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RailBus63
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Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 1063
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 Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 12:26 pm Post subject: [MA] Some residents unhappy with MBTA route extension |
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It appears that even when the beleaguered MBTA tries to do the right thing, such as extend one of its bus routes in the town of Weymouth to replace a defunct private operator, some people are not happy:
Bus schedule poses challenges for riders
| Quote: | It is a race against time for DebbieAnn Ferretti when she completes her workday at Stetson Place to board the MBTA’s Route 225 bus on Main Street.
The coach stops near Stetson at 3:30 to accept passengers, but Ferretti has to leave work five minutes early to avoid missing the bus.
“I have to use five minutes of my personal time off to get on the bus,” Ferretti said.
She said her predicament is more serious for South Shore Hospital employees who go off duty at 3:30 p.m.
“The hospital workers get off at 3:30 p.m.,” Ferretti said. “But the bus is scheduled to leave Columbian Square at 3:28 p.m. If you are in the hospital at 3:30 p.m. how can you catch the bus?”
She said this situation is especially difficult for a person who is receiving outpatient care in a remote section of the hospital.
“If you miss the bus, you will then have to wait three hours to board the next bus,” Ferretti said. “In the meantime, you are exposed to the elements.”
The Route 225 bus picks up passengers in Columbian Square and offers them roundtrip service to Quincy Center on weekdays at 6:47 a.m., 7:27 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 1:10 p.m., 2:57 p.m., 3:28 p.m., 6:29 p.m., 7:17 p.m., 7:42 p.m., and 11:10 p.m.
These stops were added when the MBTA extended the Route 225 bus service to South Weymouth.
There is no weekend service to Columbian Square by the T.
The Route 225 bus additionally accepts fares on Route 18, Middle Street, Stop & Shop, Shaws, and Washington Street while proceeding to Quincy.
Ferretti said there are three-hour gaps in bus service from Columbian between 8:30 a.m.-1:10 p.m. and from 3:28 p.m.-6:29 p.m. that leaves outpatients, hospital visitors and employees at a disadvantage.
“If somebody has a doctor’s appointment, they would have a long waiting time before the next bus comes,” she said.
Ferretti said the three-hour gaps in bus service are especially troubling for seniors who patronize Stop & Shop or various stores in Columbian.
“I have seen seniors walking back from Stop & Shop pushing a grocery cart to go home,” she said. “They can’t afford to pay for a cab.”
She said there is a significant population of seniors that live in nearby apartment complexes that are inconvenienced by the three-hour gap in bus service.
“There are seniors who live in the apartment buildings who might want to go to Shaws,” she said. “They are not going to want to wait for hours for the next bus to arrive.”
The Route 225 bus additionally has a three-and-half-hour gap in accepting fares in Columbian between 7:42 p.m. and 11:10 p.m.
Ferretti said this length of time between pickups is inconvenient for movie patrons at the nearby Cameo Theater.
“There is no place for them to go while they wait,” she said. “Olden’s closes at 9 p.m. Where else can people hangout in the square?”
Ferretti said the T is doing a good job of getting riders to various destinations along Route 225.
“But they are stranding them,” she said. “The bus service is not being used to its fullest potential.”
She said the T should revise the Route 225 bus schedule to include more pickups between the three-hour gaps that exist in the morning, afternoon and evening.
“If the bus offers service once each hour there will be an increase in riders,” Ferretti said. “There will be an increase of people who go to the movies, but right now people have to wait until 11:10 p.m.”
She said many of her co-workers were glad the T began bus service in South Weymouth.
“But now they are frustrated and they can’t work with the bus schedule,” Ferretti said. “The T has all the right bus stops in place. They have stops outside Walmart and near the major places people go to.”
She said the need for bus service in South Weymouth has never been greater.
“I grew up in this town and it is overdue for bus service,” Ferretti said. “We will soon have over 2,000 housing units built at the (former) naval airstation.”
She said bus services will especially be needed when South Shore Hospital opens a four-story outpatient cancer treatment center at the corner of Route 18 and Columbian Street in autumn.
“We got the hospital itself, along with the supermarkets, stores, apartment complexes and seniors and there are a lot of people who don’t have their own transportation,” Ferretti said. “The bus is a means of transportation for them.”
Weymouth Economic Development Planner Robert Luongo said the T is trying to work with the town on the bus schedule to make it convenient for riders.
“The problem is the Route 225 bus has to complete the extended bus route it has to Columbian Square in order to get back on its normal run in a certain period of time,” he said. “The normal route once went to Weymouth Landing and stopped at Washington and Federal Street before it turned back to Quincy Center.”
Luongo said the T is trying to work with South Shore Hospital officials about the pickup schedule.
“The T is interested in getting riders,” he said. “It is a delicate balance right now. The T is working with the town and the hospital to accommodate riders.” |
The MBTA is in a no-win situation here, in my opinion. The route 225 service has traditionally terminated at Weymouth Landing. Extending the route to South Weymouth approximately doubles the route mileage, but the main passenger-generating points are at the end of the route at South Shore Hospital and Columbian Square, making it unrealistic to extend a majority of trips. It appears that what the town really needs is a local bus service, but past attempts to operate such a system were stymied when residents balked at paying the extra taxes needed to fund its operation. |
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timecruncher
Age: 73
Joined: 23 Dec 2008
Posts: 456
Location: Louisville, Kentucky
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| Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 12:59 pm Post subject: |
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The key sentence is in the article:
"There are lots of people who might (italics mine) want to ride."
Mass-transit is just that -- it is not intended nor is it designed to operate frequent shuttles for one or two people who ride once every other week or less often.
In many cities transit routes that were once popular and well-patronized are no longer needed due to any number of forces outside of the transit system operating it. Thanks to the meddling of politicians, it is damn near impossible to get rid of the services, but most of us are scraping by trying to serve too many origins and too many destinations.
Add to this the fact that many people still believe that transit is a money-making venture and that lots of passengers will mean lots of profits.
timecruncher |
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RailBus63
Moderator
Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 1063
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| Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 3:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Ms. Ferretti should be beating the drum in her town to get as many people as possible aware of the new service and make it a success, instead of complaining how inconvenient it is. In case she hasn't noticed, the MBTA is in the middle of a serious financial crisis right now. The route 225 extension was planned before the money problems started, and the extension may well be on the chopping block unless a significant number of riders show up. |
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ripta42
Site Admin
Age: 45
Joined: 15 Apr 2007
Posts: 1035
Location: Pawtucket, RI / Woburn, MA
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| Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 9:04 am Post subject: |
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| timecruncher wrote: | | In many cities transit routes that were once popular and well-patronized are no longer needed due to any number of forces outside of the transit system operating it. Thanks to the meddling of politicians, it is damn near impossible to get rid of the services, but most of us are scraping by trying to serve too many origins and too many destinations. |
Many of those routes that were once well patronized have seen their frequencies cut back to the point where only those with no other option will ride them. Except for commuters, a route with three hour headways may as well not exist at all. Even a one hour headway would probably boost ridership enough that the service could continue at its current level of expenditure.
| Quote: | | Add to this the fact that many people still believe that transit is a money-making venture and that lots of passengers will mean lots of profits. |
I don't know about that, but no one will argue that a half-full bus costs more to run than an empty bus. Add to that the fringe benefits of people actually using the service - reduced traffic and parking congestion, greater accessability to businesses, increased economic activity and sales tax revenue - and it's worth it to make the service attractive. |
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