504 (EXPRESS BUS Watertown/Newton Corner – Downtown via Mass Turnpike)
The Federal and Franklin Street stop is always busy on weekdays, particularly at rush hour. This is where all the I-90 express buses go, so during peak periods lots of routes come here to transport commuters along the Pike. On Saturdays, though, the stop is mostly dead…except for one route. This is the 504, the only I-90 express bus that runs on weekends, or at least Saturdays.
After a few passengers got on, we turned onto Franklin Street, making a stop right around the corner from the last one. We then turned onto Otis Street, leaving the Financial District. The street became Kingston Street, and it also became extremely narrow. We barely squeezed through the parked cars on either side of the road. From there, we turned onto Essex Street, then Surface Road, passing the Chinatown gate.
During rush hour, the 504 goes right onto the highway from here, but midday and on Saturdays, it continues locally to Copley Square. Thus, we turned onto Kneeland Street, going by lots of Chinatown restaurants. We then turned onto Charles Street South, and then Park Plaza. This became Saint James Ave, and we went through Copley Square.
Right after the Copley Square stop, we merged onto the I-90 ramp, which went underground. The highway came up eventually, and we went by lots of apartments, then Yawkey and Fenway Park. After going under Commonwealth Ave, we rose up onto a bridge and went through the Allston tolls. We sunk back down to ground level after that, as it steadily got more suburban.
Eventually we took Exit 17 to Newton Corner, and merged onto Washington Street. After making a stop, we looped around the highway where it goes under a hotel, and made another stop on the other side. We then curved back north onto Galen Street, passing mostly businesses and a few houses. And soon after that, we turned into the Watertown Yard, ending a very quick journey.
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| The bus heading down Federal Street. |
Route: 504 (EXPRESS BUS Watertown/Newton Corner – Downtown via Mass Turnpike)
Ridership: On my ride there were about 10 passengers in total. But, I mean, it was a Saturday afternoon, so there wouldn’t be too many people needing an express out to Watertown. The route does get rather high ridership on weekdays, with an average of 1,548 people. This drops to 558 on Saturdays, but again, not too many people would be expected to ride on weekends.
Pros: It’s a very fast express out to Watertown, assuming there’s no traffic. Even if there is traffic, it’s still the fastest way to get there from downtown. I like how the route also serves Copley Square, and how it skips it during rush hour, when it’s supplemented by the 502 (which runs from Copley to Watertown). And for an express bus, the 504 has an amazing schedule – every 10 minutes during rush hour, every half hour during the day, and every 40 minutes on Saturdays. That last one isn’t too frequent, but come on, how many people are using the 504 on Saturdays? The fact that it even has weekend service is amazing.
Cons: I don’t really have any problems with the route itself, but it seems like the 504 may have played a part in the elimination of the Green Line A Branch. Considering the route was initiated two years before the end of the A, and that the express probably went much faster than the streetcar, I wonder if the latter lost ridership because of that.
Nearby and Noteworthy: Watertown Square, I suppose. And downtown, but why would anyone who doesn’t live in Watertown or Newton use the 504 to get there?
Final Verdict: 8/10
For an express bus, this is the creme de la creme. It runs often (including on Saturdays), is quick for the most part, and has a good local routing in Boston. Aside from the fact that it may have killed the A Line, the 504 is great.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
136/137 (Reading Depot – Malden Center Station via Wakefield, Melrose, and Oak Grove Station)
What’s the fastest, most direct way of getting from Wakefield Station back to Boston? Taking the Commuter Rail? Well, yeah, that’s an option. Or you could take the 137 up to Reading, wait an hour, and then get the 136 back to Malden Center! Hey, it works.
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| The bus cruising down Albion Street in Wakefield. |
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| The bus in Reading. |
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| It’s so much darker…and blurrier… |
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| The night bus… |
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| Obviously not the bus I was taking. This is in downtown Wakefield. |
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| Night has pretty much fallen entirely by this point. Looks like there are a few people waiting to get the last 137 of the day. |
Wakefield
I can’t say I was expecting much with the town of Wakefield. I mean, look at its name: Wakefield. I’m sorry, but it just sounds like a boring suburban community. Not so, as it turns out – Wakefield actually has a very active and walkable downtown with lots of restaurants and businesses. And a quarter of a mile to the west is the Commuter Rail station with the same name.
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| Looking down the platforms. |
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| The shelter on the inbound side. |
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| That’s amazing! I love this! |
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| I love it. |
428 (Oaklandvale – Haymarket Station via Kennedy Drive)
All right, it’s time for another installment of Express Buses That Run Incredibly Infrequently and Are Extremely Hard to Find! In today’s episode, we have the 428, a Tobin Bridge express route that heads up to the Wakefield High School, more or less in the middle of nowhere! Let’s get started, right after this message from our sponsors.
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| Okay, I don’t actually have sponsors, so let’s just get started. |
We left Haymarket and headed up North Washington Street, though being an express bus, we didn’t make any stops. We crossed over a bridge, then the street became the incredibly wide New Rutherford Ave. Soon after, we turned onto the Tobin Bridge on-ramp, which sunk down into a tunnel, then sprung up into the air.
Zooming over Charlestown, we crossed the Mystic River, where I saw a massive cargo ship being tugged from the harbor. We came over downtown Chelsea, then Route 1 came back down to ground level. Then we hit traffic. Blech…
We muddled through for a while as the highway went past lots of houses. We took the exit for Route 60 and went around a huge rotary, then headed down Squire Road, going by the huge Showcase Theater. Dropping a few people off in Linden Square, we turned onto Lynn Street, which was residential.
Just before Route 1, we turned onto Salem Street, then onto Kennedy Drive. We climbed up a hill, then went through a gate into the Granada Highlands Complex. Making a loop around the complex, going by apartment buildings, we dropped a few residents off here. After that, we headed back down to Lynn Street the way we came and crossed under Route 1.
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| That’s a big rock… |
We entered Revere and the street became Salem Street. We went by some apartments and curved our way up a hill, and after passing some more houses, we entered Saugus. The street was Lincoln Ave now, and some businesses came up when we reached Cliftondale Square. Here, Lincoln Ave curved to the right and it became residential again, with the occasional small business.
After a while, we turned onto Winter Street, beginning the solo portion of the 428. We went by a cemetery, then turned onto Central Street, joining the 430. There were more businesses, as this was Saugus Center. Going around a rotary with a nice statue in the middle, we turned onto Main Street. It was once again residential, but when we crossed over Route 1, the Square One Mall was visible.
Main Street curved north, and we reached Oaklandvale, which is both a school and technically the terminus of the 428. However, the route does go further, so we continued down Main Street, passing a small plaza. We also went by a baseball field and an auto shop, but it was residential for the most part.
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| The bus in Wakefield. |
From there it became very rural-feeling as we went through some woods. Soon after, Main Street became Farm Street as we entered Wakefield. We passed another baseball field, then turned into the Wakefield High School parking lot. The driver opened the doors here, and I prepared myself for the walk down to Wakefield Square, a mile and a half away.
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| The front of the school. |
Route: 428 (Oaklandvale – Haymarket Station via Granada Highlands)
Ridership: On my ride, there were almost 30 people on the bus, all of whom got on at Haymarket. Aside from the Granada Highlands Complex, most people got off at parts of the route shared with the 426. There were only about three or four people who got off along the 428’s solo portion. Yet there were about seven or eight people who got off at Granada, which makes me wonder if they should extend some 426 trips to go there, too. Overall, the route gets an average of 168 riders per day, and it’s the 10th worst MBTA bus route for ridership.
Pros: This is a good cross-Saugus route, and one of only four MBTA buses that goes through Saugus. Plus, it provides express service to Granada Highlands, and it and the 411 are the only routes that serve the complex.
Cons: Problem is, being a potentially useful route through Saugus isn’t the best if the route only runs three times a day. But that being said, there were very few people who went further than Cliftondale Square, so is it worth running the 428 more often? I’m not sure.
Nearby and Noteworthy: The main business areas seemed to be Cliftondale Square and Saugus Center, but the rest was mostly residential.
Final Verdict: 5/10
As an express bus, the 428 is fine. Three runs during rush hour to supplement the 426 and bring commuters to Granada and Saugus is fine – for an express bus. But I wonder how much ridership an experimental midday 428W would get. It could come from Oaklandvale, serve Granada Highlands, and then follow the 426W to Wonderland. Just an idea…
UPDATE 9/1/19: Not a huge change here, but 428 service will now end at Main Street @ Lynn Fells Parkway instead of Wakefield High School, a slight cutback. Also…midday 428W service? Keep dreaming, Young Miles, keep dreaming…
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
11 (City Point – Downtown BayView Route)
Most of the buses downtown stop at Otis Street and/or Franklin Street. The 11 decides to mix it up by terminating at Bedford Street @ Chauncy Street, south of Downtown Crossing and more or less in Chinatown. Thing is, the 11 technically doesn’t technically terminate there. To be honest, I’m still pretty unsure of where the heck it terminates. But we’ll get to that…
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| The bus making the turn onto Bedford Street. |
There were already about 15 people on the bus when I got on. I was expecting them to get off, since this is, according to the map, the terminus of the route. However, everyone stayed on, and we just continued down the route. We turned onto Kingston Street, then onto Essex Street. Going by the SL4 South Station stop (but without stopping ourselves), we turned onto Atlantic Ave, then onto Summer Street, going around the South Station building. At the South Station stop used for standard buses, a few people left the bus.
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| The view from the Summer Street Bridge. (I love that triangle thing in the water!) |
Summer Street went onto a bridge over the Fort Point Channel, where there was a nice view. Immediately upon entering Fort Point, we turned onto Melcher Street, going by lots of brick buildings. Then we turned onto Necco Street, which curved around to A Street, which we then turned onto. The surroundings were industrial now, with huge parking lots and factories along the road.
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| The view from Necco Street. |
We turned onto West 2nd Street, then onto Dorchester Ave, and right after that onto West Broadway. A few passengers disembarked for Broadway Station, then there were businesses on either side of the street. We crossed over the South Boston Bypass Road, after which we turned onto B Street, going by some apartments. Turning onto West 7th Street, it became entirely residential, with nice three-story houses on either side of the street.
Going by a school, we turned onto the wider Dorchester Street, then onto the nice and narrow East 8th Street. It was so narrow, in fact, that we had to pull over to let another bus go by the other way. There was an apartment complex on one side, then we got some views of the water looking down side streets. We went by a tall, out of place residential building, then it became three-story houses again.
These continued all the way to the end of 8th Street, where we turned onto Columbia Road. There was an okay view of the water, but for a large portion of the short seaside section, there were trees and buildings in the way. We then turned onto Farragut Road, with big houses on one side and a park on the other.
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| The best picture I could get of the view. |
It started to get industrial, then we turned onto East 1st Street. I hit the stop request button and got off at P Street. This was more or less industrial wasteland, but it was more normal walking a bit down P Street, where I waited for an 11 back to Boston. After two 7’s and two 9’s went by, an 11 finally arrived.
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| Oh, no, it’s blurry! |
We headed all the way down P Street, then rejoined the outbound route at Columbia Road. We stayed with it down 8th Street and to the turn onto Dorchester Street. But while the outbound route comes from West 7th Street, the inbound route travels on West 6th Street, for some reason. It had those nice three-story houses again, with some corner stores as well. We turned onto D Street, then once again rejoined the outbound route at West 7th Street.
Again we left the outbound route when we turned onto Dorchester Ave, which was industrial. Going by MBTA Cabot Yard, we reached Broadway, where another 11 was laying over. For some reason a few of its passengers got on our bus, then we did that same dumb route the 9 takes at Broadway – continuing down Dorchester Ave, going around to Foundry Street, turning onto Greenbaum Street, and then back onto Dorchester Ave. I know it offers a nice view of Cabot Yard, but I’m just gonna use the same map I used for the 9 here:
From Broadway, the 11 operates in a loop, so it was all-new territory from here on out. We crossed over the 4th Street Bridge, getting a nice view of Cabot Yard and of Boston. Going by some businesses on East Berkeley Street, we then turned onto Washington Street, joining the Silver Line. Yet for some reason, the driver decided not to use the bus lanes. Is only the Silver Line allowed to use the bus lanes? This happened before with the 170, so that might be the case, but I’m not really sure why that rule would be in place.
We crossed over the Mass Turnpike, then went through the Tufts Medical Center. From there, we came into Chinatown, and started going by lots of Chinese restaurants. At Chinatown Station, we took a right onto Essex Street. We then turned onto Chauncy Street, then back onto Bedford Street, arriving where we started.
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| The bus leaving down Bedford Street. |
Route: 11 (City Point – Downtown BayView Route)
Ridership: There were about 25 people on my ride there, and about 15 coming back. That’s not bad for a Wednesday afternoon before rush hour. And the 11 gets pretty good ridership overall, with about 3,400 riders per weekday, 1,500 per Saturday, and almost 1,000 per Sunday.
Pros: This is the only route to serve the southern part of South Boston, which is where a lot of its ridership comes from, I believe. Its schedule is also pretty good – it runs every 12 minutes during rush hour, every 25 minutes during the day, and every 20 minutes on Saturdays.
Cons: It’s also every 40 minutes on Sundays and at night, which isn’t the best. Also, I cannot for the life of me figure out how the heck this route operates. Okay, so obviously City Point is the terminus, and I’m sure buses lay over there. But what about on the other end? Bedford @ Chauncy is just a normal stop, so it’s not that. So what about that random bus that was laying over at Broadway? Is Broadway the other layover point? Because that would wreak havoc with the 11’s scheduling. It would explain the 11 that came out of nowhere to bunch with us when we were heading to City Point, though.
Nearby and Noteworthy: Touchie’s Shamrock Pub caught my eye when we were travelling down 8th Street. Now, it’s gotten good Yelp reviews, but that’s not the reason it got my attention. The reason is that the name of the bar appeared to be written in all-caps comic sans. I’m sure you guys are good, Touchie’s, but comic sans? Well, it got my attention, that’s for sure.
Final Verdict: 7/10
Hmm…I want to give this route a lower score, but I actually really like the 11. It serves the underserved southern part of Southie, plus it runs often for the most part. My main issue with the route is the strange way it operates, and if someone can shed some light on that, please do in the comments.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
I’m sorry to bring up the MBTA’s past winter again, but this is a good thing. Governor Charlie Baker has an $83 million plan to better prepare the MBTA for harsh winter weather, so hopefully nothing like last winter will occur again.
Oak Grove
Seems like you can’t escape the brutalism on the Orange Line, can you? Down in the Southwest Corridor you’ve got lots of concrete stations – and then up north there are all those other concrete stations. Oak Grove is your typical suburban terminus, and it has plenty of concrete to go around.
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| Oh, it’s that typical Orange Line platform. |
The platform is standard northern Orange Line fare. The main portion is sheltered, with a few wastebaskets and recycling bins scattered about. There are some normal benches with interesting paintings on them, but as this is a northern Orange Line station, you’ve got those pointless bench shelters, too. The lesser-used part of the platform is completely open with nothing but a few lights. Oak Grove also has an elusive third platform for the Commuter Rail, but it’s pretty much never used and is blocked off from the mezzanine.
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| Um…am I supposed to be back here? |
The elevator is really out of the way of the platform. You have to go down this hallway that goes under the mezzanine, and it leads to this dark area that feels kind of foreboding. It does have a great place where you can stand and watch the trains go by, however. As for the elevator itself, it was small and really, really bright. For an MBTA elevator, then, it wasn’t that bad.
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| Not much going on here on a rainy Thursday afternoon. |
Up the stairs, there’s an open area. It doesn’t have any benches for waiting for the train inside, unfortunately, but there is a convenience store. It was closed when I was here, though, as was its flower shop companion. You can also see the stairs that go down to the third platform, which are blocked off.
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| Aw, yeah. I heard the Commuter Rail train zooming in and immediately rushed to the window to get it going past. |
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| The mezzanine. |
The mezzanine is big, especially considering Oak Grove’s ridership. It has six fare gates and four fare machines lined up along the wall. As for the architecture, I’d say it’s a mixed bag. To be honest, this mezzanine is really quite bland, but all your attention is drawn to the many windows in it. Are the windows only there to distract you from the blandness? If so, then well-played, MBTA, well-played.
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| The small bus stop for the 132. |
On the Washington Street side of the station, there’s a bus stop for the 132 up to Stoneham. The stop itself doesn’t have any benches, but there are some just inside Oak Grove for people to wait. Also on this side of the station are some standard bike racks, some newspaper boxes, and a small parking lot. Don’t worry, there’s plenty more parking on the other side.
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| The busway on the other side. |
The other side of the station has a proper busway for the 131, 136, and 137. It has a couple of concrete benches (lots o’ concrete), plus there are more in a sheltered area inside the station. The busway has a wastebasket, as well as a few more newspaper boxes.
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| The view of the station from the parking lot. |
This and Wellington seem to be the Orange Line’s main commuter park and ride stations. Wellington has more spaces, but Oak Grove has a sizeable amount: 788 of them. It also has a Pedal and Park, so presumably it gets a lot of bike traffic as well.
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| One of the station’s pedestrian paths. |
There are a few pedestrian paths around Oak Grove in order to serve neighborhoods to the east. I saw the southern one, which leads to a small residential area. It’s very convenient, except that it closes at 8 every night. That means that if people are coming back from Boston late, they have to go around. There’s a second pedestrian path a little further north that goes to a residential complex. This one is open all the time, I believe.
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| Clearly the ridership here at Oak Grove is astronomical. |
Station: Oak Grove
Ridership: Okay, so I got on the train at Wellington, and it was packed to the brims. After we left Malden Center, the train was near-empty. So yeah, Malden Center certainly dwarfs Oak Grove in terms of ridership. That said, Oak Grove’s ridership isn’t that bad – 6,590 passengers per weekday. It’s better than a lot of other Orange Line stations.
Pros: It’s nice that they decided to extend the Orange Line past Malden Center to almost-Melrose. Oak Grove serves residential areas, and has seen some development over the years (nowhere near the levels of Alewife, but a few apartments have sprung up). It has quite a lot of parking, a Pedal and Park, and some good bus connections for what it’s worth (considering that there’s a massive bus hub one station south).
Cons: It’s that good ol’ Haymarket North brutalism. Yeah, Oak Grove as all the concrete and blandness you’ve come to know and love.
Nearby and Noteworthy: Nah, there’s nothing of note around Oak Grove. It’s mostly residential, but it looks like you can find businesses if you walk far enough.
Final Verdict: 7/10
Okay, so brutalism doesn’t have to be a deal-breaker for all stations. I gotta admit, aside from the architecture, Oak Grove is pretty good. It serves a lot of residential areas, and it’s the closest rapid transit station to Melrose. And even though Wellington is probably the main park-and-ride station on the northern Orange Line, Oak Grove still has a big parking lot that is well-used.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
Symphony
Okay, so in my Prudential review (Did I really give that station a 4/10? Gosh, I should retroactively lower that to a -50,000), I mentioned that “it lacks the charm that its sister station, Symphony, has…” Well, I’m pretty sure my eyes had been closed last time I visited Symphony, because this station is ugly. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nowhere near as bad as Prudential in terms of aesthetics, but it’s pretty bad.
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| Two out of the four outbound entrances. |
The outbound side has really cute little entrances. They’re these tiny little staircases with little more than concrete, glass, and the station name. They’re all connected to one mezzanine, but since the mezzanines on either side are more or less the same, I’ll cover that later. It’s also worth noting that one of the outbound entrances is literally right outside the door to Symphony Hall. It took me by surprise when I went to see a Boston Pops concert and was right there when I exited the station.
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| I like the T symbol hiding in the trees. |
The inbound side gets slightly larger entrances, but there are only two on either side of Mass Ave. They’re both in these little brick plazas, and are mostly glass. The plazas also have small businesses in them, which is nice. In addition, one of the entrances has a “Train arriving” sign outside of it. Does that mean it lights up when a train’s arriving? Because I feel like someone would have to run to be able to make a train from here.
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| The mezzanine on the inbound side. |
The entrances lead to these bland passages that have lots of cracking paint and overall dreariness. They lead to the mezzanine, which is small and simple. Again, it’s very bland, and this being an underground Green Line station, it has lots of random pipes. Interestingly, there are more fare gates than fare machines. A nice precaution (?) I guess.
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| Ech. |
The platform, as you can see, isn’t the best. It’s just so bland and ugly. The ceiling is certainly high up, which is cool, I guess, but there are lots of random pipes of all shapes and sizes. I also found this huge cracking mess along the wall separating the inbound and outbound sides. No free crossovers, by the way. And no elevators, either, so people in wheelchairs will have to use Mass Ave Station instead (which is only a few blocks away, admittedly). Symphony’s saving grace is some historical information along the walls about the Boston Pops and Symphony Hall, but that’s about it.
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| A train whizzing in. |
There are also a few bus connections here. Two of them run along Mass Ave, the 1 and the CT1, and I believe there are shelters on both sides. A bit more complicated is the 39 on Huntington Ave, which I don’t necessarily count, to be honest. See, the 39 skips the station by using an underpass that passes below Mass Ave. Since that route runs alongside the whole length of the E, though, I don’t think anyone cares that it misses one stop.
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| Look, it’s Charlie playing the bass! That made my day. |
Station: Symphony
Ridership: Well, it’s the 6th worst MBTA station for ridership, so, um, it doesn’t get that much. There are only 1,711 people per weekday that enter here, most of which are probably just locals. The access to Symphony Hall is convenient, but I’m not sure how many people actually use the train to get there.
Pros: The entrances are cute, and I like the historical information on the platform. Also, Charlie playing the bass in the inbound mezzanine is pretty amazing.
Cons: As for the rest: ewwww. Everything else in this station is really bland and ugly, from the hallways to the mezzanines to the platforms. Oh, and there aren’t any free crossovers and it’s not accessible.
Nearby and Noteworthy: Well, you’ve got Symphony Hall, obviously. This is also the closest station to the Mary Baker Eddy Library and the Christian Science Center.
Final Verdict: 3/10
Is Prudential better than I give it credit for? I mean, at least it’s accessible, and it has free crossovers. But it’s still so, so ugly. Also, so is Symphony. But Symphony lacks the accessibility and the crossovers. I still dislike this station, but for some reason I don’t hate it like I do Prudential. Well, perhaps it’s some sort of psychological thing. Symphony is still terrible regardless.
UPDATE 7/15/17: I think I’m really late on this, but Symphony got a repaint! I have to say, it looks a lot better now.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
100 (Elm Street – Wellington Station via Fellsway)
Do you ever get those mysterious disappearing buses? The ones that are scheduled to come at a certain time but never do? Yeah, that happened here with the 100. It runs frequently enough so that it wasn’t too much of a burden, but it was still annoying.
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| This is such an odd bus stop… |
This did mean waiting for about 20 minutes at the Elm Street bus stop, which is worth talking about since it’s pretty interesting. Looking across the street, there are some nice houses and a bunch of trees. But then only a chain-link fence and a small clump of trees separate the bus stop from I-93. And the shelter was a complete mess, with litter strewn around it. There was a big contrast between the two sides of the street.
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| Peek-a-boo… |
But there’s a bus to talk about, and the next 100 came eventually. We headed down the leafy Fellsway West, which curved around and crossed over I-93. Coming round Roosevelt Circle, we then turned off and curved under I-93. We rejoined the Fellsway West, which had a tree-lined median and houses on both sides. Crossing Salem Street, we continued along the Fellsway.
The median got much narrower, but it was still lined with trees. The surroundings were still mostly residential, though the occasional auto shop came up. We went by a big storage facility, then onto a bridge over a single railroad track. There were more houses, then we passed a massive mall complex. This basically continued all the way to Revere Beach Parkway, which crossed over the Orange Line tracks, where we turned into the Wellington Station busway.
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| The bus at Wellington. |
Route: 100 (Elm Street – Wellington Station via Fellsway)
Ridership: There were about 15 people on my ride, which seems like a pretty good amount for such a short, local route heading in the off-peak direction. People fed on as we went along, with only one or two people at each stop. Aside from two people who alighted at the big mall, everyone went to Wellington. The route gets really low ridership overall, however – 922 people on weekdays, 522 on Saturdays, and 314 on Sundays. That latter one puts the 100 in the bottom 10 for MBTA Sunday routes.
Pros: As you can probably tell by this review’s length, the 100 is an extremely short route. I think this works out in its favor, since it acts as a really quick link through eastern Medford (and a bit of Malden). The route also has a pretty great schedule, running every 20 minutes rush hour, every 35 minutes during the day, every half hour on Saturdays, and every hour nights and Sundays. That last one may seem a bit infrequent, but based on the ridership it’s justified.
Cons: The 100 doesn’t get very high ridership. However, since it’s so short, it’s actually relatively cheap for the MBTA to run – only $2.31 per passenger. That means that it can basically stay the way it is in terms of scheduling, since it’s not expensive to run at all.
Nearby and Noteworthy: Nothing along the route seemed too enticing. The big mall seemed to have a lot of stores, though.
Final Verdict: 8/10
This is a really nice, short little local route. It provides a link from eastern Medford down to the Orange Line, and does it really quickly. It only takes 12 minutes to get from end to end, and less on weekends! Couple that with a pretty frequent schedule and you’ve got a great route.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
Random Photos: A Very Long Detour
Due to Harvard graduation a few days ago, the bus stop at Johnston Gate was closed. However, I think the replacement bus stop might be a bit far away…
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| Um…MBTA, you know that Avenue de Lafayette is in downtown Boston, right? |
325 (Elm Street, Medford – Haymarket Station via Fellsway West, Salem Street, and I-93)
Well, I’ve had a long hiatus, but I’ll make it up to you guys with a weekday-only express bus that was ALSO on the chopping block back in 2012! Yes, we’re taking a trip up I-93 today on the 325. And as usual for I-93 express buses, there was lots and lots of traffic.
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| I’m gonna miss the RTS’s, but from up close, they make for really bad pictures. |
Leaving Haymarket, we headed up Congress Street, but didn’t make any stops before ducking into the I-93 tunnel. Right after we came back into the open air, zooming over the Zakim Bridge on the on-ramp road. Things looked ominous on the highway itself, though, and when we merged on, it got much slower.
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| The view of Charlestown and the Bunker Hill Monument. |
The highway was stacked here, and we went past Bunker Hill Community College. It got industrial north of there, then the highway unstacked and we passed Sullivan Square. After that we went by Assembly Square, then a barrier came up on the right and I couldn’t see anything.
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| I did take that obligatory “skyline view with a bunch of traffic” picture, but I’ve already used that twice, so here’s one of Sullivan. |
We then got a nice view of the Mystic River, and it got pretty woodsey from there. Crossing over the Mystic River, we took Exit 32 and merged onto Salem Street. There was a mixture of houses and businesses, and they were all pretty dense.
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| The view of the Mystic River. |
The businesses continued until we reached an MBTA bus yard, which seemed to have an old waiting room outside. Here the driver honked his horn at another driver who was walking by, then we continued past a mall. After that, we made a sharp left turn onto the Fellsway West.
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| The old waiting room. |
It’s interesting how much different the Fellsway was from Salem Street. Whereas Salem Street was somewhat narrow with a sort of gritty feel to it, the Fellsway was extremely wide with a tree-lined median. It had houses on either side, and was really leafy in general. Funnily enough, this portion of the route was faster than the entire express portion, since there was barely any traffic and no one wanted to get off.
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| I refer you to the first caption. |
After passing a park, the road curved up north, It went along next to I-93, with hilly residential streets on the other side. We made some windy turns, then unexpectedly did a u-turn and arrived at Elm Street. Well, that was sudden…
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| Goodbye! |
Route: 325 (Elm Street, Medford – Haymarket Station via Fellsway West, Salem Street, and I-93)
Ridership: There were only about 15 people on my ride, although it was 4 o’clock, that quiet time just before rush hour. The crowd on the bus was very local, but I assume it gets more suits and ties during peak periods. Most people got off at Salem Street, with very few people continuing on past the turn onto Fellsway West. All in all, this is one of the lowest-ridership routes on the MBTA, with only a little over 300 riders per day. It’s at rank 149, if you were wondering.
Pros: Well, I guess an express to eastern Medford is needed by some people. I feel like the 326 is slightly more useful since it goes through Medford Square, but its ridership is barely higher than the 325. I do like how the 325 runs both ways, even though it skips the Fellsway West and Salem Street portions going in the non-peak direction. But the bus has to return to Boston so it might as well pick up a few riders along the way. That said, I saw a 325 going back, and it was completely empty. But still, it’s nice that you can take it back if you want to.
Cons: Okay, I’ll give the schedule a break, since I doubt this bus would get much ridership if it ran at any time other than weekdays, rush hour only. That said, it doesn’t get much ridership anyway! And it’s worth noting that this route is one of the most expensive for the MBTA to run, costing over $7 per passenger! The 326 is less than $4.
Nearby and Noteworthy: There were businesses on Salem Street, but none of them seemed especially interesting.
Final Verdict: 3/10
Well, it was a nice ride, that’s for sure. But okay, comparing this to the 326, since the two routes are pretty much related, I think the latter is more useful. That’s not to say the 325 isn’t, since some people use it, but just look at how much it costs the MBTA to run! I think there would be local opposition to getting rid of this route, though, so I guess the 325 just has to stick around. What a trooper.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
GUEST POST: Green Line D Shuttle Buses
I’m really sorry for this hiatus – I’ve been really busy, and also really sick, so I haven’t had much time to write. But here’s a guest post from Jordan King!
Savin Hill
I was surprised at how…not bad Savin Hill was. Seriously, every time I went by here (either making a stop when going to Ashmont or zipping by when on a Braintree train), I always thought “Geez, looks like a pit.” I mainly thought this because the station is right next to I-93, and it’s noisy for sure, but the station itself is actually kinda nice.
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| Okay, so the platform isn’t actually that great. |
Right, so the platform itself isn’t the best. It’s all covered, which is good, but it also has some pretty bland architecture. Plus, even though there’s a thick fence between the station and the highway, it’s still pretty noisy. There are plenty of benches on the platform, though, and they don’t have those weird bench shelters like on the Braintree branch. Speaking of the Braintree branch, it’s also fun to watch those trains speed by on the other tracks without stopping.
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| A nice glass hallway. |
From the platform, there are stairs and an upward-bound escalator, as well as an elevator (which was added in Savin Hill’s 2004-2005 renovation). These lead up to a nice hallway that in turn leads to both of the station’s exits. The hallway is made of glass, and it even has some benches for people who may want to wait for the train inside.
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| The main mezzanine. |
I didn’t get to spend too much time in the main mezzanine, since there was an MBTA employee in there and I wanted to “act natural”. But from what I saw, it was a nice mezzanine, with cool green walls and interesting lighting. Lots of natural light gets in, too. As for the fare gates, there are only four, but this station doesn’t get much ridership, so four is probably enough.
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| Oh, yeah, I can totally tell that’s a train station. |
Architecturally, the main entrance to Savin Hill is great. I love how the main part is made out of glass, and the brick walls on the side make for some nice contrast. There’s also a cool old-fashioned street clock outside the entrance. But I would much rather have that clock be replaced with a T logo, because there is no indication at all that this is a train station! The sign just says “121 Savin Hill”, in reference to the station’s address on Savin Hill Ave. How about sticking a “station” after that “Savin Hill”, MBTA?
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| And the second entrance. |
Believe it or not, there aren’t any T logos at the second entrance on Sydney Street, either. It’s more obvious with this one because you can see the platform from the street, but still! There isn’t even any “Savin Hill” signage here, just a set of doors. The entrance itself is again nice, and it’s pretty much entirely made of glass. There’s also a small parking lot here with 20 spaces, which is a nice amenity even for a mostly local station.
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| Well doesn’t that scream structural integrity? |
It may be hard to tell, but that picture above is of a step on the staircase from the second entrance to its mezzanine. It is, however, quite easy to tell that this thing is in dire need of repair. Considering that a few of the other steps are like this, too, is it possible that this staircase isn’t safe? I wouldn’t be surprised.
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| A much smaller mezzanine. |
I assume this is the lesser-used entrance, since the mezzanine is comparatively small. It has two fare machines and two wider “reduced fare” gates. It’s a nice mezzanine, with lots of natural light getting in from all the windows. From here, it leads right into the hallway that goes to the platform.
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| A train coming over the hill south of the station. |
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| A Braintree train zipping past! |
Station: Savin Hill
Ridership: This is the second-worst Red Line station for ridership, with only 2,440 riders per weekday. It narrowly beats out the worst Red Line station, Shawmut, by 29 people. And like Shawmut, Savin Hill is a very local station, which is probably why its ridership is so low.
Pros: Overall, the aesthetics here are great. Aside from the platform (and even that doesn’t look bad, per se, just bland), this station looks fantastic. I love how much natural light gets into the mezzanines, as well.
Cons: This doesn’t bother me too much, but it’s worth noting that there aren’t any official bus connections here (though the 18 is only a few blocks away). What does bother me is the fact that this station has literally zero signage. Seriously, just stick a T logo somewhere in the general vicinity of Savin Hill and that’ll be better than the current situation. Also, we can’t forget about the Rotting Staircase of Despair in the Sidney Street entrance.
Nearby and Noteworthy: Heading west from the station there are a few local restaurants to find, including the Savin Bar and Kitchen, which I thought looked pretty good.
Final Verdict: 6/10
Maybe I take aesthetics too seriously. I mean, functionality is ultimately more important than how a station looks, isn’t it? While I’m gonna keep on hating Prudential, the above statement certainly applies here. I think Savin Hill looks great, but you can’t forget about the lack of signage or the rotting staircase. Seriously, fix that staircase.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
Finally, there are proper countdown clocks on the Green Line! Yes, the D Line stops in Brookline now have screens telling you when the next train is arriving.
26 (Ashmont Station – Norfolk and Morton Belt Line)
One of the most annoying things about taking buses from beginning to end is when you get kicked out at the last stop. This is especially annoying if the driver is really mad at you for just wanting to take the route to the end (cough, cough, the 8). But that problem doesn’t exist with the 26, because it’s a loop! Hooray! Seriously, I had no reason for wanting to take the 26 except for the fact that it’s a loop that both starts and ends at Ashmont. I believe this is the only remaining MBTA bus that runs like this ever since the 48 was eliminated back in 2012. But unlike the 48, the 26 actually gets ridership.
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| The bus in the Ashmont busway. |
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| That industrial spire sticking up there is in Milton’s Lower Mills. I thought this was a cool view. |
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| The bus heading up Dorchester Ave back in Ashmont. |
18 (Ashmont Station – Andrew Station via Fields Corner Station)
I’m back! I’m sorry for not posting in about half a million years, but I’ve been quite busy. Also, I went to Bermuda over April vacation, and I rode a few new bus routes over there. I’ll leave it to you guys if you want to see posts about those (here’s one of them from last year if you want to know what to expect), so let me know in the comments or on Facebook or Twitter what you think. Anyway, let’s get into the review.
A little while back, I did a review of the 68 from Harvard Square to Kendall Square, via Broadway. I commented on the fact that the route doesn’t have any points where it’s the only option, and it gets pretty awful ridership. Proclaiming that “I honestly feel like the MBTA could scrap this route, and it wouldn’t affect that many people,” I gave it a 2/10. After that review, a commenter named Ari pointed out that the faithful locals who use the 68 would be up in arms if the MBTA tried to eliminate the route. That’s certainly a valid point, but I still think the 68 is a bad route, and I don’t regret the low score. Basically what I’m getting at is that the 18 is like the Dorchester equivalent of the 68.
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| Off-center, but it’s growing on me. |
The 18 is a mostly straight run up Dorchester Ave, running from Ashmont to Andrew. I got on at Ashmont, and we headed up – what else? – Dorchester Ave. We went through Peabody Square just north of Ashmont Station, then Dot Ave was lined with businesses. Some of them had apartments on top of them, and others were Vietnamese, since there’s a pretty big Vietnamese community down here.
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| So much traffic! Those are the elevated Red Line tracks at Fields Corner up ahead. |
It got more residential after that, We went by a park, and then came into the convoluted mess that is the 18 at Fields Corner. So we turned into the Park Street busway, then onto Geneva Ave, then onto that Fields Corner busway that doesn’t have any stops on it, then onto the actual Fields Corner busway, then back onto Geneva Ave, then back onto the stopless Fields Corner busway, then back onto Dorchester Ave to continue with the route. It took over 5 minutes just to get through all this.
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| This driver must’ve changed the destination board early, because the 18 doesn’t run on this street. This is at Andrew Station. |
After that, the businesses got denser, then we went through an industrial portion with lots of auto shops. On my particular trip, we stayed on Dorchester Ave the whole time from here on out, but normally buses take a strange and seemingly pointless detour. Had we been taken this detour, we would have turned onto Bay Street, then onto Auckland Street (now heading south, away from where we were heading), then onto Dewar Street, and then back onto Dot Ave, doubling back on ourselves. I think skipping it certainly sped up the ride a bit.
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| That same bus heading back up Dorchester Ave. |
After crossing over Savin Hill Ave, the industrial area ended and it was back to dense businesses with apartments on top. We went by an apartment building, then crossed over Columbia Road, connecting with the 8 and 41. Continuing up Dot Ave, we passed through a purely residential area with dense apartments, then onto a bridge over I-93 and the Red Line and Commuter Rail tracks. Soon after that, we turned onto Southampton Street, then Ellery Street, and then into the Andrew Station busway.
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| Look how downtown looms! It looks really close. |
Route: 18 (Ashmont Station – Andrew Station via Fields Corner Station)
Ridership: Being the local route that it is, the 18’s ridership isn’t very high. There were only about 10 people on my Saturday ride. On weekdays, it only gets an average of 619 riders, and on Saturdays, only 175 – the fifth worst Saturday bus route for ridership. Like the 68, most of the riders on this route only went for a few stops.
Pros: But unlike the 68, this route does serve a lot. Sure, it more or less parallels the Red Line and goes pretty close to its stops, but it actually has some sections where it’s the only option. Plus, although Broadway is a major street in Cambridge, it doesn’t come close to the importance of Dot Ave. I mean, this is basically the main throughway of Dorchester, and it makes perfect sense to run a bus down it.
Cons: For one thing, I think a lot of people don’t use this bus just because it comes so close to the Red Line. I mean, it directly serves Ashmont, Fields Corner, and Andrew, and comes within a few blocks of Shawmut and Savin Hill. In addition, parts of this route are just so convoluted! The 18 at Fields Corner is a mess, and it seems like it would be so much easier to just skip the Park Street busway and have it go directly into the Fields Corner busway. Also, does it really need to serve Auckland Street? I don’t know if the Savin Hill Apartments is an old-age home, but if not, I think its residents can walk a block to Dorchester Ave.
Nearby and Noteworthy: Lots of businesses along Dot Ave, but I don’t have anything specific.
Final Verdict: 3/10
I’ve been comparing the 18 to the 68 this whole review, and I do think the 18 is better. It’s longer, serves more, and even runs on Saturdays! The schedule, by the way, is not great, as you’d expect – every half hour during rush hour, and every hour during the day and on Saturdays. The last bus is at about 6 PM, which is also like the 68. But I do think the MBTA should keep the 18 around, although its route is really crazy. Seriously, it’s drawn as a straight line on the map! Just make the route a straight line!
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
Governor Charlie Baker has appointed five new members to the MassDOT board after pressuring six of its seven previous members to resign. In non-MBTA news, Google Maps officially made the switch over to “The New Google Maps”, and it is the slowest, most frustrating thing ever. This could mean longer wait periods between blog posts, but hopefully nothing along the lines of the horrendously long amount of time I made you guys wait before this post comes out.
Ashmont
Ah, here we go! Let’s review a good-looking station for once! Yes, Ashmont was renovated recently, and it looks amazing. Let’s get right into it and wash out the brutalism from the last review.
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| This platform is awesome! |
I really, really love Ashmont’s platform. It’s at ground level, but completely enclosed, but it also has glass windows so you can still look out! It’s a really, really nice platform. It does have these weird benches that you kind of lean on while standing up, but you have to take the good with the bad. There are normal benches, too.
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| A train leaving the station. |
And something I didn’t fully understand until I last came here was that the outbound platform (where trains go out of service) has no fare gates! You can just leave and get into the busway! And it’s not like people can fare dodge and just walk onto the outbound platform because you can’t get on trains there! But the inbound platform still has fare gates, obviously! Okay, well, it’s a cool layout to me, at least.
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| The northern mezzanine. |
The northern mezzanine is pretty swanky. It has a bunch of fare gates and fare machines, with a very straightforward layout, which is always good. It also has some benches that form a circle, which is pretty cool. And there’s a big window overlooking the platform where you can watch the trains go by. What’s more, the glass was reasonably clean! Woah!
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| And that just looks amazing. |
From the northern mezzanine, there’s a small plaza that leads up to Peabody Square. It’s pretty standard as far as plazas go, but my favorite thing about it is the view of the station it offers. Ashmont’s slanted roof looks really, really cool. Also, there’s a creepy moon-egg-face-sculpture-thing. Just saying…
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| The second mezzanine. |
The second way to enter the station is directly from the busway. Its mezzanine is pretty much the exact same thing as the other one, which isn’t a bad thing. Also, Ashmont has a Pedal and Park facility that’s just out of the way. You have to walk down Dorchester Ave a bit to find it. There should probably be some signage for that…
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| The busway. |
The station’s busway is fairly straightforward. It has two lanes, both of which are sheltered. Ashmont is served by 10 buses, plus route 12 of the BAT to Brockton. Oh, how I really want to take that BAT. I hate it when I’m in the busway and there’s a BAT waiting there and I want to get on so bad but I know I don’t have time to go all the way down to Brockton. Some day…
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| Ah, we can’t forget about the good ol’ Mattapan High Speed Line! |
The Mattapan High Speed Line used to run right into the busway, and there was a free transfer from the train. However, as part of Ashmont’s renovation, they cut off the MHSL to its own elevated platform. It doesn’t have any proper benches, just a set of those weird “leaning” ones. I have to say, though, the elevated loop for the trolleys is fantastic.
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| A trolley ascending into the station. |
Station: Ashmont
Ridership: It’s pretty high, all things considered. The Red Line gets an average of 9,293 riders per weekday, making Ashmont the busiest Red Line station south of South Station. This is also the hub of the Mattapan High Speed Line, so this is the station with the highest ridership on that line – 2,036 people per weekday.
Pros: Well, this is just a beautiful station! It’s really modern, with glass and metal everywhere. It’s also straightforward, including a busway that’s not a total maze. Speaking of buses, there are quite a few bus connections here, as well.
Cons: For one thing, there should be better signage for the Pedal and Park. I didn’t even know it existed until I took a bus from here and saw it out the window. Also, there really ought to be a free transfer to the MHSL from the Red Line. At the very least, add a proper bench to the MHSL’s platform!
Nearby and Noteworthy: Actually, the surroundings of this station are surprisingly residential. There are some businesses in the immediate vicinity, as well as up Dorchester Ave, but it’s mostly just houses.
Final Verdict: 9/10
Okay, so there are a couple of flaws here. The MHSL’s platform could really use an actual bench, and there needs to be signage for the Pedal and Park, but honestly, this is a great station. Extra points for the amazing platform and the really cool slanted roof.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
Don’t forget that it’s free fare day this Friday! All MBTA modes of service will be free of charge, including the Commuter Rail.