Yes, I actually went on another non-MBTA transportation authority while in Lowell. This is the MVRTA (Merrimack Valley Regional Transportation Authority), which covers a large area around its hub in Lawrence, going as far as Hampton Beach in New Hampshire. The 41 route goes between the Kennedy Center in Lowell and the Buckley Transportation Center in Lawrence. It runs every half hour on weekdays, which is really good for a non-MBTA system. Every hour on weekends isn’t great, but unlike the LRTA, the MVRTA runs on Sundays.

“Why are you taking pictures of the bus?” asked the driver. “Because I like taking pictures of buses,” I replied. “Fair enough,” he said, and questioned no more.

The bus was pretty nice inside. The seats all had “MVRTA” written on them, which was an interesting design choice, but they were fairly comfortable. If you want to get off, though, you have to push the – ugh – tape. MVRTA buses do use a flag-down system, though, so you can get on and off whenever you want.

The inside.

Looking toward the front.

The – blech – tape.

There was a screen up at the front of the bus, but it seemed to only display “ROUTE 41 TO BUCKLEY TRANSPORTATION CENTER” and the date on a continuous loop. The bus was pretty crowded when we left Lowell. In fact, in total there would be over 25 riders, which is a lot for a route on a non-MBTA system.

Weirdly, about half the route, from Lowell out to the border of Methuen, is designated as a “no stop zone.” That means that no one can get on or off the bus along that part of the route. I guess it’s because the bus runs on a pseudo highway during that time, but it’s a highway through Methuen, too.

The view of the Concord River. This was actually taken from the LRTA 2, but I forgot to put it in that post.

We started out heading down Appleton Street, following the route of the LRTA 2. We crossed over the Concord River, and even followed the 2 on its route up to the Saints Memorial Hospital. We didn’t pull in or stop (no stop zone, remember), and left the 2 by crossing over the Merrimack River on Route 38.

The view of the Merrimack River.

Seems like I can never get a decent screen picture without stuff getting in the way.

Not the nicest neighborhood, is it? This is just before the railroad tracks.

We turned onto Broadway, which was mostly businesses, some of which had apartments on top. Then we turned onto Common Street, passing a few small residential towers. We went by mostly parking lots and apartments, then pulled into the Buckley Transportation Center, the hub of the MVRTA.

The bus at the Buckley Transportation Center.

I have to say, I did not like the Buckley Transportation Center. It was basically just a dark, dingy parking lot where all the buses stop. There were some benches and wastebaskets, as well as glass (albeit dirty) windows on one side, but it just wasn’t nice at all. At least it’s sheltered, though.

My camera doesn’t really capture the dinginess of the bus station.

A pretty beaten-up map of the station.

Looking out the dirty windows.

There was also a small waiting room on one side of the bus area. It felt pretty cramped, but it had benches, an information booth, and a few vending machines. The place was crowded, so there was nowhere to sit, which can probably be a problem during rush hours. The transportation center also offers parking, but I couldn’t find any information about it online.

The waiting room.

Looking from the outside.

This whole time, I was assuming that the Lawrence Commuter Rail station was part of the Buckley Transportation Center. With my train home coming in about 50 minutes, I figured I could explore the station and then read my book for the rest of the time. Easy, right? Wrong.

After circling the Buckley Center, I realized that this was not the Commuter Rail station. I walked around the area for a bit but couldn’t find any signage for the station. Eventually I saw the Lawrence Public Library, and figured they’d know where the station was. They gave me directions, and it turned out the Commuter Rail is over a mile away from the library! Not to mention about a mile away from Buckley! With no street signage whatsoever! The Commuter Rail is an important destination, people!

Sigh…more about the station in the next post…

Although most of the MVRTA is flag-down, there are a few fixed stops downtown like this one.

A bus shelter.

The North Canal, as seen on my walk.

And the Merrimack River.

The 2 is a crazy route meant to serve residential areas to the east of Lowell. I had wanted to ride another LRTA route for fun, and the 2 showed up at the Kennedy Center. When I got in, I asked the driver if it would loop around and come back to Lowell. “This is Lowell,” he replied. I told him I was taking a “joyride”, to which he responded “Joyrides cost 20 bucks.” A few passengers joined in on the joke, which showed just how local this route is. Everyone seemed to know the driver, and each other.

The bus boarding at the Kennedy Center.

The bus was a “clean fuel” one, and it was pretty nice inside. I assume these are the newest buses on the LRTA, and as such, it was very clean. The bus was slightly longer than the one I rode on the 14, and the seats were of standard comfort. But there were pull chords, once again! They’re the best!

Looking up towards the front.

The stop request screen.

We made our way to Appleton Street, which was mostly businesses. After we crossed over the Concord River, it became more residential, with closely-spaced houses. There was a fairly time-consuming detour to serve the Saints Memorial Hospital, then we came back down on High Street.

An odd view coming back inbound.

We soon turned onto Rogers Street, There was a big park, but other than that it was still all houses. After a second park, however, it turned to businesses with massive parking lots. Eventually, we turned onto Phoenix Ave, then pulled into the Hannaford’s Plaza. After that, we made our way through the massive Stadium Plaza parking lot across the street.

We headed back down Rogers Street for a bit before turning onto Douglas Street. This street was once again residential, with further-spaced houses. We turned onto Hovey Street just before a big school, then onto Wentworth Ave, then onto Andover Street. Andover Street was shared with the 11, which goes all the way out to Andover (the town).

We pulled into a plaza, then went back a bit and turned onto Burnham Road. We followed this all the way up to the end, when we turned onto River Road. This street, as the name suggests, parallels the Merrimack River, which could be seen between houses. Soon after, we looped around and headed back towards the Kennedy Center.

Looking at the river between houses.

The bus back at the Kennedy Center.

The Robert Kennedy Transportation Center (which also houses the MBTA Commuter Rail station), hub of the LRTA, is something like an 18 minute walk from downtown Lowell. It’s doable for sure, but you could also just take the downtown shuttle operated by the LRTA. That comes at a cost, though – my problem with the shuttle is that it costs a dollar, the same as any other LRTA city route. It would be so much more downtown shuttle-esque if it only costed 50 cents for a ride, since it’s meant to be taken short distances. On the flip side, buses run every 15 minutes on weekdays and every half hour on Saturdays, but there are no LRTA buses with Sunday service.

When I took this route there and back, both times were operated with minibuses. I did see some full-sized vehicles along the route, though, which seems silly to me. But going back to the minibus, it was pretty comfortable inside, with big, poofy seats. And there were pull cords again!

The inside of the bus.

The stop request sign up front.

We left the transportation center and made our way to Thorndike Street. This was an underpass beneath a few streets, then we came back up and crossed over the Pawtucket Canal. Paralleling the Merrimack Canal and the Lowell Trolley, there were businesses on the other side of Dutton Street. We then turned onto Arcand Drive, going past Lowell city hall, then we turned onto Father Morissette Boulevard.

This became French Street as we passed the Lowell High School, a park, and a bunch of brick buildings. We made our way around to Merrimack Street, which seemed to be the “main drag” of downtown, with a bunch of businesses lining it. This is the last stop of the outbound route, and where the bus lays over for a few minutes before heading back to the Kennedy Center.

The bus downtown.

After wandering downtown for a while and having really excellent pizza at Eileen’s, I headed back to the bus stop. On the way back, we headed down Merrimack Street, then turned onto Shawmut Street. This street was narrow and cobblestone, so it was a bit of a rough ride. We then turned onto Market Street, going by some more businesses.

Next, we turned onto Central Street, going over the Pawtucket Canal, then we turned onto Middlesex Street. This one was mostly parking areas, abandoned buildings, and totally empty lots. We then turned onto Thorndike Street, coming back to the Kennedy Center. It was definitely a quick way of getting to and from downtown Lowell, though it was a bit expensive.

The bus back at the Center.

Yes, as I not-so-subtly hinted in the last post, I did indeed take the LRTA up to Lowell from the 351. The system has 18 main routes, all fanning out from the Lowell Commuter Rail station. These are further divided into city routes and suburban routes, the former being cheaper to ride than the latter. And luckily, one of those suburban routes heads down to the 351’s neck of the woods.

A bus sign that was very high up on the pole.

The 14 starts out at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, then makes its way to the Burlington Mall. From there, it goes up the Middlesex Turnpike, going by an abundance of office parks. I waited for the bus a little further north of Dawes Drive, right near a residential complex. I couldn’t find any bus signs along this side of the street, and there wasn’t even a sidewalk. When the bus came after a 35 minute wait (which wasn’t fun), I flagged it down and got on (good thing the LRTA also uses a flag-down system).

That’s a welcome sight.

After a dispute with the driver (guess Student CharlieCard passes don’t work on the LRTA – good thing I had the buck-fifty), we set off. There were two other people already on the bus from Lahey and the Burlington Mall, and there would be about six riders in total. Certainly not the best. The inside of the vehicle was mostly wooden, and it looked pretty good. Plus, pull cords for stop requests! There weren’t any automatic announcements, though, as expected.

The inside of the bus.

And looking towards the front.

Middlesex Turnpike narrowed into a two lane road without a median, and we went by some more office parks. There was also a totally out of place 99 Restaurant. Soon after that, though, the neighborhood got (gasp) normal! Yes, it became entirely residential, with a break to cross over a pond.

The best picture I could get of the view…

The houses continued all the way to the end of the Middlesex Turnpike, where we turned onto Concord Road. Although twisty, this road was also entirely residential. There were, however, some businesses and a library at the intersection with Boston Road, on which we joined the 13 (which goes to the 350 and 352 terminus). After passing Billerica’s town hall, we went by some more houses and then through Billerica Center, which didn’t seem very appealing to me. It had a bunch of huge parking lots, and wasn’t pedestrian friendly at all.

The view of the Concord River.

We crossed over the Concord River, leaving the 13, and the overly large parking lots continued. We soon turned onto Chelmsford Road, luckily, which was residential again. After a section of woods, we made a sharp turn onto Brick Kiln Road, an industrial street. This is also where we joined the 15, which goes all the way to just over the Littleton border. We passed a massive UPS facility, then it once again got residential.

There was another connection with the 13, where we turned onto Carlisle Street. We crossed over I-495, then went through a huge cemetery, leaving the 15. Soon after, we pulled into the Meadow Brook Center (a shopping mall) to pick someone up, then returned to Plain Street, now in Lowell proper. We turned onto Chelmsford Street, going by some more businesses with slightly smaller parking lots. After a little while, we turned onto Thorndike Street, and pulled into the Robert Kennedy Center, the hub of the LRTA.

And it was actually straightforward! There’ll be more information on the terminal once I do a proper review of Lowell.