West Hingham is a park and ride station located on the Greenbush Line in the namesake town of Hingham. I mean, I guess “park and ride” is being a little harsh – it’s a cute little neighborhood station that happens to have the qualities of a park & ride. Unfortunately, if you know anything about the Greenbush Line……you can blame Hingham. I’ll get into that in a bit.
So, Hingham. The Greenbush Line runs right through the town center……..kinda. This station would’ve been better off in it, if it weren’t for one thing: THE FUCKING TOWN AND THE NIMBYS ROSE UP AND PITCHED THE LOUDEST FIT THE ENTIRE FUCKING REGION HAS EVER SEEN! THESE PEOPLE WERE SO STAUNCHLY ANTI-TRANSIT THEY ACTUALLY TOLD THE MBTA “LMAO GET BENT”. THIS IS WHY IT TOOK A FULL EXTRA DECADE FOR THE GREENBUSH LINE TO OPEN. THE MBTA, IN THEIR SMARTASSERY, TOLD HINGHAM “NO U”, GOT SOME STATE MONEY (NO FEDERAL – THAT WOULD TRIGGER ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW REGULATIONS, OF WHICH THE NIMBYS WANTED SO IT WOULD STALL THE PROJECT FOR AS LONG AS DOABLE!), AND BUILT THE FUCKING TUNNEL UNDER HINGHAM! Or, so the legend goes. But given how hardline NIMBY Hingham specifically is, I wouldn’t be shocked if this was actually true. And, thus, we ended up with both Nantasket Junction (which is a park & ride off Rte. 3A) and West Hingham (a neighborhood station masquerading as a park and ride).
West Hingham, specifically, is largely the same as the other Greenbush Line stations I’ve covered. You have a country club near the station, single-family homes, and even the local DPW! Neat! Of course, in my longass rambling above, I said that the line goes under Hingham Center. That’s about 3 miles from here, give or take. That also means there’s no bus connections. Yeah, sorry. The station otherwise has your standard amenities.
The good: It’s accessible, has parking, and actually decent pedestrian access! Land use isn’t the worst, either!
The bad: IT’S IN FUCKING HINGHAM. FUCK HINGHAM NIMBYS, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?! JUST BUILD THE STATION DOWNTOWN YA FUCKING IDIOTS!!! RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH
Nearby points of interest: A country club mainly, and suburbia.
Transit connections:
Commuter Rail (Greenbush)
Overall, it’s not that bad a station. Just, I hate how Hingham said “fuck you” to a station downtown instead.
Rating:
I’d normally give it a 6/10 here, but because of the background behind the station’s existence, I kinda have to instead apply the “FUCK YOU IN PARTICULAR!!!” penalty. This gives a worse rating.
Rating w/ penalty: 3/10
