51 (Charles St./CCRI Lincoln)

Alrighty, you want to get to CCRI? Well, just take either the 66, which expresses to CCRI, or the 14, 21, 22, or 30, which all run local to there? Wait, what? You meant the Lincoln campus? Ohhhhhh…..why didn’t you say so? Just take the 51!

So, we start off at the Lincoln CCRI campus, and going around the roundabout, we exit onto RI-246. A little hard to believe that given all the woodlands out here, we’re only 5 and a half miles north of Kennedy Plaza (in a straight line). Wait, a deviation! Yes, just like the 54 and 73, we deviate into Twin River! However, noone got on here.

Once we got out of Twin River, we went right again, and unlike the 54, we did NOT go express. So, instead we began going down Charles Street. It was largely residential, as every few stops people got on down here. Throughout, there were businesses lining the street as well. There were also a couple of parks and Esek Hopkins Jr. High, down by the intersection with Branch Avenue. Eventually, past the Home Depot, Charles Street split into two one-ways, with the one-way I’m on being next to the Northeast Corridor. Fortunately, this also meant we were near home. From here, we went up Canal Street and deviated into Providence Station, where I got off. The route would then continue to go down to RI Hospital.

The good: It’s a straight shot up Charles Street to the CCRI campus and the casino! Also, on Sundays, the college isn’t even served (likely due to the lack of classes). So, in a sense, the schedule works out pretty well too. It’s also relatively frequent, being every half-hour. However….

The bad: I think it might be better off being a little more frequent (every 20 minutes), or maybe alternating short/long trips like with the 20, where trips alternate between ending at the Stop & Shop on Mineral Spring, and the full run to Twin River and CCRI, which would also bring 20 minute frequency to Charles St. itself and 40 minutes to CCRI and the casino. Also, Charles Street can get clogged up quite easily during the evening and morning commutes.

Nearby points of interest: Twin River and CCRI. There’s also the stuff lining Charles Street and the train station.

Overall, it’s a pretty good route. Enough so to where as of 2019, it was the highest-ridership non-key route. I do, however, think that turning it into a key route with long/short trips (think like the 20) would be a better idea, especially given the proximity to the Stop & Shop on Mineral Spring Ave. Or, if the 30 minute frequency to CCRI and the casino were to be preserved, why not every 15 minutes up to said Stop & Shop, and 30 to the casino and CCRI?

Rating: 7.5/10