of all, I just want to say how surprised I was to see that this route actually gets anyone, let alone about 35 people per day! Yeah, okay, that’s absolutely terrible for most bus routes, but it was surprising to see here. Our ride on the last trip of the day had four other people heading up to Winchendon, and even one person coming back!
Pros: I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Winchendon actually seems like it might kind of need a bus route. I mean, it had over 10,000 people in the 2010 census, plus you’ve got another 8,000 from Templeton. Yeah, okay, both towns are pretty spread out (although Winchendon’s downtown is dense), but our trip did have four whole people! That’s not bad, right?
Cons: Oh wait, this route costs $31.47 per passenger for MART to run – that’s one of the worst passenger subsidies I’ve ever seen! Also, it seems that the only trips on this route that actually get riders are the rush hour ones…and even if that wasn’t the case, this schedule would still be weeeeeeird. The frequencies range from half an hour to three hours in seemingly random parts of the day! Why are there trips at 11:30 and 12:30, then a three hour gap until 3:30, the last trip of the day? And why doesn’t it run a few hours later to better cater to commuters?
Nearby and Noteworthy: Heck, the ride itself is cool enough to be noteworthy! Downtown Winchendon has a few restaurants and businesses, but there is nothing there that is worth the trek…trust me.
Final Verdict: 4/10
Gosh, I kinda have a soft spot for the ol’ Winchendon Link. Yeah, the route is terrible and it costs so much money to run and the schedule is ridiculous and inefficient…but it’s just such a cool route! Who’s ever heard of Winchendon? I was so excited to ride this thing, and it honestly blew my expectations away with its four other passengers. It goes against my better judgement, but I’m going to give this thing a higher score than it probably deserves…
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
MART: Intercity/MWCC
A route from Fitchburg to Gardner sounds really useful! After all, Gardner is pretty skimpy in the transit department, so something connecting it to a bigger city is a good idea, and one that seems like it would result in good ridership. Is the awkwardly-titled Intercity/MWCC route up to the task? No, no it isn’t.
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| Oh no, what is this?? |
Oh great, it’s one of these schedules. Why are there so many route variations? There’s something wrong when no two trips take the exact same routing. Just so that there’s no confusion about where the heck we went, Nathan and I took the 2:21 trip, the first outbound of the afternoon. It skips out on the Leominster deviations that the morning runs take, but it still serves Westminster and runs to downtown Gardner (the next trip appears to terminate at Mount Wachusett Community College, for some reason).
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| Why, hello there! |
I gotta say, with a schedule like that, we were fully convinced that the route would be running a minibus. However, buried in the far corner of the Fitchburg Intermodal Center was the full-sized bus that would be taking us on our trip! It was a surprise to see, but definitely a good surprise – who the heck wants to ride a minibus, ever?
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| The inside. |
I think it’s worth talking about the inside, since it was a pretty unique bus. The seats were nice and cushioned, and there were cords running along the windows to request a stop – all pretty standard. But interestingly, there was no rear door! It was almost like a coach bus in that sense!
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| Crossing the Commuter Rail. |
We set out from the Intermodal Center and headed down Main Street for a bit, then turned onto Water Street. This took us over the Commuter Rail tracks and away from downtown Fitchburg, past a few businesses and over the Nashua River. After that, we went up a hill and went by a mixture of dense residential, retail, and industrial buildings.
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| Eww… |
There wasn’t much of note along here for a while, especially since I’ve already talked about it twice. It stayed with that building mixture for a while, even as we entered Leominster and the street became North Main Street. As we neared Route 2, though, the businesses started to become more abundant, and the parking lots were growing.
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| At least this one has some snowy hills in the background! |
Things got a little weird when we randomly pulled into the lot for a Days Inn and stayed there for a few minutes. I guess the bus was just early, as we were soon back on the road after a layover. However, we left that road very soon, taking an exit ramp onto Route 2. That’s right, we were going express!
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| That’s a view, I guess. |
The highway made its way up a hill and into the woods. Route 2 does kind of skew the definition of a highway sometimes, though – for example, there was just a level intersection with a tiny side street with no traffic light or anything! We got a view of the huge Twin City Plaza (“huge” mostly because of its parking lot), and then it was back into the hilly middle of nowhere.
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| Oh boy, another mall! |
It was starting to get foggy, too. The view out the bus window was mostly a bunch of ghostly trees, while up front the visibility was low – I’m impressed by our driver for managing to navigate this full-sized bus at high speeds down a foggy highway. At one point, the road ran alongside a lake, and the view was just gorgeous.
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| Wow… |
It felt like we had been going for a while, but as we passed Exit 28, we realized that we had only made it as far as Wachusett Station. It had felt so middle-of-nowhere, too! In the industrial area west of Wachusett, we got a view of maybe one building, then later on we saw a few businesses alongside a road paralleling the highway.
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| A house in the woods. |
Alongside another beautiful pond, we left the highway, taking Exit 25 and making our way onto Main Street. We were in Westminster now, and the street was lined with houses for a little while. However, that all changed once we entered downtown Westminster. There were skyscrapers everywhere! People scrambling all over the place! Truly, this was the center of civilization!
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| Oh… |
No, actually the houses just got a bit denser and we saw a few businesses. The biggest sign of “civilization” was a small shopping plaza called Village Square. How exciting! We continued down Main Street, now residential, and passed the Westminster Senior Center, then another interchange with Route 2.
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| Wow, that is a misty marsh… |
Beyond that interchange, the road got really wide, and we were back in the ol’ woods again. There wasn’t much of note along here – we were just speeding along, entering Gardner in the process. After a while, we all of a sudden turned onto Matthews Street, a narrower road that twisted by a few houses.
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| These woods are scary! |
Next, we made our way onto an entry road for Mount Wachusett Community College. We came into the parking lot, but we had to snake around because of these huge patches of snow everywhere. “This school makes so much money,” the driver ranted. “Why can’t they afford to clean up their snow?” There was a shelter way in the back of the lot, but we couldn’t get to it, so we had to come around to a gazebo instead.
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| Oh dear…sorry, shelter! |
We headed out to Green Street from there, just outside of a golf course. We passed some wind turbines, then a hospital. After that, the street was lined with dense-ish houses, then we reached an oddly-shaped rotary and merged onto Central Street.
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| A shot of downtown Gardner from after we had left the bus. |
There were more houses for a bit, but then we passed a park and entered downtown Gardner. It was surprisingly built-up, with multi-story buildings lining the street, housing businesses on their ground floors and (presumably) apartments up top. We merged onto Pleasant Street, taking us up to City Hall, which is where Nathan and I got off in order to catch another bus. The route does continue a little further to the “MART ITC Gardner,” but we’ll be discussing that in another post.
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| The bus at City Hall. |
MART Route: Intercity/MWCC
Ridership: The ridership on this route is pretty lame – in 2014, it got an average of 77 riders per weekday, which is quite skimpy. My ride was really bad, with only one person going outbound and three people waiting to do the inbound trip.
Pros: This is a useful route in two ways: for one thing, it connects Fitchburg to Gardner, as I said; for another, though, it also connects Mount Wachusett Community College and Fitchburg. I don’t know anything about its students and where they live, but I’ll bet a good amount of people commute there from Fitchburg! That could also explain why this route only runs from Labor Day to Memorial Day. Finally, the ride was very scenic – maybe it was just the fog, but there was some absolutely beautiful scenery along here!
Cons: Oh, but don’t think this is a good route. Nooooo, it certainly isn’t. First of all, we just have to talk about that schedule again. I definitely understand why it’s rush hour only, given the commuting nature of the route, but I just don’t see why it has to be so darn complicated! For example, why does it deviate to Monument Square in Leominster in the morning only, and exclusively on outbound trips? Does that deviation really get the riders to justify it? Also, it seems like they could really cut Westminster service all together and run express straight through like some trips do already – at least on my ride, not a soul got on or off there.
Nearby and Noteworthy: Yeah, so like I said, downtown Westminster is just the most bustling place in the world! I’d put in on a Midtown Manhattan level – it’s just crazy. No, actually, this route doesn’t really serve anywhere interesting…downtown Gardner is okay, but it’s kind of run-down.
Final Verdict: 4/10
Man, I really can’t stand that schedule. That’s honestly the biggest problem with this bus, but it’s just such a huge issue! This is a route that means well, but is executed terribly. If the schedule was simplified and the headways were made more even, if possible, you might be able to attract more riders to this thing.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
The MBTA’s Mock-Up Orange Line Car!
Well, it’s not every day you see a train car in the middle of City Hall Plaza! For the past three days, the T has had a 2/3-scale mock-up of one of the new Orange Line cars that will be entering service in 2018-2019, and it was amazing. Time for a multitude of pictures!
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| The mysterious tarp! |
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| Oh my gosh, she’s a beauty… |
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| MAP SCREENS MAP SCREENS MAP SCREENS MAP SCREENS MAP SCREENS |
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| A blurry picture of the emergency apparatus. |
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| Some fold-up seats for a wheelchair. |
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| I wonder what this button is for…it’s a high-floor train! |
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| This was really cool – there are things that come out from the doors to eliminate the gap at stations! |
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| Some brochures about the train. |
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| The inside! It’s so beautiful! |