Opened in 1998, Newburyport is the end of its namesake line, and is a small seaside town. Unlike Rockport, however, the station is drastically different. Well, here we go.
Newburyport uses an island terminal configuration with big mean mother bumpers at the end of the tracks that used to go all the way to Portsmouth, Kittery, and points north before terminating at Portland, Maine. With that said, terminal ops are rather normal here, with the train dwelling before turning around. Platform amenities are normal, with a yellow dot matrix sign, benches, wastebaskets, and A LOT OF PARKING. One lot’s off Parker St., while the other lot is off US-1. Sadly, the area largely isn’t walkable outside a rail trail. However, MeVa does actually run buses here, namely the 19 to the Costello TC in Amesbury and the 20 to Salisbury Beach. There is also a Mexican restaurant in the station depot building as well, which while I haven’t tried it personally, Google reviews do suggest nothing but good things about it. Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten the opportunity to explore Newburyport a bit more, but I have heard it’s a charming little town, so I’ll likely be returning at some point. As another aside, I will say, land use, while bad at face value, does seem to be getting a little better near the station with housing developments going up nearby. Affordable? Well, if it says you have to call for rates, it probably isn’t.
The good: It’s a massive park and ride for not just the surrounding rural areas, but also southern NH and Maine commuters (though I think Mainers coming to here might be more on the “extreme commute” side of things?). There’s also connections to MeVa for travel within the region. Also, the platform is fully accessible! YAY!
The bad: The area isn’t exactly walkable… yeah, sorry! The only trace of MeVa stopping here is also a small bus stop sign that’s pretty easily missable if you don’t know where to look. And, there’s also no bus info.
Nearby points of interest: Downtown Newburyport looks cool!
Transit connections:
Commuter Rail (Newburyport)
MeVa (19, 20)
Overall, pretty good, and it’s a pretty decent terminal. The connection to MeVa is a little annoying to find though if you don’t know what to look for, though, especially given MeVa is typically a flag-down system.
Rating: 7/10
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