Month: May 2022

Whelp, here we are. My first Flex post, and also my first time using RIPTA’s Flex service. I suppose I should preface this with the whole “what is Flex” thing.

So, what IS Flex? Flex is what is known as demand-response transit, or also referred to as microtransit. The idea behind it is that you can either walk up to a designated Flex stop like a normal bus stop (sometimes), or you can call ahead at least 1 day in advance (referring to Monday-Friday here). From there, you can reserve a pick-up and drop-off point in a designated Flex zone. Yes, that includes dedicated deviations in places that your standard 40ft city bus otherwise wouldn’t/can’t deviate into. In many ways, it’s similar to a standard fixed bus route in that fares are essentially the same (on RIPTA, anyways). However, unlike paratransit services like RIde for RIPTA or Dial-a-Ride for GATRA, anyone can use it. Now, how was my journey via RIPTA’s Flex? Let’s find out.

To even get to the 282, I boarded the midday 9x express trip and went all the way through the hinterlands and into Pascoag. Then, after a short trip into Brigidio’s Market to buy a quick drink (coffee milk, for the curious), I went back to the bus stop. One lady waiting asked me if I was all set or if I wanted to board the 9x back. I said I was fine. Then, about halfway through my small bottle of milk, the other lady that was with me said “LOOK!”. I looked behind and there was the Flex van. The lady driving opened the door, and asked “North Smithfield?”. I then confirmed with her if she was referring to Walmart (the transfer point with the 54) and I said yes, and boarded. Fare was your standard affair, with both cash and Wave being accepted. From then, I took my seat…..only to quickly discover that there was a stop request push strip instead of a cord. Whoops. I apologized upon noticing it (after hitting it from leaning my elbow against the wall) and we kept going.

As one would predict, it’s largely a rural ride. Trees were everywhere with the occasional house or business. Sometimes there’d be a village center. We pressed on down RI-102. Eventually though, we reached the other Brigidio’s Market. But, unlike in Pascoag, this one served as the terminus for the 59X.

We crossed over 146 and it was still much of the same. However, it got denser soon enough. At this point we were unofficially outside the Flex zone, however we still had more to go because it officially connects with the 54. But at this point, we were largely following the 59X’s routing.

Soon enough, we ended up reaching Dowling Village, where the end of the line was (for me). The driver asked if I was heading to Lincoln or Woonsocket, and then if the bus stop or store itself was my preferred drop-off. I told her the stop was good and that I was heading to Lincoln. From here, I then was let off at the bus stop as expected and then the driver went to do a layover (I think).

The good: It provides (somewhat) regular service to the people in northern RI, which otherwise has no fixed routes other than the 9x and 59x. It’s also comfy, I will concede that RIPTA definitely got the comfort factor going for the Flex fleet that won’t be seen on their 40ft fleet any time soon.

The bad: The scheduled stops probably won’t do anyone any favors. What’s with the stop out at Zambarano Hospital, anyways? I mean, I’m sure someone uses it, but there wasn’t anyone else on my trip. Speaking of which, why can’t Flex in general be on-demand via the Wave app or something similar? Although, there are plans to address that with a proposed pilot program for the 242 Flex (which has no scheduled stops). Furthermore, I’m sure most people who would be likely to use Flex, would much rather have a direct connection to Woonsocket via Slatersville anyways.

Nearby points of interest: Well, let’s see what’s in the Flex zone. There’s the Zambarano Hospital all the way near the tri-point. There’s Pascoag Village. There’s also Harrisville Village. Out east you have Slatersville with its points of interest (basically just Brigidio’s) and Dowling Village, which has Walmart. There’s also Wright’s Farm just outside the Flex zone.

Overall, it really isn’t that bad a route. My main gripes is with how Flex is executed. Like, I like the concept. I really do. And if it wasn’t limited to calling in a day or two in advance, I’d probably be more eager to use Flex locally (the 242). In terms of the route itself, it’s definitely up there as it serves an otherwise grossly underserved part of RI, being rural in nature. Hell, I’d even say it’s an 8 for that. But, the way Flex is executed as a service in general with all the drawbacks stated above brings it down to a 4. I will, however, shout out the driver for being incredibly helpful and understanding.
Rating: 4/10

This one’s gonna be a little weird. So, we have a RIPTA route…..but it terminates in Massachusetts. Well, I suppose it could be worse. Let’s get into it.

The trip starts with the bus departing Kennedy Plaza and going down South Water Street. You’d think it’d be an East Side route, with the initial path the bus takes, but it isn’t. It used to be, though, but at some point it got rerouted. Nevertheless, the bus goes down South Water Street, and crosses Wickenden Street and the interstate. However, we then go express onto 195 eastbound.

However, the express section was short-lived, as we got off at the next exit onto Taunton Ave. in East Providence. From here, we went straight, and most of the way through the bowtie junction and onto North Broadway. It was primarily suburban businesses and housing from here, and for pretty much the entire route. However, we did go over the Henderson Expressway (or what remains), and then took a left turn down Roger Williams Ave. Down here were some relatively nice houses, an old arch bridge for the former railroad line, and a right turn down Wilson Ave. that was much of the same. From here, we joined with Pawtucket Ave. briefly before going down Newport Avenue. We were joined by the 78 on this section as we passed many a business and house.

Soon enough, however, we parted ways with the 78 at Beverage Hill Ave. We kept pressing on, passing Slater Park, and eventually Armistice Boulevard and Central Avenue, at which transfers can be done with the 80 and 76, respectively. We pressed on further, eventually going uphill to cross the Northeast Corridor. Soon enough, we were in Massachusetts and the announcement played:
“Approaching: South Attleboro Train Station…..connection available to M.B.T.A. Commuter Rail”
…except the train platform was out of service. Yeah, that’s weird. But we made it to South Attleboro and I was let off outside near Market Basket.

The good: It gets people across the various towns it serves (excepting South Attleboro, obviously). For commuters, it’d be a great option for a slightly cheaper rail fare to take the bus up here and then take the Commuter Rail. Or, one could use trips the other way into Providence for work commutes, as the parking lot at South Attleboro Station is a park & ride (paid, though). It also largely bisects the northern sections of eastern Pawtucket and East Providence. In a way, it’s also a better crosstown route than the 58. It’s basically what the 58 aspires to be. Plus, it’s pretty much the only RIPTA-GATRA connection point. But why would you want to ride GATRA?

The bad: Every 45 minutes, this thing runs. I mean, okay, maybe the ridership doesn’t justify it. It did have an average of 441 people on weekdays in 2019. It also doesn’t help that the 1 is just as infrequent in this section of its route, likely for the same reason. It is what it is, though, as most people probably aren’t using this route for commuter purposes. I can’t help but think, though, that a Providence/Pawtucket-South Attleboro express should be a thing in both directions during peak hours. But, like, is the demand there because Market Basket, or is it there because of the train station that’s now slated to undergo major renovations?

Nearby points of interest: Market Basket! Before the service changes in Winter’22, it was the only route to directly service a Market Basket (along with the 1). There’s also Slater Park along the route!

Overall, it’s quite an interesting route. Not many crosstown opportunities going north/south, and this is probably the best one. It serves many of the suburban businesses people would want to visit, most of which are local, it serves a train station directly allowing single transfers between RIPTA and the MBTA (assuming the station is opened up), and it also runs express to Kennedy Plaza. Not a bad deal, if I say so myself. However, the deteriorated train station does bring it down.
Rating: 6/10 (would be a 7 if the train station was open)

A route that services North Providence via Mineral Spring Ave. and Putnam Pike, eh? I wonder what’s in store here. Let’s take a look at the 58.

To even get up here to start with, I took the 9X’s midday trip from Kennedy Plaza and rode it up to just outside Smithfield Crossing. The 9X used to deviate into Smithfield Crossing, however, but it got axed because the property owners didn’t want to host a park & ride lot anymore. So, instead, anyone wanting to get here via the 9X has to get off at the stop on US-44 and walk down. For this route, though, the route terminates in the shopping center itself. There’s three whole stops in this plaza, being one by Old Navy, Barnes & Noble, and the gazebo. Once we left the shopping center, we made a left turn and crossed the interstate.

However, after crossing 295, we took a left turn again, this time onto Esmond Street. Along this street were primarily suburban buildings in nature, some businesses but predominantly houses. A few people got on the bus as well. Eventually, the road ended and we turned right onto Waterman Avenue. From here, it was a straight shot into Centerdale Village, where transfers to the 27 and 57 can be made.

Now, while the 57 goes down US-44/Smith St., and the 27 goes down George Waterman and Woonasquatucket, the 58 instead goes down Mineral Spring Ave. From here, traffic was horrible. It was essentially stop and go, with the occasional bus stop. Fortunately, after about 15 minutes, we made it to Douglas Ave. and turned right. From here, the route largely followed the 50, complete with the Shaw’s deviation. There was also a Dollar Tree in this plaza. 🙂

We eventually, however, turned back onto Douglas Ave. and kept pressing on. Soon enough, we turned down Branch Ave. and things got quite urban on one side and green on the other. Soon enough, we passed an old mill and went under RI-146, Charles St., and Silver Spring Street. We also went over the Northeast Corridor, but not the interstate.

Instead of going down Branch Ave. further, we took a right onto West River Street. It was down here that a Stop & Shop can be found, however we did NOT deviate into it. We then turned onto Corliss Street, passed a USPS facility, and turned onto Charles St. However, we then banged a u-ey onto Ashburton St., as Charles St. was one-way at this section. From here, we kept going down Charles and Canal Streets, turned onto Park Row, and deviated into Providence Station. This would then begin the Downtown Transit Corridor section of the route.

DOWNTOWN TRANSIT CORRIDOR BLITZ TIME!!! LETS GO!

Alright, blink and you’ll miss the stops!
– Kennedy Plaza, stops B (south) and G (north)
– Dorrance and Pine St., near the Garrahy Courthouse and JWU
– Dyer and Ship St., as well as Dyer and South St., near the Nursing Education Center
– Lastly, RI Hospital. However, this doesn’t deviate into the front door like the 1.

With that out of the way, that’s the entirity of the route. The bus driver did, however, turn down Allens Ave. and let me off at the layover area instead. Probably just forgot I existed.

The good: It serves an otherwise unserved part of the state, and serves a major shopping center. It also serves a few major local roads (e.g. Mineral Spring Ave. and Branch Ave.).

The bad: I really want to like this route, but it tries waaaaaay too hard to be a crosstown route. But if we must have a crosstown Mineral Spring route, it should instead largely replace the 73. And, I don’t know if it’s just due to the time of day I rode this route (near the 3/4pm hour), but it seemed to be running quite late, too.

Nearby points of interest: There’s Smithfield Crossing, Centerdale, and the Shaw’s deviation. There’s also a Stop & Shop and Saver’s along the route. The southern terminus is at RI Hospital, and it also stops near JWU and at Providence Station.

Overall, I really want to like this route, but I just can’t give it that high a rating. It’s mostly the lateness factor that kills it for me, as well as the fact it tries and fails somewhat at being a crosstown route. At least, that’s the feeling I got. At least it’s definitely used, unlike the 49. In terms of ridership, how about 517 daily passengers on average. This puts it between important arterial routes like the 78, 55, and 35, as well as between a few crosstown routes like the 29, 63, and 71.
Rating: 6/10

The big daddy of RIPTA routes. The behemoth. THE RIPTA route. Yup, it’s the R Line. This post I’ll be taking a deep look into the R Line. So, let’s get started analyzing this beast of a route, shall we?

First off, we have to take a look at the historical context. The year is 2013, and RIPTA’s proposing service changes as they usually do. However, the biggest change of the year involves their two highest-ridership routes at the time, the 11 (Broad St.) and the 99 (North Main). Their plan was to merge the two routes and convert it into a “rapid bus” setup. What was “rapid bus”? Well, it’s not full-blown BRT. RIPTA makes that abundantly clear. However, it does have some BRT-like perks like dedicated buses, 10 minute headways in each direction during weekdays, and traffic light manipulation. Not even the MBTA’s Silver Line is that fancy! However, unlike the Silver Line, there’s no dedicated right of way for the R Line, as it still runs in mixed traffic, and as such unlike what the MBTA does, RIPTA does NOT claim that it’s BRT. So, the end result? The R Line. With the historical context out of the way, let’s get into the route itself.

The journey itself begins at the intersection of Broad St. and Montgomery Avenue, near Eddy St. Quickly, you’ll realize that the lispy female announcer will get a bit annoying announcing every stop. However, that didn’t deter me – or anyone else from riding this route. The bus wasn’t busy at this point, although it very much did get busy the closer to downtown we got. We quickly went past Eddy Street, and from here we past a Taco Bell, Roger Williams Park, and some locally owned restaurants and clubs. We then crossed over the interstate.

So, we cross into South Providence, and the neighborhood really becomes lively. As in, there were people walking around everywhere and businesses everywhere, ranging from local markets, to a CVS, some clubs, phone stores, and even a computer repair shop. From here, we kept pressing through the neighborhood with people getting on and off at the various stops. Eventually, the bus started getting a little crowded.

Eventually we went past St. Joe’s Hospital, and entered Elmwood Avenue. From here, it was effectively a straight shot to Kennedy Plaza, passing by many more local businesses. We’d also cross the interstate again, this time entering downtown Providence and serving Dexter Manor.

Eventually, we entered downtown Providence. Passing by the usual assortment of businesses and restaurants along Westminster Street, we made it to Kennedy Plaza soon enough. It was here that mostly everyone got off. There was only one other person other than me who stayed on the bus all the way to Pawtucket.

Now, the R Line is advertised as being deviation-free by design. And, they’re mostly right about that. However, there’s one deviation it DOES do. And, what is it? To answer your question, Providence Station. Now, this is probably the only realistic deviation the R Line could do that’d actually get ridership. And, in fact, it does. Usually there’s at least a handful of people getting on or off here. However, I’m not here to rant about that. From here, we head down Park Row and onto North Main Street.

We chucked a left at North Main and book it past Roger Williams Memorial. However, I was on the wrong side of the bus for that. However, there were a few houses and apartment complexes over here, and even a shopping center we stopped outside of.

From here, it largely got a little more suburban, passing mostly businesses. Among them were Subway, Gregg’s, Dunkin’, and a short walk away was a Job Lot (complete with a 71 transfer!) and Miriam (with its useless 49 transfer!).

More housing appeared, though, as the ride went into Pawtucket and split off from US-1. From here, there wasn’t anything of note other than Hope Artiste Village, which as far as I can tell is…an apartment complex? (EDIT 10/2/23 from a commenter and my own mother: there’s also a few event venues and local businesses housed here as well. I’ll have to take a look some time.)

We turned right to stay on Main St. and eventually we crossed the interstate yet again. Soon enough, we reached Collyer Park (@ Main & Conant St.’s), however the more exiting sight was just beyond. Yup, I’m talking about the Pawtucket/Central Falls train station.

We took a turn down Goff Avenue by where the bus and train stations are going, and kept going on down. Eventually we took a right down Roosevelt Avenue and made it to the Pawtucket visitors’ center. Alas, the R Line journey was complete.

The good: It bisects the busiest parts of Providence and Pawtucket! It’s also very frequent, enough so to where the route pamphlet even touts you don’t need the timetable. But, if you are wondering what the number is for frequency, how about……every 10 minutes on weekdays? It also gets a lot of ridership, as in the highest ridership route in the whole system. It also serves a lot, both in the sheer amount of places nearby and the people that would realistically use it.

The bad: I guess, the inconsistency in the types of stops? The only real negative I can think of is that buses can end up bunching together in bad traffic.

Nearby points of interest: A lot! There’s downtown Pawtucket and Providence. If you’re into the local stuff, South Providence is sure to have you covered there, too, even though it’s not very tourist-y.

Overall, it’s clear this route is a lifeline for the communities it serves, and RIPTA knows that too with how often it comes by. It serves a lot, including two major transit hubs (Providence and Pawtucket) with connections to RIPTA routes in both areas, as well as MBTA connections to Boston and Amtrak connections, though the Amtrak connections are only in Providence. It may not be very touristy in nature, but sometimes the very not-so-touristy routes end up being the best in the system, and for that:
Rating: 10/10