FRAMINGHAM – I was excited to see redesigned MWRTA bus routes offering even more frequent service to Saxonville and Pinefield. I’ve been planning a post about “I took the free bus from Saxonville to the Natick Mall! Here’s how it went.” Instead, my first two tries failed.
Here’s what went wrong, and how it could be fixed.
Fail 1: Ten minutes in advance?
The MWRTA advises people to be at the bus flag-down spot 10 minutes before the time on the schedule. Only stops listed in bold mean the bus won’t leave long before the schedule says.
Understood. But since Elm Street / Pinewood Drive is the start of the Southbound route and end of the Northbound, can’t that time be somewhat dependable too?
It’s not.
As I was walking to the stop, I saw the bus drive off about six minutes earlier than its schedule, which seems kind of silly since it would have to sit and wait at Stop & Shop until the correct leaving time anyway.
As of now, the schedule shows the same time between stops whether it’s in the midst of rush hour or late morning (when it might be twice as fast or more to drive through Saxonville). At the very least, buses could wait until closer to the scheduled time to leave Pinefield off rush hour.
Ten minutes may not sound like a lot. But for a short trip, adding another 10 minutes is a significant increase. There’s a difference between expecting people to arrive 10 minutes early for a train to Boston, compared to a trip that’s a 10-minute drive altogether door to door. Everyone expects a bus to take longer than driving their own car. But ideally it won’t be triple that time or more.
It if is, public transportation will only be used by people with no other choice. But it should also entice people like me not to use our cars for some trips. That’s how we reduce traffic for everyone.
Fail 2: No bus at all
I tried again today, determined to get to the flag-down stop earlier. I checked the schedule on the Android app to make sure it hadn’t changed. I used the app’s bus tracker to make sure I hadn’t already missed it.
But . . . no bus ever came.
When I got home and looked at the MWRTA website for a phone number to call to find out what happened, there was a big red “Service Announcements” banner. When I clicked it, there were notices about a whole bunch of cancelled routes, including Saxonville Route 103 “missing trips at 7:30, 8:45, 10:15, and 11:45.”
I know that cancellations happen. But information about those cancelled routes was not on the app. Does MWRTA really expect people to also check the main website if they’re using the app? Why have an app at all? Service announcements - especially cancellations - need to be prominent in every portion of their apps.
And, separately, good luck to people who need to rely on that route to get to work or school, instead of doing a test trip to the mall.
Conclusion
I hope to try again sometime and have better news about public transportation in our neighborhood. But as of now, I can’t recommend the MWRTA for a trip that’s time urgent and can’t easily be rescheduled.
Ultimately, the service needs to be more reliable and convenient. Meanwhile, though, it would help if the bus didn’t leave too early from stops that begin and end a route; and if the app had prominent information about route cancellations - ideally on every tab, but at least somewhere.
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