716 (Contracted Bus: Cobbs Corner – Mattapan Station via Canton Center)
Typically, one expects MBTA buses to have a certain…level of courtesy. For example, you assume the drivers will have a certain level of safety protocol. You also assume that schedules will be reasonably sensible. And you expect the bus radio to be firmly set in the “off” position. Well…this isn’t the MBTA. Although subsidized by the authority, the long 716 route is run by Joseph’s Transportation, and it’s…different.
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| Case in point… |
The little minibus didn’t have any MBTA signage at all. In fact, it was basically just an advertisement for Joseph’s Transportation! The whole bus was extolling the virtues of using the company for private events or whatever. Yeah, thanks, Joseph’s, I’ll be sure to keep you in mind when I need a ride to my “Bachelor/ette Party”.
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| Gosh, they make it seem like Joseph’s is the best company ever… |
On the inside, it was a pretty typical minibus. The seats had seat belts, and for the sake of safety, I buckled mine up. There was a wheelchair lift in the back, and up front the way they collected fares was with a little plastic cup that you put your money in. Not very high tech, is it?
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| The back of the bus with the wheelchair lift. |
Now, I’d just like to take a few moments to talk about the lovely driver of this route. First of all, there was the bad rap music he was playing over the radio. But okay, I could get over that, since it wasn’t too loud and a lot of these minibus routes have drivers that play music, anyway. However, there was also the fact that our driver was loudly talking on the phone the whole time. Boy, I sure love putting my trust into a bus driver who’s not even paying attention to the road!
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| What’s that I see up front? Why, I do believe it’s our driver on the phone. That’s right, I have photographic evidence! |
Anyway, it’s finally time to talk about the route itself. We looped around to River Street, but bypassed Mattapan Square by turning south onto Blue Hills Parkway. After a bit of woods, we merged onto Blue Hill Ave, which was lined with fairly dense houses. As we got further south, the houses got further apart.
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| A side street. |
Eventually, it got to the point where there would be little patches of forest in between each house. At one point, we went by Curry College, and though it’s advertised as an important stop on the schedule, no one got on or off. Well, to be honest, no one got on or off, anyway. We were basically just speeding down Blue Hill Ave without a care in the world.
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| The sign was on the other side of the bus, so that’s why it’s a bit weirdly zoomed in. |
After that, we were running alongside the Blue Hills Reservation, so there were sometimes stretches of just trees beside the road. We passed the parking lot for the Mass Audubon Trailside Museum at the reservation, then a ski area with fake snow. It was just forest after that, and in the process, the street became Washington Street and we entered Canton.
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| I’m impressed that they created so much snow. It was rather cold that day, admittedly. |
Then all of a sudden, it got pitty. The road grew much wider, and there were gas stations, fast food restaurants, and parking lots everywhere. We then crossed over I-93 at a big cloverleaf interchange, and luckily, things were back to normal on the other side with a narrower road and more houses. I would like to point out that we were supposed to make a deviation onto Royall Street before crossing the highway, but for some reason, we didn’t.
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| A big field…thing. |
We went by a golf course, then upon reaching a convenience store, the street merged off to the right. It was residential once more, and the houses were slightly denser now than they were before. They were occasionally broken by municipal buildings or churches, however, and at one point, we passed through a cemetery.
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| A side street. |
After a little while, we passed the Canton High School and the Museum of American Bird Art in quick succession. From there, we were coming into Canton Center, or at least the outskirts of it. There were lots of businesses along the street, but they still had parking lots outside. We also went by the Canton Center Commuter Rail station, which I have yet to visit and review. Someday I’ll have to come back…
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| Crossing a small river. |
After going over a river, we entered Canton Center proper, which seemed pretty nice. Varied businesses lined the side of the street, and it seemed pretty walkable. Of course, we soon left the center and it was back to houses. They continued up until we were suddenly surrounded by parking lots. Here, we turned into the biggest one, and after some navigating around cars, we arrived at the Cobbs Corner Shopping Mall. It wasn’t a very interesting place…
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| The driver got mad at me when I took this. Look, I’ll stop taking pictures when you stop talking on the phone, okay? |
Route: 716 (Contracted Bus: Cobbs Corner – Mattapan Station via Canton Center)
Ridership: Well, my ride had a whole four people on it in total. But perhaps the bus’s overall ridership is better? Let’s see, it averages out to…89 people per day. Yeah, okay, we’re not really talking about high numbers here.
Pros: Well, it has to be said that the 716 definitely serves a long distance. However, is there a lot to serve along that distance? Not really – aside from Canton Center and Cobbs Corner, there isn’t much to draw ridership along the route. Thus, the 716’s schedule is infrequent, running every hour weekdays and Saturdays, with no Sunday service. Still, it’s sensible, and I understand why they would run it so infrequently. Yup, this seems like a pretty good schedule.
Cons: Hang on…it only runs until 12:30 PM on Saturdays? What? Why?! Having it only run in the morning cuts off potential shoppers from getting anything done in the afternoon. Either run full service or no service at all, Joseph’s, because this half-service thing you’ve got going on makes no sense. Another problem that can’t really be helped is the fact that it’s just one bus shuttling back and forth along the route with no layover time, meaning it can easily be late. That said, it would make absolutely no sense to add a second vehicle to the route, considering its ridership, so the lateness will have to do. But you know what can be changed? The drivers. Get ones that don’t talk on the phone.
Nearby and Noteworthy: There’s Canton Center, which seems like a fine place to spend an afternoon. Oh wait, you can’t do that on Saturdays. Okay, well, the 716 also goes right by some important trailheads into the Blue Hills Reservation, which seems like a great place to spend the day hiking. Just don’t go later than noon if you’re doing it on a Saturday, ’cause this bus can’t help you after that!
Final Verdict: 3/10
Look, it has to be said that this route serves a lot. A lot of woods, that is. I guess at best, it can serve as a slower, less crowded alternative to the Stoughton Line, but it would take so much longer. Other than that, aside from some office parks on the Royall Street detour we didn’t take, Cobbs Corner and Canton Center seem like the only major ridership draws. However, this route’s Saturday schedule is just insulting. If anyone knows the reason for the morning-only thing, please let me know, because it just seems ridiculous. Oh, and finally, there’s the whole phone thing. I’m sorry, but that did not make me feel safe at all. At least the route’s scenery is nice…
UPDATE 11/25/17: I have no idea when this happened, but I just discovered it now: A&A Metro took over the contract for this route from Joseph’s, and now uses a minibus with much better route signage. Also, it actually runs all day on Saturdays now!! The route still isn’t perfect, but it’s a lot better, and worthy of a score increase to a 5/10.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
45 (Franklin Park Zoo – Ruggles Station via Blue Hill Ave)
I don’t really have much to say about the 45. I mean, it’s pretty short, exists mainly to serve one corridor, and…I can’t even think of a third thing to properly complete the sentence. Umm…yeah, let’s just get into this.
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| The bus at Ruggles. |
The 45 is one of the many routes from Ruggles that goes down Tremont Street from the station. After traversing that wide avenue for a bit, we turned onto Malcolm X Boulevard (like most of the other routes we were running with), but then made a strange deviation. Although the schedule says that no Saturday trips are supposed to do this, we swerved onto Roxbury Street and headed up a hill.
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| Hey, look! A sort-of view! |
At John Eliot Square, where there were a few businesses, we swung around onto Dudley Street, heading back down the hill past houses and apartments. The street ended at a small park, where we turned onto Shawmut Ave, and then, um, Dudley Street again. We picked up some more passengers at Dudley Square and looped around the complex in order to return to Dudley Street.
We left the retail of Dudley Square behind, going by houses, apartments, and yes, the occasional business. After passing a little common, we merged onto Blue Hill Ave, where the 45’s independent section started. The street was mostly residential, but there was a bit of retail in the mix, too.
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| It wasn’t the nicest of neighborhoods. |
To be honest, there wasn’t much else to talk about along this section. It was pretty much all houses, businesses, and empty plots of land. Eventually, though, after passing a school, the street became almost entirely lined with retail with apartments on top. From there, we merged with Warren Street (and the four buses that run that way), and now Blue Hill Ave had a huge median in the middle.
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| Franklin Park! |
It felt a lot more built-up now, with multi-story apartment buildings on both sides of the road. However, eventually one of those sides was replaced by…Franklin Park! Thus, we soon turned onto Franklin Park Road, and after making a small loop within the park, I got off at the last stop and headed back to Blue Hill Ave.
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| The bus at Franklin Park. |
Route: 45 (Franklin Park Zoo – Ruggles Station via Blue Hill Ave)
Ridership: Ridership for this route is pretty good overall, remaining in the top 40 for MBTA buses both weekdays and weekends. More specifically, it gets 3,453 riders per weekday, 2,095 per Saturday, and 980 per Sunday. My particular Saturday ride had about 15 people in total, and they all got off along the independent Blue Hill Ave section, as expected. No one went all the way to Franklin Park, which I think simply acts as a place for the bus to turn around.
Pros: This is one of those nice, simple routes meant to serve a single corridor (Blue Hill Ave). Probably due to its short length, it also has a mostly great schedule. The 45 runs every 10 minutes during rush hour, (woo!) every 25 minutes during the day, every 20 minutes on Saturdays, and every half hour at night. Wait…I have the strangest feeling I’m forgetting something…
Cons: Oh yeah, it’s every hour on Sundays. WHYYYYYYY? It’s just a single bus running back and forth that spends 4 minutes laying over at Franklin Park and 12 minutes at Ruggles! It could easily be shortened to every 45 minutes, like what is done Sunday mornings and nights, but for some reason the day isn’t good enough for that luxury.
Nearby and Noteworthy: To be honest, this route really doesn’t serve much of interest. At best, the 45 could be used as a quieter alternative to the 28 for getting to Franklin Park, but the latter is slightly more frequent.
Final Verdict: 6/10
Overall, this route serves a good amount and generally runs often, except for the whole Sunday thing. Its schedule is comparable to the 44‘s, and since I gave that route a 6 solely based on its frequencies, I’m doing the same here. Plus, this route gets more ridership than the 44 on weekends, so there! Make the 45 run more often!
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
Service Change: Italy, Part 5 – Transportation in Rome
It would be great if I could end this series on Italy with an epic post about Rome’s huge public transportation system, but…I didn’t actually get to ride it. Hey, at least I have pictures…
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| A bad tram picture taken from our bus. |
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| Rome’s bus signs were incredibly detailed. |
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| A minibus. |
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| A vehicle on the 70. |
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| This one was red, for some reason. |
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| That’s a lot of parked cars… |
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| Construction for the new Metro Line C near the Coliseum. |
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| Line B’s existing station by the Colosseum. Apparently the vibrations from the subway are damaging the old ruins. |
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| A modern tram and some buses. |
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| A bus with the Colisseum in the background. |
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| A major bus terminal. |
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| Blurry nighttime shot! |
Service Change: Italy, Part 4 – Buses in Assisi
Assisi was like the small-town portion of our trip – but though small towns are usually considered uninteresting, Assisi was anything but. I mean, it’s not often you get to visit medieval villages on the sides of mountains, is it? With narrow streets, old buildings, and panoramic views, this was a really awesome place to visit.
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| For context, here’s a view of the lovely town. |
And as it turned out, Assisi has a bus system! It’s a very small one, with basically only two routes: Lines A and B run together as kind of a figure-8 around the town, operated by a single minibus, while Line C is a shuttle to the train station at the bottom of the mountain using full-sized buses. During some free time, a few friends and I rode the Line A portion of the figure-8, which ended up being a really spectacular trip. First, a few miscellaneous bus photos.
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| A full-sized vehicle on Line C. |
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| A Line B bus coming up a hill… |
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| …and passing by. |
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| And here’s the bus at the terminus of Line A. To be honest, it can probably be assumed that it’s the exact same vehicle every time. |
This was a minibus, and for very good reason. As I mentioned, this is a mountain town, and so the route was very hilly, with lots of narrow streets to boot. The bus was nice and simple inside, with a ticket scanner right at the entrance. (How about trying that out, Florence?)
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| Well, I suppose I have to give a shoutout to Jay, striking a pose in the back. |
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| Looking up front. |
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| The ticket. |
The bus started in Assisi’s main square, the Piazza del Comune. We then headed up Via S. Paolo, and I do literally mean “headed up” – this narrow street was steep. On either side there were old stone buildings housing shops, and later on, apartments.
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| Lovely view! |
We went under an arch between two buildings, then the street name changed to Via Metastasio. It went right up to the side of a cliff, offering a fantastic view down the mountain. From there, we were surrounded by old buildings again, as the street suddenly curved downhill and made a terrifying 90 degree turn in the process.
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| The rear window was quite dirty, so…yeah. |
After that, we headed onto Via Cardinale Raffaele Merry del Val (insanely long street name there), which left the town and was lined with nice trees. Running along the mountainside with just woods for surroundings, there were some more incredible views out the window. We curved onto Via Egidio Albornoz, going by some kind of settlement, and then it was forest again with the occasional industrial building (and of course, the views stuck around).
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| Unsurprisingly, I didn’t capture them well at all. |
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| Of course, when I say slightly modern, I do mean slightly. |
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| Speaking of which… |
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| Some blurry houses. |
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| How’s about another view? |
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| Goodbye, bus! |
Service Change: Italy, Part 3 – Buses (and Trouble) in Florence
Hooray! A city where we actually got to take a bus! However, it didn’t exactly go as planned. Before we get to that, though, here are some pictures of other buses I saw that I didn’t ride.
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| Wow, that’s a tight fit. |
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| And so is that. |
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| That bus is so cute! |
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| A full-sized vehicle. |
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| A few buses at a major stop. |
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| A bus on the 14. |
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| A side view of another bus. |
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| A vehicle rounding a corner. |
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| A bus stop. |
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| A bus on the 19. |
And now for the bus that I rode. Since the streets of Florence’s historical center are so narrow, its bus company, ATAF, can’t run full-sized buses through it. However, it does have a few minibus routes that loop around through the city, including the C1, on which a few friends and I rode during some free time.
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| The ticket. |
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| The stop, with the countdown clock in the background. |
We were waiting for the bus at the Piazza di San Marco, which is a major stop served by a lot of routes. There was an employee outside who sold us tickets while the countdown clock told us when the next bus was arriving. The C1 runs every 10 minutes, so we didn’t have long to wait.
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| I like how the destination board wasn’t working so they just stuck a “C1” paper on the front. |
On the inside, the bus was pretty badly designed, I have to say. Considering how small the vehicles on the C1 are, do they really need three doors? It leaves so little room for seating! Plus, the ticket machine is in a position where it’s easy not to notice as you walk in – and you need to validate your ticket. Yes, there’s an honor system on Florence buses, and it came to bite us in the rear later on.
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| Looking toward the front… |
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| …and the back. You couldn’t stand next to that back door because it would swing and hit you. I found that out the hard way. |
We left the busway at Piazza di San Marco and headed up Via Giorgio la Pira, with close beige buildings on either side. After going by a park, the buildings got more “modern” – though in such a historic city, modern buildings are still quite old. Eventually, we came to an oblong roundabout at the Piazza Della Libertà, which was a wide enough street to have a segregated bus lane for a bit.
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| A wide street. |
Next, we turned onto Viale Don Giovanni Minzoni, which was quite leafy with quaint apartments. Then we turned onto Via Giovanni Pascoli (a different Giovanni, I guess), and soon pulled into a parking lot where the final stop was. Here, we all left the bus and realized that we had arrived at a completely different part of Florence. We even found an arcade!
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| The bus at its terminus. |
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| A strange blue walkway. |
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| The arcade! |
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| Alas, it was closed, but here’s a look inside. |
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| The big plaza near the arcade. |
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| Ummmm…this is interesting. |
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| Okay, that’s an impressive gate. |
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| The bus we took back. |
Having walked a bit from the terminus, we got on at the second stop of the route. Unfortunately, there was a row of parked cars between the sidewalk and the stop, so we had to walk out when the bus came. This one was a lot more modern, and though the layout was still slightly weird, it was much better than before. There were even automatic announcements!
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| Looking toward the back… |
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| …and the front. |
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| Mmm, lookathelovelyviewdon’twanttothinkaboutthecopsrightnow. |
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| A bad picture of the bus leaving. |
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| The sheet the cops gave my friend, all in Italian. Way to make sure tourists don’t understand anything, ATAF! |
Service Change: Italy, Part 2 – (Water) Buses in Venice
I really wanted to take a water bus in Venice. In fact, during a period of free time, a few friends and I were going to take it a single stop, just for the sake of riding one. But when we got to the station, I asked the woman at the ticket booth how much it would cost to go one stop. “Take taxi,” she said. “Water bus is €7,50.” Seriously??? That single-ride fare is absolutely ridiculous, especially considering it’s slightly more in US dollars! Needless to say, we didn’t ride the water bus, but here are some pictures of the boats and stations I saw.
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| The station near the bridge out of the city. |
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| A boat running on Route 2. |
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| The boat again. |
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| A nice-looking station. |
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| Oooh, countdown clocks! |
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| People entering the station. |
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| Another stop. |
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| The inside. |
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| And another stop. |
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| The entrance. |
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| I’m sorry, only one ticket machine but four vending machines??? That seems excessive. |
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| The ticket machine. |
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| Alas, ’twas €7,50 to go beyond this point. |
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| Another boat. |
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| A smaller stop… |
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| …and a boat picking up passengers there. |
Service Change: Italy, Part 1 – Buses in Verona
Man, Italy is an amazing country. My trip there was awesome, and now I’m sharing the public transportation I got pictures of, and (on a couple of occasions) rode. Unfortunately, I didn’t ride any buses in Verona, but here are the photos I took during our brief visit there.
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| An articulated bus! |
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| Looks like a natural gas vehicle. |
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| A smaller bus. |
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| The “P” seemed to be a short shuttle between the city’s main parking lot and its downtown. |
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| The P again. |
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| Another smaller bus. |
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| A different smaller bus. |
Fitchburg
Welcome the MBTA’s outermost station in Massachusetts! Yes, we are truly in the wild west right here. Well…the wild west if it had multi-story buildings and a fairly busy downtown. Okay, so Fitchburg might not be a true frontier, but its gateway station is certainly a good one.
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| One of the station buildings. |
Being a terminus, Fitchburg has plentiful amenities. This is the “Fitchburg Intermodal Transportation Center” after all, and thus it’s got quite a lot of “stuff”. Most of that “stuff” is housed within two connected station buildings, both of which have clock towers! Okay, they’re not very high up, but a clock tower is a clock tower.
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| A waiting area. |
Near the building’s exit to the platform, there is a convenient waiting room area so people don’t have to wait for trains out in the cold. It also has a vending machine and water fountains. There is a booth to buy tickets, which wasn’t in operation when I was there. I think something may have been out of order on that particular day, but hopefully it’s working now.
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| Well, they certainly make it clear where the restrooms are. |
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| A café! Well, a closed café. |
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| I love the natural light! |
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| The bus area…from above. |
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| The closed second building. |
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| Well then. |
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| The view of downtown Fitchburg. |
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| The shelter and high-level portion of the Commuter Rail platform. |
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| The barren part of the platform. |
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| Two shots of the same train. |
Pros: This is a great modern station with quite a few amenities. I mean, it’s got lots of parking, a fabulous bus area, a café, restrooms, ticket booths, waiting areas, and more. The platform may have a simple high-level section, but why complain about the shelter’s aesthetics when you can just wait inside the station?
Cons: Just the fact that some of the station’s features aren’t open a lot of the time. That said, though, the café probably only stays open when ridership necessitates it, while the bathrooms are under lock and key to prevent people loitering or vandalizing. But yeah…other than that, I really don’t have much.
Nearby and Noteworthy: This station is essentially right in downtown Fitchburg (or at least very close to it), and there are lots of businesses there. Also, Fitchburg State University is in walking distance.
Final Verdict: 9/10
Despite its low ridership (which may go up now that the Fitchburg Line renovations are done ), Fitchburg is a great transportation center with lots of convenient amenities. It performs well both as a Commuter Rail station and the hub of the MART. And…yeah! There isn’t much else to say, this is a pretty great station.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
This is the last post before I go on a school trip to Italy. The trip will be 10 days, but my hiatus may be a bit longer than that. I guess…expect a hiatus of at least 10 days? Sorry, guys.
MART: 2 and 9 (Intermodal Center – Monument Square – Jytek – Walmart)
A Walmart in the middle of nowhere? Sure, what better place to start a bus? I mean, it has to be said, the Walmart stop does get ridership. And, you know, the route serves a lot between the mall and its terminus in Fitchburg. Anyway, today we’re looking at the MART’s 2 and 9 routes, which together run from the south of Leominster all the way up to Fitchburg.
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| I had gotten on at Monument Square, so, uh, here’s Monument Square. |
This bus was different from the last one I took, in that it was a hybrid. I think it’s more or less the same model as the MBTA’s hybrids, except that this one had a rear window! Other than that, the inside was rather fancy-looking, but functionally, it was the same as other MART buses.
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| I love the bright color scheme! |
I had taken the bus from Monument Square down to Walmart, but I’m gonna start the review with the trip back. So we left the Walmart parking lot and headed onto Jungle Road, but only to turn onto the wide New Lancaster Road. The big box stores got replaced by trees for a bit, and then we turned onto the narrower Willard Road.
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| Going over a train track on Willard Street. |
This street was a strange mix of industry and housing developments. We crossed over a train track, and then the road was more traditionally lined with houses. We then turned onto Central Street, although on weekdays some trips come from the south to serve an industrial park. As this was a Saturday, though, we headed north.
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| Turning onto Central Street. |
The scenery along Central Street was…repetitive. I mean, it was just a lot of businesses with big parking lots out front. Sure, there was the occasional housing development off the road, but nothing unique. Outbound trips pull off the street to enter the Johnny Appleseed Plaza (alright, Leominster, we get it), but we just sped right past.
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| I’m not sure what this is a picture of, but, uh, here it is. |
We passed a trailer park at one point, and there started to be a few regular houses in between the businesses. Not a lot, but at least a few. Eventually, the businesses lost their parking lots as we entered Monument Square, looping around the common and picking some more people up. Now we had become the 2 and we were headin’ for Fitchburg!
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| An earlier picture of a different bus on the 2. |
We turned onto Main Street, the so-called “main drag” of Monument Square. To be honest, none of the businesses that lined it looked very interesting, noteworthy, or in some cases, open. We eventually passed a nice-looking park on the right, and after a few other businesses, it got residential.
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| The park. |
This next bit is a bit confusing, mainly because it’s being changed. Now currently on the 2, only outbound trips serve the Leominster Hospital, and since we were going inbound, we skipped it. Inbound trips serve the Water Tower Plaza, a mall, instead. However, with the elimination of the 10 on March 1st, the 2 will start serving the hospital and the Plaza in both directions. On our trip, though, we only deviated to serve Water Tower Plaza.
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| It has a huge parking lot! Of course. |
The street got very wide from there as we crossed over Route 2. And on the other side of that interchange? More businesses with parking lots! Woo! Most trips make a deviation onto Erdman Way to serve some offices, a hotel, and a big box store, but ours was one of the ones that didn’t.
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| Going over the highway. |
The businesses went on for quite a while without any breaks. The most noteworthy thing that happened was when the road changed to Water Street when we entered Fitchburg! Well, okay, I will say that after that momentous occasion, houses started to appear more frequently between the retail.
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| I love that bridge! And in the foreground, that’s a…”haunted mansion”. |
We went by a pretty impressive bridge, then the street became lined with houses and apartments. Eventually, we headed down a slope, crossing the Nashua River and passing a shopping plaza. The 2 doesn’t directly serve the plaza, but there’s another route, the 11, that goes into it.
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| The view of the river and the plaza. |
Water Street went onto another bridge, this time over the almost-Commuter Rail tracks. We then turned onto Main Street, heading away from downtown Fitchburg. Thus, we arrived at the Intermodal Center soon after, and the bus got ready to head back to Monument Square and eventually that one Walmart in Leominster.
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| The bus in Fitchburg. |
MART Routes: 2 and 9 (Intermodal Center – Monument Square – Jytek – Walmart)
Ridership: This is the second-busiest route combination on the MART, with the highest being a free college shuttle, so that doesn’t count. Over the course of a year, the 2 and the 9 get an average of 135,000 riders, or about 431 riders per day. My particular ride was somewhat quiet, with about 15-20 passengers in total, but that seems fine for a MART bus.
Pros: Aside from the 4, that aforementioned college shuttle, this is the most frequent route on the MART. Well, by frequent, I mean every 45 minutes, but it was deemed busy enough to run with two buses. The routes also serve a lot, with the 2 providing an important link between Fitchburg and Leominster, while the 9 heads further south into the latter city.
Cons: Like what happened with the 1 and the 3, MART’s March 1st schedule changes are basically fixing all the problems I have with this route. For example, there’s the fact that the 2 only serves either Leominster Hospital or Water Tower Plaza depending on its direction. Now it will serve both. Also, the 9 currently serves the Jytek Industrial Park all throughout weekdays, when it really only needs to go there during rush hour. That’s being fixed, too. Well-played, MART. Well-played.
Nearby and Noteworthy: Aside from serving Monument Square and downtown Fitchburg, the 2 and the 9…don’t go anywhere particularly interesting. I was interested in the Haunted Mansion thing, but apparently it’s gone bankrupt.
Final Verdict: 9/10
I mean, this has to be in the top 3 best routes on the MART, right? It’s one of the most frequent, even though clockface scheduling is sacrificed with the 45 minute headways. Still, more frequent service is more frequent service. Plus, the routes serve a lot, and most of their problems are being ironed out with the March 1st schedule changes.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
MART: 1 Counterclockwise and 3 Clockwise (Intermodal Center – Kmart – Monument Square – The Mall at Whitney Field – Kings Corner)
Well, that’s a long post name. Yeah, the MART likes to put every single major destination into its route names, so they can be a bit…lengthy. It doesn’t help that I’m reviewing two different routes here. But even though the particular bus I rode was the 3, it does the same loop as the 1 except in the other direction, so I figured I’d include them both. Let’s take a look.
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| The bus coming into the North Leominster “bus area”. |
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| The inside of the bus. |
Leaving North Leominster Station, we headed up Nashua Street, then turned onto Main Street. This was sort of an industrial area, but it stopped once we crossed over the Nashua River and Route 2. Right after the Route 2 crossing, we turned onto Haws Street, passing a police department and a cemetery on the other side.
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| The area around North Leominster Station. |
But the surroundings soon became – ech – fast food restaurants and other businesses with big parking lots. Great. We reached The Mall at Whitney Field, which certainly was a big ridership draw (a large portion of the bus got off here), but was a really long time sink for everyone else. You’ll see what I mean.
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| Oh, what a lovely parking lot. |
Right, so first we deviated a bit, navigating through a smaller parking lot in order to serve Market Basket. Then we had to squeeze between many cars in order to get to a road that curved south of the Market Basket. We took this road all the way to the other side of the mall to serve a nondescript stop in front of the food court. Oh, and it doesn’t end there.
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| *sigh* It never ends, does it? |
We headed back up the way we came, making a right turn and running alongside various mall entrances. We then turned onto Cinema Boulevard, passing a movie theater. The street curved up and there was a stop at the Leominster Reliant Medical Group, which the automatic announcement said as “Reliant Medical Group Leo”. FINALLY, we left the mall complex and turned onto Mill Street.
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| This was mainly to get a picture of that street sign. They. All. Have. Apples. |
Soon we merged onto Whitney Street, passing through an industrial section. The road started going by apartment buildings, which continued as we turned onto Water Street, passing over a river. This street led us to Monument Square, which had lots of businesses. We did a few twists and turns, and laid over for a few minutes at the main bus stop, next to a common.
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| The driver let me take a picture of the bus while we were laying over. |
From there, we headed down West Street, going by the Leominster Senior Center. It got residential from there, the street lined with houses. It continued like this for a while, and there was no break in the houses except for an assisted living center. Soon after that, we turned onto Doyle Street, a residential side street, and then Merriam Ave.
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| The turn onto Merriam Ave. |
This street was all residential for quite a while, right up until we crossed over Route 2. But after that, the surroundings instantly became businesses with big parking lots again. Here, we turned into the Twin City Plaza, which quite literally was on the border between Leominster and Fitchburg. Dropping someone off at the mall, we returned to what was now called Whalom Street and continued further into Fitchburg.
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| Another parking lot…fun. |
The businesses with parking lots continued for a while, with Whalom Street becoming South Street. Things got less dense as we went along, though, including a short stretch of forest. Eventually, though, it got residential again. And after passing a school, the houses got pretty close together.
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| I love that little brick building! |
Unfortunately, just as South Street was about to go down a fun-looking hill, we turned onto Pine Street instead. Now in the heart of a residential neighborhood, we next turned onto Walton Street, then Laurel Street, passing a cemetery. All of a sudden, we got a panoramic view of downtown Fitchburg across the Nashua River before crossing the river ourselves.
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| Nice view! |
We turned onto Water Street, going over some train tracks (technically not the Commuter Rail). But instead of going toward downtown Fitchburg, we turned right onto Main Street, opting for the Intermodal Center instead. Also housing Fitchburg’s Commuter Rail station, the Intermodal Center had a few parking spaces for buses, one of which we entered.
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| Not that downtown Fitchburg looks especially interesting… |
After picking some more passengers, we returned to Main Street, then turned onto Summer Street. Climbing a hill, we left downtown and entered a residential neighborhood. Following some dense houses, we went by a school, and then…sigh…more businesses with parking lots. We entered Lunenburg, going by a Commuter Rail yard, and left the town as soon as we entered.
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| Some houses in Fitchburg. |
Reentering Leominster, there were dense houses on both sides of the street. There were a few businesses at Kings Corner, where we turned onto Main Street, which was again residential. The houses were broken by a church, some retail, and Johnny Appleseed Elementary (boy, Leominster really nails in the whole Johnny Appleseed thing). The houses gave way to businesses once more when we got to the Commuter Rail tracks and turned onto Nashua Street, entering North Leominster Station. Thus, the loop was complete.
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| I actually continued a bit more to get off at Monument Square, so here we are. |
MART Routes: 1 Counterclockwise and 3 Clockwise (Intermodal Center – Kmart – Monument Square – The Mall at Whitney Field – Kings Corner)
Ridership: As I mentioned, my ride was unexpectedly crowded. Over the course of the whole loop, there were about 25-30 riders in total, with many getting off at The Mall at Whitney Field, Monument Square, or the Fitchburg Intermodal Center. The 1 and the 3 are considered one route by the MART, and together, they have the third-best ridership on the system with about 125,000 riders per year. That means about 400 passengers per day, which…well, that seems a lot lower now.
Pros: There’s nothing like a good circle line! These routes connect quite a few major transit and shopping centers around Fitchburg and Leominster, and as a bonus, they run pretty frequently! I mean, they’re both every hour, including on Saturdays. But technically that’s every half hour, and if you’re not in a rush, you could go either way around the loop to get where you’re going.
Cons: I think maybe one more weekday trip in the evening would be helpful. The last trip to the Intermodal Center is on the 1, and it gets there at 6:25. That seems pretty early to cut service. Also, some of the deviations on these routes are very lengthy, particularly The Mall at Whitney Field. It takes a full 10 minutes to navigate through that mall, which is an incredibly long deviation for people who are just passing through.
Nearby and Noteworthy: Aside from malls? Well, the routes connect downtown Fitchburg with downtown Leominster, so there’s probably something or other that’s noteworthy in those places. Oh, and they go by the Fitchburg Line Commuter Rail yard, in case you’re interested in seeing that.
Final Verdict: 8/10
Despite their slight problems, these routes do have the third-highest ridership on the MART. I mean, my main issue is with the Mall at Whitney Field deviation, but that really does serve a lot of riders. Other than that, these routes form a good circle line with relatively frequent service.
Final Verdict UPDATE: 9/10
Okay, so it turns out that MART is changing its routes fairly drastically on March 1st. Yeah, turns out I had pretty bad timing with this review. Anyway, it seems they’re adding one extra trip on weekdays, ironing out one of the issues I had with the 1 and the 3. Also, they’re changing the routing through Leominster to serve an apartment complex and enter The Mall at Whitney Field from the south. It still seems quite complicated, so that doesn’t fix that problem, but it’s a change regardless. See the full list of service changes here.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
North Leominster
Usually when a station name has “north” (or any other direction) in it, you expect there to be a station in the center of town, as well. Unfortunately for Leominster, it’s stuck with this northern park-and-ride station. Luckily, North Leominster is a pretty good northern park-and-ride station, so the city doesn’t have to worry.
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| The inbound boarding platform. |
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| The station…viewed from above. |
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| The platform…from ground level. Not as exciting… |
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| Further down the inbound platform. |
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| Speaking of which… |
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| Awesome view! |
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| Hoo, boy. |
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| A train leaving the station. |
RIPTA: 6 (Prairie/Roger Williams Zoo)
Having just eaten the worst pizza ever, my friend Michael and I were trudging through the snowy Roger Williams Park. Every time the wind blew, our numb hands got even number. We were trying to get to the Roger Williams Zoo in order to pick up the 6 to get back to Providence. Suddenly, it flew by us on its way there. “Grab the camera case, Michael!” I yelled as I dropped it in the snow in a mad rush to get a picture of the elusive vehicle.
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| Waittttttt! |
With newfound vigor, we navigated a rotary with no sidewalks and made it to the zoo parking lot. The bus was sitting there next to a themed shelter, but its destination board was off. Looking around, it seemed that the driver was power walking around the parking lot. We decided to sit under the shelter on some rock benches (which were a nice touch) while the driver entered the zoo for some reason.
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| The bus sitting next to the awesome zoo shelter. |
Finally, the driver came back and asked if we were getting on. We said yes, and he let us onto the bus. We had gotten transfers from the R-Line (which would’ve honestly been a much easier way of getting back), and thus we grabbed seats and tried to warm up.
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| I had to crop this one a bit, since my glove got in the way. It was cold, okay? |
As you can see, this route operates using tourist trolleys. I normally hate these kinds of vehicles, but it has to be said that the interior of this bad boy was amazing. Aside from the bright red seats (which were cool in their own right), the floors and walls were made out of wood! Plus, the cords used to request stops were made out of these rough ropes. I’m not sure what “theme” they were going for here, but it was fantastic regardless.
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| Looking toward the back… |
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| …and the front. |
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| Also, just look at this stop request cord! Or…rope, I guess. |
Heading out of the zoo parking lot, we went around a rotary onto Hawthorne Ave. This road went right through the park, and thus lots of snowy trees were in view. Eventually, we reached Broad Street, and turning north, we crossed over I-95.
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| I used a photo from our walk because the bus windows were dirty. |
We then merged onto Prairie Ave, going by a middle school. After a quick industrial blip, the street became lined with dense houses. There were also some businesses in the mix, as well as a library at one point. Prairie Ave curved north, and then we made a rather long detour.
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| Looking down a side street. |
Right, so pay attention, because this is complicated. We first turned onto Blackstone Street, and then Staniford Street. From there, we entered a loop at the entrance of the Community College of Rhode Island, picking no one up. We returned the way we came, but instead of going all the way down Blackstone Street, we turned onto Gay Street, and then Dudley Street.
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| An industrial view from Gay Street. |
Finally, we returned to Prairie Ave, going to a big parking lot for the Rhode Island Hospital. It got residential after that, with an apartment building on one side and houses on the other. We turned onto Point Street, which crossed over I-95 once more, then we turned onto East Franklin Street. Paralleling the highway, there was a fantastic skyline view to the right.
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| Man, I love the Providence skyline! |
We turned onto Broad Street, leaving the highway behind. The road became Weybosset Street, and the surrounding buildings started to get taller as we got closer to downtown. As it started to curve around, we were suddenly in the financial district with skyscrapers everywhere. Finally, we arrived at Kennedy Plaza, and the bus went out of service.
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| The bus in Providence. |
RIPTA Route: 6 (Prairie/Roger Williams Zoo)
Ridership: In 2012, this route carried a measly 477 passengers per weekday, 264 per Saturday, and 100 per Sunday – and that was before this route’s schedule cuts! My ride was similarly low, with only about five people in total. Now, I’ll admit that this was Martin Luther King Day, but still, five people is tiny. I would imagine the 6 gets slightly more ridership during the summer, when people actually want to go to the zoo.
Pros: This would theoretically be a good bus for tourists. Direct service from Providence to the zoo? Awesome! And on weekdays, it satisfies that in a schedule regard, too, with every half hour service. However…
Cons: That becomes every hour on weekends – certainly not a good schedule for tourists. Okay, well, maybe it’s a good route for locals. After all, it serves the Community College of Rhode Island, as well as the Rhode Island Hospital! Well, yeah, except it does that through a really time-consuming detour. Plus, it’s within a few blocks of the R-Line for most of its trip. Talk about being overshadowed.
Nearby and Noteworthy: All I’ve seen of the Roger Williams Zoo is the parking lot, but it is one of the oldest zoos in the country and admissions are half-off through February. The 6 will take you there directly, while the R-Line is much more frequent, though it only drops you off at the entrance to the park in which the zoo is housed.
Final Verdict: 4/10
This route is kind of in a strange limbo. In order to be more of value to tourists, it would have to run more often. But since it wouldn’t be too well-used, it could probably just get flat-out eliminated. I mean, okay, ridership still comes from the Community College, that said. I like the idea of running a cut-back version during the winter that only goes as far as the CCRI, and then during the summer it goes all the way to the zoo. Plus, it could also get extended to Providence Station on the other end during seasonal service to improve tourist connections. I mean, these buses are awesome, they can’t be put to waste!
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
RIPTA: R-Line (Broad/North Main)
I’ve talked about a couple of RIPTA routes before under the “Service Change” moniker, but this is the first time I’ll be doing a proper review of one of their routes – and it’s a good one. The R-Line is kind of like RIPTA’s “main route”, taking its two most popular lines and combining them into one “rapid bus”. Note that it’s called a rapid bus, and not BRT, and I’ll explain why.
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| A straight-on view in Pawtucket. |
For one thing, the buses get a special green R-Line livery, as you can see. However, this is not BRT, as there are no bus lanes or other BRT requirements. Instead, the R-Line gets small perks, such as limited stops and the ability to make green lights longer and red lights shorter (something not even the Silver Line does). It really does speed up the route, and makes it better than a regular bus.
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| “STOP”! |
The R-Line also has its own livery inside, with a green ceiling and strip maps of the route on the walls. Other than that, it feels like a typical RIPTA bus, with the same seat patterns and cords to request stops. However, the R-Line does have automatic announcements for every stop, and even though the voice is a bit annoying, it’s a good feature.
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| The inside. |
We left the Pawtucket Transit Center heading down Roosevelt Ave, briefly travelled on Main Street, and then turned onto High Street. Brick buildings lined the road, but they weren’t occupied by much. We turned onto Exchange Street, which soon gained a median. After it became Goff Ave, the median went away and the street narrowed.
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| Hoo, boy. |
It got very industrial as we turned onto Pine Street, passing burnt out factories and undeveloped plots of land. We then turned onto Main Street, passing a cemetery, and then the street was lined with businesses and houses. We crossed over I-95, and the businesses/house combo continued on the other side.
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| Some trucks lined up. |
As Main Street made a slight curve, the surroundings became that strange mix of residential, commercial, and industrial that you can only find in northern Rhode Island. Eventually, we merged with Pawtucket Ave, and the road became North Main Street. It had a leafy median for a bit, but that soon got replaced by an asphalt strip.
Luckily, this was only for a little while, as the trees came back to the median eventually. Around this time, we passed a cemetery, which was so big there were two stops along it. There was an industrial section, and then there were apartments on one side and a shopping plaza on the other. The street started to slope down a hill and split into two one-way roads. We were on Canal Street, which paralleled the Moshassuck River.
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| Gotta love that blurry state house! |
We crossed over the tiny river on Park Row West, making a detour in order to serve Providence Station. We then turned onto Exchange Street, crossing another canal and turning onto Memorial Boulevard. Heading onto Kennedy Plaza, we were surrounded by the buildings of downtown Providence, arriving at the Kennedy Plaza bus station soon after. Here, almost the whole bus cleared out, but there were more passengers who got on.
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| A different bus at Kennedy Plaza. This was taken later in the day. |
We made our way to Washington Street, with 3-6 story buildings on either side. It was less dense by the time we turned onto Empire Street, and then Broad Street. After crossing over I-95, we passed apartments, old factories, and businesses. There was a retail block for a little bit, and when Broad Street curved southward, we passed another cemetery.
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| Going over I-95. |
The surroundings were now a mix of houses and businesses, though we did go by a hospital, too. There was also the occasional church to break up the scenery once in a while. But…it was basically that for a long time. Things shifted more over to businesses as we went further south, but after we crossed I-95 again, Roger Williams Park went by on the right.
It went back to the house/business mix once more from there. At the intersection of Broad Street and Eddy Street, there was a small park, and this intersection marked the end of the route. Just barely entering Cranston, we pulled into a little terminal with not much point other than turning buses around.
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| A different bus on its way back towards Providence and Pawtucket. |
RIPTA Route: R-Line (Broad/North Main)
Ridership: BUSY. In total, my trip had about 50 passengers (on Martin Luther King Day, no less), many of whom got on or off in Providence. Unfortunately, the R-Line is too new for RIPTA to have published ridership statistics for it, but it’s a combination of the former two busiest RIPTA lines. You can imagine that the combined ridership of the two routes coupled with more frequent service will equal a lot of ridership.
Pros: There’s not enough praise I can give to this route. Firstly, it takes a direct path, cutting from Pawtucket right through Providence down to the Cranston border. And not only does it serve a lot, but it does so frequently. We’re talking every 10 minutes weekdays, every 15 minutes weekends, and every 20 minutes at night. Keep in mind that the 11 and 99 (the routes that the R-Line replaced) ran up to every 40 minutes on weekends! And it’s because of this increased frequency that so many people use this route, since they can rely on it! It helps that it makes limited stops and has those cool little rapid bus perks to make the trip even faster.
Cons: I guess the only real con I have is that this isn’t full-on BRT, but the roads the route on which the route travels aren’t wide enough for bus lanes. They would have to get rid of parking, and no one wants that. The current “rapid bus” setup works great, anyway.
Nearby and Noteworthy: Ummm…right, so the neighborhoods this route goes through aren’t what you’d call touristy. They’re places where a lot of people use the bus, but they’re not touristy. That said, if you’re willing to walk through a park for a bit, the R-Line will get you pretty close to the Roger Williams Zoo (and it runs a lot more frequently than the 6, which directly serves the zoo, but that’s for another post). Of course, there are a bunch of attractions in Providence, too.
Final Verdict: 10/10
Oh yeah, I just did that. I mean, come on, what isn’t there to like about the R-Line? And besides, it’s arguably the best route on the RIPTA, so relative to the rest of the system, a 10/10 makes perfect sense. The route’s schedule card brags about how you don’t have to look at timetables because it runs so frequently, and that’s very true. I’m sure the R-Line gets way more ridership than what its predecessors got, simply because more frequency on an already busy corridor = more passengers. Simple as that.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
GATRA: 24 (Attleboro/Pawtucket, RI)
A bus route from Attleboro to Rhode Island? Sign me up! I’m always looking for creative ways of getting places, and being able to ride the GATRA for the first time was certainly creative enough for me. Plus, this route is weekdays-only!
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| The bus at Attleboro Station. |
The inside of the bus was pretty simple, with sideways-facing seats along the lower section and forward-facing seats on the upper part. Requesting stops was done by pulling cords, which lit up a sign up front. It was smaller than a regular-sized bus, but based on the ridership, that made a lot of sense.
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| Looking towards the back… |
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| …and towards the front. |
We completely bypassed downtown Attleboro, heading right out to the residential County Street. Aside from a middle school and the Capron Park Zoo, the street was entirely lined with houses houses. There was some retail at the intersection with Thacher Street, but once we turned onto it, it was residential once more.
At an intersection with a single gas station, Thacher Street curved upward, while we stayed on what was now called South Ave. We went by a few housing developments, and after another gas station, we passed through an interchange with I-95. There were a few more houses on the other side, but then the scenery started to change.
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| The windows were very dirty, so pardon the subpar photography. |
Now there was nothing. I mean, we were just speeding through the woods. The street didn’t even have sidewalks! The forest continued until the road became West Street and we passed a water treatment center. Here, the houses came back and the street became Newport Avenue.
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| Woo! Woods! |
This section was denser, with closer houses. However, the residences all went away once we reached Route 1, where malls and businesses with huge parking lots were king. Inbound trips of the route deviate to serve one of those malls, but since we were going outbound, we headed south on Route 1 instead.
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| Lovely. |
It wasn’t quite as mall-filled as the northern route, but there were still quite a few parking lots heading south. And they were all connected to fast food restaurants and auto shops and the like. This continued for a while until we (mercifully) turned onto Brown Street, which was narrower and entirely residential.
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| Some houses. |
The houses were broken only by a middle school at one point, and they continued when we turned onto Mendon Road. This street led us back to Route 1, which was…basically the same as when we left it off. Passing more auto shops, we went under I-95 once more and then crossed the Commuter Rail tracks.
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| A convenience store. |
As is prone to happen, it got urban all of a sudden right when we crossed the border into Rhode Island. Here, we turned onto Roosevelt Ave, and then George Bennett Highway. This street was interesting, since it had a railroad track running in its median! Not sure if that’s used anymore. The end of the road was the last stop, and the bus laid over to wait for its trip back to Attleboro.
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| The bus in Pawtucket. |
GATRA Route: 24 (Attleboro/Pawtucket, RI)
Ridership: Unfortunately, GATRA doesn’t publish its ridership statistics by route, instead by “service area”. And it puts Attleboro and Taunton into the same grouping, which really isn’t much help. Thus, I’m stuck talking about the ridership on just my bus, which was…four people. Okay, it was Martin Luther King Day, but wowee, that’s low.
Pros: This bus provides a direct link from Attleboro Center to Pawtucket, the only bus to properly do that. (The 16 comes close to a less dense part over to the east, but it doesn’t cross into Rhode Island.) The only other GATRA route to Pawtucket is the 11, which doesn’t go to Attleboro Center. In addition, when coordinated with the 12, the 24 provides every half hour service from Attleboro to Route 1, though it’s not that that section really needs service that frequent…
Cons: That said, weekend service would be nice. Although the 24 runs a pretty standard every hour schedule on weekdays, it doesn’t run on Saturdays, leaving all service to the Emerald Square Mall-bound 12. And that would be fine, except that Pawtucket is a busy place, too! Sure, the 11 goes there, but you would have to transfer from the 12, and that’s an extra 50 cents.
Nearby and Noteworthy: If you’re lazy, you can use this bus to get to the Capron Park Zoo, but I’ve already said that it’s in easy walking distance from the Commuter Rail station. Other than that, the 24 doesn’t really serve much of note.
Final Verdict: 6/10
Hmm…I might be influenced by GATRA’s transfer policies here more than anything. I’m sure the Saturday ridership from Attleboro Center to Pawtucket is minimal, but it’s still there. And the fact that it’s an extra 50 cents and 9-minute wait to get there on Saturdays is really annoying. I’m not saying the 24 needs to run on Saturdays, per se, but offering a free transfer specifically between the 11 and 12 would be great. But hey, the 24 is a fine route on weekdays!
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
35 (Dedham Mall/Stimson Street – Forest Hills Station via Belgrade Ave and Center Street)
Well, as long as I reviewed the 16, I might as well cover the other route I took that day, the 35. I’m not sure why I didn’t review these two buses earlier, but…well, what’s almost months late, am I right? Pshhhh. Okay, well, here’s the 35.
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| The bus at the roofless Forest Hills busway. |
We headed down Washington Street after picking people up at Forest Hills, along with the eight other buses that traverse the same route. After a few businesses, there was a short industrial section, and then the street was mostly lined with apartments. Aside from the occasional corner store, we didn’t see much retail until Roslindale Square, where all of a sudden it was everywhere.
Merging onto South Street, we then curved into Belgrade Ave, passing the Roslindale Village Commuter Rail station. Running with the 36 and 37, the street was lined with apartments and houses, with a few businesses at an intersection with Walworth Street. There were some more businesses near Bellevue Station, but they were significantly less interesting than the previous retail block.
Luckily, once Belgrade Ave curved north and crossed the Commuter Rail tracks, there were some more noteworthy businesses. Here, we turned onto Centre Street, which continued to be lined with retail. This went on for a while, basically until the intersection with LaGrange Street, where the 37 left us. Soon after, we passed a church, and then the 36 turned off onto Spring Street, leaving us alone.
Centre Street was now entirely residential, but it felt really nice and suburban, with small houses lining the street. We did go by a nursing home at one point, and there was an industrial section later on where Centre Street turned right, avoiding a huge quarry. The houses continued past there, including when we turned onto the even smaller and more local Stimson Street.
But these lovely houses would end soon enough, as we reached the behemoth known as Washington Street. The wide road had a median in the middle, but after some suburban businesses with big parking lots, it too became residential. That didn’t last for too long, though, as we soon entered the huge Dedham Mall complex, letting the remaining passengers off for some late shopping.
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| You can see what I mean by “late” shopping. It was dark by the time we got to the mall! |
Route: 35 (Dedham Mall/Stimson Street – Forest Hills Station via Belgrade Ave and Center Street)
Ridership: In terms of the Belgrade Avenue buses, the 35 is right in the middle. It’s not as busy as the 36, but not as quiet as the 37. To be more specific, it gets 2,422 riders per weekday, 1,142 per Saturday, and a measly 471 per Sunday. It has to be said, though, that the Belgrade Ave corridor is quite busy on weekdays if you add up the ridership for all three of its routes, so I would imagine that this bus is crowded during rush hour. My particular trip had about 15 people on a Saturday, but it was in the late afternoon.
Pros: Since the Belgrade Avenue corridor is one of the busiest on the MBTA (its three routes add up to just shy of the 77’s ridership on weekdays), this route is mainly to serve that. However, it goes above and beyond its jurisdiction by also serving a bunch of houses along Centre Street, plus the huge Dedham Mall.
Cons: Unfortunately, its schedule is a bit flimsy. Rush hour service is fantastic, with every 11-15 minute service, and Saturdays are okay, with every 35 minute headways. However, on weekdays, it’s every 40 minutes, and every hour nights and Sundays (with only 10 trips each direction during the latter). Also, all trips before around 9 AM are truncated before the mall, but there should be at least one rush hour run to get mall workers to their jobs.
Nearby and Noteworthy: You guys all know my opinions on malls, so I’m just gonna keep the terminus of this route out of the equation. However, it still goes by a lot of businesses, particularly along the Centre Street section shared with the 36 and 37, as well as good ol’ Roslindale.
Final Verdict: 6/10
This may not be the fastest route to the Dedham Mall (the 34E claims that title), but people still use it to get to there. Thus, I wish the Sunday schedule was less limited, and that there was at least one rush hour trip that helped mall workers out. Other than that, this is a fine route that serves a decent amount and gets good ridership, especially during rush hour. I just wish it could run more often outside of those times.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates