Category: irl

(part 2 here)

This morning, I wrote about the 14, and it was the least used “long haul” RIPTA route. Now, let’s look at its bigger brother, the 60. Let’s take a look at what this route has, shall we? In summary, a lot. We’re talking crossing two whole counties, a pretty sizable island, a suspension bridge, a college campus, and four park & ride lots (with a fifth in walking distance!), all while being anchored by Providence on the northern end and Newport on the southern end.

Coming out of the Newport Visitor’s Center, we hook a left onto America’s Cup Ave. and then another left onto Marlborough Street. As we went through, it was all touristy businesses for a good bit, along with some other points of interest. We then turned left onto Broadway, passing by City Hall and Newport Hospital. It was from here that we then entered Middletown. Shortly afterwards, the route diverged into two branches.

The route diverged into two: West Main and East Main. The West Main branch features a deviation into an apartment building and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, which as the name suggests is a military installation. My trip, however, featured none of that, as I was on an East Main trip.

Overall, while West Main is a bit more lively with a lot more in the way of houses and businesses, East Main is instead lined with farmlands. Occasionally, there’d be a house. However, that was all in Portsmouth. In Middletown, it was still business-lined, and there was a DMV branch nearby.

Some of the buildings we passed along the stretch of road, especially in Portsmouth, were quaint and old-styled in nature. Other times, though, it would be something as mundane as your average Cumberland Farms.

Eventually, after spending probably half an hour going up East Main, we reached RI-24 and we hooked a left at the first of several park & ride lots, at Boyd’s Lane. But we didn’t deviate into it, and instead we booked it right past. There was also a DOT facility nearby, presumably where they hide all their salt for the winter.

Soon enough, though, we joined up with the West Main branch and HOLY SHIT ANOTHER BRIDGE (yeah I rode this immediately after the 14). This time, we were crossing the Mt. Hope bridge. Not as big as the Newport bridge, but just as iconic.

Apparently it looks just as pretty at night, at least if a Miles in Transit blog post is to go by. Unlike him, though, I wasn’t about to ride the last 60 of the night and become the most hated passenger among RIPTA drivers. Soon enough, though, we got off and reached Roger Williams University. Now normally the bus goes straight, but because of tree work we had to detour. So, what was the detour? We went right up Metacom Avenue, and then hooked a left onto Griswold Avenue. We then hooked a right back onto RI-114. We progressed through Bristol with its historic downtown, known for the 4th of July parade, paralleling the water and passing Colt State Park.

Eventually, we left Bristol’s downtown area and kept pressing on up RI-114. Eventually, we entered Warren and it was much of the same. Houses everywhere with suburban businesses. There was also a nice downtown area, just like in Bristol. However, it wasn’t as historic.

However, as we went through Warren, we did pass a Park & Ride lot that’s visible from RI-114 (served directly only by the 61X) as well as Police Cove (if that counts as a P&R). Soon enough, after crossing two bridges, we were in Barrington. Barrington wasn’t really that exciting. However, we did pass a shopping plaza, Barrington HS, and the park & ride at the local Unitarian church (commonly referred to as White Church, likely due to the paint job). It was after this that HOLY SHIT WE’RE GOING EXPRESS, BABY!

The road then became the Wampanoag Trail and we basically booked it right into downtown Providence from here. However, there was an issue. Take a look.

Yeah…….
Traffic was bad. Meanwhile, I was praying that I would catch the 49 (I did, barely). Of course, from here, the route went over Warren Ave. and dumped us off at 195 westbound, which is VERY, VERY NOTORIOUS FOR BAD TRAFFIC.

After about 10 minutes of sitting in traffic, we eventually made it to South Main Street, and from here we basically booked it to Kennedy Plaza. The bus let us off at stop Y, and from here I ran to catch the 49.

The good: It serves a LOT of areas that would otherwise be unserved. Middletown’s main arterials, Portsmouth’s main arterials, and pretty much the entire East Bay. It’s also frequent. Like, VERY frequent. 15 minutes during peak hours, 30 minutes other times during the day on weekdays. Even weekends have 30 (or 45 on Sundays) minute frequency during the daytime! Given this route takes over 1 and a half hours to do end to end, that takes a considerable amount of resources. And the ridership shows that it’s well-spent. How about, the 5th highest ridership route in the entire system? This bad boy clocks in at 2223 daily riders as of 2019, with the only routes surpassing it being the 92, 20, 1, and R Line.

The bad: Remember, the route has two branches and the trips alternate. So, for the individual sections not shared between both branches, frequency can be as bad as every 2 hours. It’s also very, very long. I also can’t help but feel like that it’d be better off running local instead of express into downtown and switching with the 61X in that regard.

Nearby points of interest: A lot. Downtown Newport, the various shopping centers in Middletown, Roger Williams University, and the various East Bay downtowns to name some.

Overall, it’s a very long route but it also serves a lot, and it serves a lot more densely populated areas than the 14. For much of the trip, the bus was about 1/2 to 2/3 full, but people still kept getting on and off at various points along the route. It’s clear that there’s demand for East Bay and Newport bus service, and I hope RIPTA adds more routes in the area some day. Perhaps all day service through Tiverton and Metacom Avenue, terminating at one of the shopping centers?
Rating: 8.5/10

First of the long-haul routes! Route 14 is the long-haul West Bay/Newport/Narragansett route in RIPTA’s system, and is also the least-ridden of the four (the other 3 being the 54, 60, and 66). So, let’s get into it. The bus boards at stop Z (which it has solo), with trips alternating between Newport and Narragansett. The Narragansett branch is considerably shorter, but I rode the Newport branch (of which it largely follows the 64). Let’s get into it, shall we?

The bus U-turns onto Memorial Boulevard and immediately we’re going express. It’s the usual sights of RI Hospital and South Providence, along with RIPTA’s Elmwood Ave. garage. From here, we kept going express through Cranston until we reached exit 15.

From here, it was largely a mix of industrial buildings, some shops and restaurants, offices, and occasionally a house. We also ran parallel to the Northeast Corridor for the entire time.

Of course, the route advertised it serviced T.F. Green Airport. Which, is technically true, however there’s a catch. This route doesn’t service the airport itself. Rather, it services the Interlink parking garage and the MBTA Commuter Rail platform, being the only route to do so. Formerly, that was the 8X’s job, which this section of the 14 largely replaced. One minor nitpick here, though, is that the lispy announcer doesn’t say “CONNECTION AVAILABLE TO MBTA COMMUTER RAIL” like in Wickford or Providence for some reason.

We kept going on down Jefferson Boulevard, past the Airport Connector, until we reached Main Avenue. From here, we hooked a right and booked it down Main Ave. The street was primarily residential. We then reached Greenwich Ave, where we were joined by the 21, 22, and 30 (and for a brief bit the 66 too!), although soon enough we reached CCRI. Deviation #1!

A few people got on at CCRI, and from here we kept on going, albeit through the back entrance rather than the front one. We took a left onto Commonwealth Ave. and another onto Toll Gate Road, and we went down the road at high speed. We past Kent Hospital, went under the interstate, and eventually reached Apponoag Village.

From here, we kept going down US-1, passing by an assortment of businesses and houses. Soon enough, though, we were in East Greenwich and going through its historical downtown.

Of course, however, the historic town center was short-lived and soon enough it was back to suburban businesses. But this time, it was more rural-feeling than usual. We eventually passed Old Forge Road, which turning a left down would get us to Goddard State Park. But, no buses go down that way likely in part due to the low clearance of the Northeast Corridor tracks.

We pressed on further from here, through the quiet and long US-1. It was, yet again, a mixture of suburban businesses and houses. Also, apparently there’s an aquarium out here. Neat. Soon enough, though, we made our second deviation! This time, slightly into Quonset to service Kohl’s. An old lady got on here, though, so there’s almost certainly some kind of demand for non-express Quonset service! So, we deviated and did a circle around the roundabout to get to the busway on the other side of Gate Road, picked a lady up, and then turned left back onto US-1 southbound. We crossed RI-403 and the Quonset spur of the Northeast Corridor, which sits unused to this day.

From here, we kept going down US-1 even more. We passed even more of the same stuff that we’ve seen (suburban houses, businesses) as it got more wooded. Eventually, though, we reached RI-102. Turning left here would bring us to Wickford Village, and a right to Wickford Junction. So, did we turn into either? Well yes, actually. We turned left towards Wickford Village. At least we would’ve if there weren’t any detours. What actually happened was we turned left at the next side street and went down until we reached Boston Neck Road.

When we did get to Boston Neck Road, it was pretty much all woodlands with the occasional fenced off area or the occasional dilapidated bus shelter. Soon enough, though, we reached the RI-138/RI-1A park & ride. And, would you believe it, someone actually got on here!

From here, we deviated into the parking lot and then jaunted onto RI-138 and HOLY SHIT WE’RE EXPRESS AND HOLY SHIT I CAN SEE THE NEWPORT BRIDGE AAAAAA MY EYES IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL

We crossed the Jamestown bridge into, well, Jamestown and took the first exit. From here, we went down a wooded road with some farms along it. We hooked a left onto Narragansett Ave. and soon enough we were at the main town center and the Ferry Landing. We then hooked another left to go back up the island towards RI-138, and soon enough we paid however much a toll is ($4, I think, per vehicle?) to cross the Newport Bridge.

Soon enough, though, we were in Newport. However, unlike the 64, we took the exit instead of going straight, and we were on Farewell Street. It wasn’t a long ride, as we then turned right onto America’s Cup Ave. and deviated into the Newport Visitor’s Center. It was here our journey ended.

Now, let’s get into the “review” bit.
The good: It serves a lot. I mean, A LOT. It serves Jefferson Boulevard, CCRI, Apponoag, and is pretty much the only regular bus service through East Greenwich and North Kingstown that isn’t express. It also goes down towards Narragansett, if that’s your thing. And hey, it also services a MBTA station at T.F. Green directly, which the 1, 20, and 66 doesn’t do.

The bad: There’s two branches. Why, exactly, can’t the two branches be two separate routes? It’s also the least frequent of the 4 regional routes, being 1 every hour up to the RI-138/RI-1A park & ride, or if you’re past that, once every other hour. If you’re going to Narragansett, it’d be faster to take the 66 and transfer to the 69 (hehe, nice). Or, if you’re going to Newport, transfer to the 64. Or, just take the 60. If you’re going to Quonset or East Greenwich, though, this is basically your only option outside the very early morning QX trips (or the 16!). And noone wants to show up at Kennedy Plaza for a bus that arrives at Kohl’s at 5am. What I’d like to know, personally, is how many people get on/off at Newport/Jamestown, vs. Narragansett. If more get off at one vs. the other, I’d propose re-routing to Wickford Junction as a through stop on the more utilized branch, and having the lesser utilized one originate at Wickford.

Overall, it serves a lot. The routing itself isn’t that bad, although I must ask why there’s two different branches south of the park & ride. On weekends, though, it’s essentially a Newport-Providence route, as the Narragansett runs are nonexistent. Ridership isn’t that great for a long-haul route, clocking in at 517 daily passengers as of 2019, but it’s certainly something. The 62 comes in under that, but that doesn’t exist anymore.
Rating: 5/10 (but a 10/10 for the views from the Newport and Jamestown bridges!)

Ah, the 49. Such a lovely route…or is it? Let’s take a look.

The journey begins at Kennedy Plaza’s Stop Y….for some reason. Why is beyond me, when stops I and J would’ve been fine enough. Plus, don’t the long-haul routes usually board at the far side of the plaza? Anyways, enough of that. This route is among the most notorious routes, not because of the difficulty of riding it, but rather because of the fact it literally has no reason whatsoever to exist. Why? I’ll get to that later. But first, the trip.

The bus ride begins at stop Y, then takes a turn onto Washington Street. From here, it goes straight into the tunnel. I swear, it’d be better for this route to be at the I or J berths. We go through the tunnel, then out we appear at Thayer Street.

Thayer Street is typically known for all the college-oriented activities, as both Brown and RISD are in the area. However, we aren’t here for that. We hooked two lefts and went up the much quieter Brook Street. Soon enough, it became Hope Street and we passed Hope HS. We effectively followed the 1’s routing from here until we reached Doyle Avenue, at which we turned left down. It was primarily residential in nature with the occasional business, playground, or church. Soon enough, we reached the route’s namesake and hooked a right onto Camp Street. Still, it was largely residential with the same mix of buildings. We then took a left onto Rochambeau Avenue, and a right onto North Main, following the R Line briefly. The shared routing, however, was very short and we then turned down 3rd Street. We made a couple of more turns, and soon enough we reached Miriam Hospital, marking the end.

The good: It serves the front door of Miriam Hospital, I guess?

The bad: It has no reason to exist. The schedule is unservicable for a local route. Just look:

Why? Just, why? Also, I’ll add that the route’s brochure is grossly outdated as well. The 1 isn’t even on the pamphlet, but rather in its place is the old 42 (merged with the 1). Hell, not even the R Line or the 99 is on it. And, as I said earlier, it’s an up to 10 minute walk to either the 1 or the R Line, both of which run far more frequently (20 minutes and 10 minutes on weekdays, respectively.) AND run on weekends! Like, I could see the case for turning another route (e.g. the 58 or the 71) into a crosstown that services Miriam, but this route has no reason to even exist!

Nearby points of interest: The R Line and the 1. Thayer Street (accessible by a number of other, more frequent routes). Miriam Hospital, even, but even that is better served by the 1 and R Line.

Overall, WHY DOES THIS ROUTE EVEN EXIST?! Like, it’s got NO reason to exist whatsoever. It’s literally sandwiched between the 1 and the R Line, runs waaaay less frequently than either (3 times inbound and only twice outbound – mind you, this isn’t an express!), and lastly it’s literally a short enough walk from Miriam to get to either the 1 or R Line! And, if you DO need transit, you probably need RIde paratransit, rather than a 40ft Gillig BRT bus. I guess even RIPTA found it useless because it’s currently on the chopping block for the proposed service changes this summer. Why it didn’t get axed with the 79 all those years ago is beyond me. Hell, even the ridership shows that it’s useless, averaging 24 people each trip as of 2019, making it the 2nd least used route (with only the 10X being under it)

UPDATE 6/10/22: The route is finally being axed, with the last runs in a week from today. With this in mind, the score is being adjusted.
Rating: 0/10
Original rating: 1/10

Manton Ave., why must you be weird? Alrighty, here we go with the 27. The journey for this route begins in Centerdale. What and where is Centerdale? It’s basically the “town center” for North Providence, where town hall is located. There’s also a Dollar Tree and Cumberland Farms here (which, I might add, has some pretty good food by convenience store standards!).

“Which bus ya waitin’ for?” the driver asked me, as he was laying over. I just responded saying I was waiting for the next bus to Providence, then continued my lunch. Once he was ready, he said “Come on up!” and I scanned my Wave QR code. From here, we were off to the races. Our first turn was on to, and I am not kidding with this street name, Woonasquatucket Avenue. Let this picture from Miles’ (from Miles in Transit) post on this very route show how not ideal this name is for a street:

Now, for the non-Rhode Islanders, here’s a pronunciation guide to help you with this:
WOO-nuh-squah-tuck-it

And that’s among the EASIER Native American names, if you had trouble! Even the lispy female announcement voice had a bit of trouble!

Anyways, we turned down that street, and it was largely suburban and multi-family houses with the occasional business and whatnot.

Eventually, however, we reached the route’s namesake: Manton Avenue. This road has something weird, but we’ll get there eventually. We turned left onto Manton Ave., however, it was DEVIATION SENSATION TIME!!! But nah, we just deviated into a Stop & Shop. Which, I might add, has a lovely green field next to it.

We deviated into Stop & Shop, but noone got on (I was already the only one on the bus at this point). From here, we kept going down Manton Ave., going by a bunch of houses and businesses, as well as some construction on new housing. It was largely the same. This also happened to be where Atwells Ave., the road with the famous segment lined with Italian restaurants on Federal Hill, begins.

As we kept going down Manton Ave., we got a couple of passengers and a bus driver heading into downtown to relieve someone out in the field. We kept going down Manton Ave., passing more and more of the same businesses and whatnot, until we reached Olneyville. This was where I’ve seen what is quite possibly the weirdest Dunkin’ in existence. See below.

We went past the Dunkin’ and a furniture store that was a former warehouse, and we entered Olneyville. It was the usual Olneyville affair, businesses primarily, with connections to the 17, 19, and 28 available here. More passengers got on here, too. However, unlike the 17 and 19, we went up Broadway.

The journey was near an end, as we trekked up Broadway, which had a number of businesses and houses. Soon enough, we were going over the interstate and were in downtown.

Downtown was the usual affair, and soon enough we were at Kennedy Plaza.

The good:
– It’s a direct route serving a low-income area
– It services an important place people want to go to (Stop & Shop)
– It provides Providence and North Providence with additional connections
– It’s frequent! It runs every weekday (until the evening) every 20 minutes

The bad:
– However, weekend and night service is lacking. It runs about every 40 minutes (not exact) during the day on Saturdays, every 1 hour and 10 minutes Saturday nights, every hour weekday nights, and every 50 minutes on Sundays. Maybe weekend and night ridership doesn’t justify higher frequency, but it’s still annoying for a “key corridor” route.
– Why does this route have two branches? One goes down George Waterman Road, and the other (what I rode) goes down Woonasquatucket Avenue.
– I guess it’s nice it provides a transfer point with the 57 and 58, but do people use this? Maybe there’s a market and I’m underestimating it.

Nearby points of interest: Centerdale! Has some nice shops and whatnot. There’s also the Stop & Shop deviation at Manton Ave., as well as Olneyville!

Overall, it’s probably not the best RIPTA has to offer, however it’s better than nothing. Ridership of this route has it at the 3rd lowest ridership “key corridor” route. I’d definitely axe one of the two branches (most likely the George Waterman one) and consolidate the route, if I could. Overall, it could’ve been far worse.
Rating: 5/10

BONUS IMAGES: from the George Waterman branch! I didn’t find these befitting for the Beach Bus post, and figured a part 2 to this post wasn’t worth the time and effort to write up.