Category: Rhode Island

Well, THIS was unexpected! On the way to my doctor’s appointment today, I needed to pass through CCRI to change buses. And, wouldn’t ya know it, the bus terminal is OPEN now! WOOHOO!!! So, let’s take a quick look at it, shall we?

So, located on the eastern end of the campus before the parking lot, adjacent to the Bobby Hackett Theater, is where you have the bus terminal. It’s not a lot, but you have four bus stops, with the routes sorted by destination and general routing. There’s a couple of wastebaskets, and a few picnic tables presently. Shelters aren’t present yet, but from what I understand, the shelters (presumably a redesign from the standard RIPTA shelter) will be in for January ’24. There’s also a copious amount of parking, but, you also have to remember: this isn’t a park & ride, but rather a community college – and parking here is NOT a good idea, as the lot fills up quickly during academic terms (Labor Day-Christmas and Martin Luther King Day-Memorial Day). Plus, there’s talks that CCRI is planning to implement parking permits. So, if you’re not a student, tough luck. But, if you ARE a student (like I formerly was), then you’re in luck AND could theoretically park and ride here.

Now, about them bus stops. How are they sorted? Are they willy-nilly like Kennedy Plaza seemingly is? Actually….no! Each stop (presently) serves three routes, as follows:
– South County (14 and 66 southbound stops here, as does the 16)
– Providence via Warwick Mall (21, 22, and 30)
– Crosstown (13, 23, and 29)
– and Providence via I-95 (14 and 66 northbound. The 242 Flex also stops here.)

Overall, fairly easy to remember. There were some learning pains for both passengers and operators, but fortunately there were RIPTA personnel onsite to help. And, all this opened just in time for the fall semester at CCRI to start as well. Neat!

The good: It’s at CCRI, being a major ridership generator, so why not have a proper bus terminal? There’s amenities inside the college as well. However…

The bad: Use of said amenities inside the college are at the discretion of the college itself. Furthermore, there’s no shelter presently. It’s also not very walkable…, though, it wouldn’t be too bad if the college set aside a small amount of parking for RIPTA commuters (maybe with a special permit in coordination with RIPTA?)

Nearby points of interest: Nothing outside the college campus, but the buses can get you elsewhere!

Transit connections: RIPTA (13, 14, 16, 21, 22, 23, 29, 30, 66, 242 Flex)

Overall, in spite of the lack of shelter, it’s still an upgrade in its present form, since the last stop had NOTHING at all and was just a sole shelter. You didn’t even have bus berths! So, as such, I’m giving the terminal its score on the condition of a bus shelter being installed by January ’24.

Rating: 8/10

Alrighty, so what do you do if you fail to catch the 95X in the early morning and can’t afford $8 for an Amtrak ticket? Why, you ride this Flex, of course! Let’s take a look.

Now, unlike my last failed attempt at riding this route (which spawned an anger-filled Karen-grade rant), I boarded the bus at Westerly Station, being one of three bus connections there. And, to be absolutely sure, I confirmed with the operator that she was going to Salt Pond Plaza (she was). So, I boarded the bus, scanned my Wave e-card, and she floored it to our first timepoint.

So, after going down Oak Street and express onto Route 78, we turned down Route 1, passing by Westerly Airport, which was essentially your run of the mill stroad. Yawn. But wait, eventually we made it to our first timepoint OH COME ON!!!

Ugh, of course WAL*MART would turn up on my day off from work! Well, whatever, we deviate into Walmart, and some lady comes hobbling towards the Flex van thinking it was hers. However, the operator opens the door, informs the lady “no, the other driver is your trip, and it’s 2:11 currently.” Nevertheless, after a short dwell, we continued on and we started expressing down US-1. And it went on. And on. And on. Eventually, after about 40 minutes in the woods, we made it to the Stedman Center in South Kingstown, and after a 5 minute dwell, we continued on to Salt Pond Plaza, finishing the route.

Now, as a fun aside, there’s all sorts of weird place names down here. Of course, you have Weekapaug, Misquamicut is known for the beach, Ninigrit (DO NOT MISPRONOUNCE!!!) and Burlingame Parks, a road named Kings Factory Road, Breachway (the hell is a Breachway?), Kenyon, Carolina, Shannock, and Perryville. Who the hell is Perry, and since when did we have the northern terminus of MARC’s Penn Line?

Now, some of these can be attributed to the various Native American tribes that historically inhabited the area. However, the others? I got nothing.

Of course, we make it to the Stedman Center, and I’ll have to concede: this is a contender for the sorriest bus shelter on all of RIPTA. I just can’t help but think that. But, we stuck for a few minutes, and pressed on to Salt Pond Plaza, ending the run and marking the final scheduled RIPTA route I’ve yet to ride, ridden.

The good: It’s important to Westerly residents and, to an extent, a lifeline! Furthermore, it serves pretty much the entire town (save for the rich NIMBY bits), so there’s that.

The bad: As I said in my anger-filled rant, if the Flex van nopes out or no-shows, you’re kinda fucked. However, to be fair to RIPTA, I should’ve also dialed ahead of time and placed a reservation, so to be fair I kinda was taking on that risk.

Nearby points of interest: Most of Westerly! Also, the Stedman Center & Salt Pond Plaza!

Rating: 3/10 (originally 2.5/10)

Yeah, not much of a rating boost now that I actually rode it, and I still stand by it being better as a supplement to a fixed route. And, with that, I’ve finally rode all RIPTA routes with a schedule attached to it.