Route Focus: PVTA R42 - Northampton/Williamsburg

Route Focus: PVTA R42 - Northampton/Williamsburg

  May 04, 2020    Kareem W

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Trip: Williamsburg via Northampton

Taken: March 2020

Williamsburg is one of those small Western Mass towns that even people from other places in Western Mass have never even heard of it. Yet it has a whole bus route running to it, so it must be somewhat important. Let’s check it out.

Our humble mid-sized bus for the trip

Beginning at the Academy of Music in Northampton, the vehicle used for the trip was PVTA bus #7550, a 2008 Gillig Low Floor 35’. Much of the people on this route got on here, as expected.

The R42 starts off with a pretty annoying deviation since it has to serve an apartment building south of downtown called the “Salvo House”, even though the R42’s destinations are northwest of downtown. The bus used Crafts Avenue, Old South Street, and Conz Street to get to the stop at Salvo House (nobody got on here), then we looped back around and used Conz Street and Old South Street to get back to Main Street.

Oh, Salvo House, why must every route serve you?

We went through a little bit of Northampton’s Downtown, serving the Academy of Music again from across the street, then we proceeded up Elm Street, passing some of the historical and modern buildings of Smith College.

The impressive front of Smith College

After Smith College, there’s purely residential of varying densities, and also a park and a high school.

Northampton High School

At the intersection of Prospect Street, the road becomes Locust Street, and in this area there’s the Cooley Dickinson Hospital along with a couple shops.

Cooley Dickinson Hospital

After a brief stretch of not much, the route meets up with the R44, and we headed into Florence Center on Florence’s Main Street. Going through the little downtown, there’s a variety of neat shops and restaurants. Seems to me like Florence Center is underrated compared to Downtown Northampton.

Looking down a row of shops in Florence Center

After Florence Center, houses lined the street again up until we reached a roundabout, which has the entrance to Look Memorial Park, a locally well-known park with all sorts of activities.

The entrance to Look Park

Shortly after passing Look Park, the bus turned off onto Front Hill Road, a winding road ascending through the Northampton VA Medical Center’s campus. It took us a couple minutes to reach the stop outside the main building at the top of the hill, making this a lengthy deviation, but it’s also a worthy one; most of the people on the bus got off here.

Pulling up to main building for the VA Medical Center

Descending the hill and back on Main Street, we continued north, initially passing some shops, but then not much again.

But there is this nostalgic diner and golf range

The surroundings were sparse up until we entered Williamsburg proper and went through the village of Haydenville, which has the Williamsburg Town Hall, some town services, and a golden Dunkin’ Donuts.

Yeah, I wasn’t kidding

After the little build-up of Haydenville, we endured another sparse stretch of Main Street paralleling the Mill River.

This is probably the best stretch of scenery on this route

Closer to Williamsburg Center, the bus suddenly came to a stop outside of a gas station. “Give me a minute to use the bathroom,” the bus driver said as he left the bus. We were running early and there was only one other person on the bus so a mid-route break like this is acceptable in my book. With a slice of pizza in hand, the bus driver shortly came back and continued driving the last leg of the trip.

Arriving at Williamsburg Center, the bus used North St., N. Main St., and Buttonshop Road to loop back around to Williams Street and the town center, since the bus stop is only on the inbound side of the street. I got off here and the bus continued back to Northampton, leaving me with an hour in a town with nothing to do. I spent it at the same gas station that the driver visited.

See ya’ in an hour, R42

Overview

The R42 has hourly trips on weekdays and Saturdays. There are 3 trips a day where you can request the bus to serve Nash Hill Apartments in Williamsburg, and you can also request any outbound trip to serve Leeds Center (all inbound trips serve it though). For ridership, the R42 gets around 15 passengers per revenue hour, which is above standard for a route with hourly service. My trip was lighter, with only 10 passengers.

It appears that the VA Medical Center is a bigger destination for the R42 than anything else, which I wasn’t expecting. Even though there isn’t much in Williamsburg, I do consider the town worth serving with a fixed bus route. Fortunately, the R42 is a mostly simple route serving the simple town. The R42 is also a good service for those who need to get to the VA Medical Center and it’s a better route than the R44 if you just want to get to Florence Center.

The next bus arriving to take me back to Northampton. Note that the R42 becomes the R41 to Holyoke once it reaches Northampton, hence the “To Holyoke Mall” auxiliary sign.

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Route Focus: PVTA R44 - Florence Heights via King St and Bridge St

Route Focus: PVTA R44 - Florence Heights via King St and Bridge St

  May 02, 2020    Kareem W

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Trip: Florence Center via King Street / Hampshire Plaza

Northampton Center via Florence Hts / Correctional Facility

Taken: March 2020

Looking for a loopy, deviatory, and slow route serving just about every place imaginable in Northampton? The R44 is just what you’re looking for!

For context, the R44 is a recently modified circular route serving Northampton and its village, Florence. The R44 operates both counterclockwise (“a” trips) and clockwise (“b” trips). I took an “a” trip.

Taking the R44 on a March morning, the vehicle operating my trip was PVTA bus #7403, a 2006 Gillig Low Floor 29’. These 29-foot buses are the smallest full-sized buses in the fleet, and in my opinion, it’s a treat to ride these rare buses. Luckily, the R44 only uses Gillig 29’ buses!

The baby bus dwarfed by the Salvo House

Like almost every route in Northampton, the R44 serves a large apartment building south of downtown called the “Salvo House”. In fact, the R44 loop starts, ends, and has its layover here. Leaving the Salvo House, we were on Conz Street, but we almost immediately turned onto Smith Street, then Fruit Street to serve stops on this narrow residential street.

At the end of this street, we turned onto Old South Street to get to New South Street (very creative, Northampton). This leads to Northampton’s Main Street, and right at the start of it is PVTA’s bus transfer point outside of the Academy of Music. Most of the people on this trip got on here.

After the Academy of Music, we proceeded through Downtown Northampton on Main Street, passing all the cafes, shops, and quirky businesses of the college town.

Undoubtedly NoHo

The bus turned up King Street, and there was now a mix of businesses and housing. Soon we reached a pocket with larger stores and shops, and we deviated to serve a shopping plaza with a Stop & Shop.

Deviating to serve Stop & Shop

Getting back onto King Street, we passed a couple car-dealerships, then turned onto Barrett Street, then Jackson Street, which were both mainly residential, with some apartment projects too.

After an intersection with Bridge Street, the road became Cooke Avenue, and we descended a hill behind some shops. We turned into the rear entrance of Hampshire Plaza, then looped around a parking lot and stopped outside of Big Y. Hampshire Plaza has a Big Y and a Walmart, among other stores, and most of the people on the bus got off here. Because the bus was a few minutes early for the timepoint, the driver turned the engine off, making for a silent and awkward wait.

Wouldn’t be a PVTA route without a Big Y

After waiting for the timepoint, we left Hampshire Plaza from the same way we got in, went back up Cooke Avenue, and turned west on Bridge Road. On this road the houses were a bit more spread out, and there were even some agricultural buildings, as well as branching apartment communities.

There’s also this abandoned Rehab and Nursing Center

Before long, we turned onto Meadowbrook Drive, a speed-bump laden road running straight through the apartment community by the same name. This road exits onto Straw Avenue, and the bus uses this to get to Locust Street, where we finally approached Florence Center.

The rest of Florence Center is just up ahead

Most R44 trips run straight on Florence’s Main Street, but certain trips like the one I took make a detour using Chestnut Street to serve houses and some apartments on High Street. Seems like an unnecessary deviation, considering bus stops on Main Street are only a block away.

High Street exits onto to Maple Street, and we went south leaving the neat shops of Florence Center.

So long, Florence Center

At the end of Maple Street is Nonotuck Street, and the buildings around here are industrial. This area is the Mill River Reservoir and hosts mill factories converted into offices and workspaces.

Industry by the Mill River

Nonotuck Road merges onto Pine Street, and we used this to cross over the Mill River. Across the river, we turned south on Florence Road, which is purely residential, and we soon deviated into yet another apartment project. This time it’s Florence Heights, and the bus had to make a tight U-turn at the dead-end of the street.

Making the U-Turn inside Florence Heights

Getting back onto Florence Road, we continued south, and the bus picked up speed passing nothing but houses and forested areas. Turning east on Rocky Hill Road, it’s the same scenery.

Scenery exactly like this

After a bit on Rocky Hill Road, we turned off into the ascending driveway of the Hampshire County Jail. Yes, the R44 even serves the House of Corrections for its visitors and employees.

Climbing up to serve the jail

Leaving the prison, we continued east on Rocky Hill Road, which soon became Chapel Street, then West Street. In this area, the surroundings became built up again and we passed a manufacturer and the offices for the Department of Mental Health.

Offices for the DMH and a historical building converted into apartments

After crossing the Mill River (again), West Street runs through the Smith College campus, and we passed several of its residences and halls.

Buildings of Smith College

West Street leads back to Northampton’s Main Street, and just like that, we were back at the Academy of Music. I got off here since the bus just runs back to the Salvo House after this stop.

Finally, off this bus!

Overview

One loop of the R44 takes about an hour to complete, and a trip in one direction is scheduled every 70 minutes. The R44 operates 7 days a week, but there’s a catch. When the PVTA modified the route back in 2019, they kept the R44’s old and confusing half-loop routing on the weekend, so keep that in mind if you’re riding the R44 on the weekend. Looking at ridership, its surprisingly low for the R44, with around 10 passengers per revenue hour year-round. My trip had 10 people exactly, but I was the only person on the bus for much of the route. I didn’t expect the ridership to be so low considering the R44 serves so much.

Perhaps the R44 serves too much. Sure, I see a need for the R44, and I do think that a bidirectional route around Northampton is more effective than the pre-2019 routing, but the R44 makes so many deviations and could be a little more streamlined.

In conclusion, I don’t see the R44 as a good route. Sure, it could be somewhat convenient if you live in one of the many apartment areas it serves or you just want to get to the shops on King Street, but not for much else since it’s so darn slow and long. If you just want to get to Florence Center, I’d recommend taking R42 instead.

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Route Focus: PVTA Route 45 - Belchertown Center/UMass

Route Focus: PVTA Route 45 - Belchertown Center/UMass

  April 30, 2020    Kareem W

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Trip: Belchertown Center via Gatehouse Road

Taken: February 2020

As you may already know, most of UMass Transit’s routes are aimed at serving the students of UMass and the rest of the Five Colleges, but there are two “outreach routes” that connect distant towns to the rest of the system. Route 45 to Belchertown is the first of them.

I took the 45 on a winter afternoon, right after UMass’ class time ended. Pulling up to the stop outside of the Physical Sciences Building, the vehicle operating the trip was PVTA bus #3204, a 2006 Gillig Low Floor 40’.

The ole Gillig pulling up to the PSB

First, we went through the UMass Campus on North Pleasant Street, serving two other stops outside the Integrative Learning Center and the Fine Arts Center. Even though the street was busy with students, only a couple of people boarded at these stops. This would be unusual for any other route at this time of day.

The Design Building and the Studio Arts Building on campus

After the Fine Arts Center stop, the bus turned at an intersection, and still on North Pleasant Street, we left the UMass campus and headed towards Amherst Center.

Around the roundabout and into downtown

After going around a roundabout and passing a park, we went through Amherst’s Downtown, stopping at Pray Street and Cowles Lane to pick up passengers. Most of the people on this trip got on in Downtown Amherst, rather than UMass.

Looking down Main Street, Amherst just before turning onto it

The bus turned onto Amherst’s Main Street, and the surroundings of Downtown Amherst were gradually replaced with residential, inns, and the occasional business. After the intersection with East Street, Main Street became Pelham Road, and scenery became even more rural, with more spread apart houses and more tree cover.

The entrance to a forested hiking spot off of Pelham Road

Soon, the bus turned onto Heatherstone Road, which is a much narrower residential street. Complete with cul-de-sac side streets, you might not expect a fixed bus route to run through this area.

“Out in the sticks”

Soon, the bus turned onto Stony Hill Road, then Gatehouse Road, and the residential became apartment-like, belonging to the Echo Hill and Rolling Green apartment neighborhood.

Apartments off of Gatehouse Road

After the apartments, we exited onto the main road, Belchertown Road, and continued south. At this point, the scenery was completely rural with houses almost only on side streets.

Before long, we entered Belchertown proper, and the bus turned off of the main road to serve stops on the residential Old Amherst Road. Getting back onto the main road, it was now Federal Street.

Turning onto Old Amherst Road, the building shown is a large church

For the next couple miles, the bus got up to the speed limit of 45 mph, and there were limited stops on the winding and sparsely populated road. This changed after an intersection with Bay Road, and before long we reached the commercial part of Belchertown, which has restaurants, a small shopping plaza, and a whole Stop & Shop.

 This is the best picture I got of any of the businesses around here :(

At the intersection with all these shops, we turned onto Belchertown’s Main Street, making the last leg of the route into Belchertown Center. Eventually we turned off Main Street and onto Park Street, which parallels the town common. At the end of the short Park Street, the bus ended its trip had its layover outside some shops and a small parking lot.

Laying over at Belchertown Center (spot the error on the destination sign)

Overview

Route 45 makes 7 roundtrips a day, on weekdays only. The bus operates at less than hourly intervals (at best a 70-minute gap), and unfortunately there are some massive service gaps throughout the day. For example, there’s nearly a 5-hour gap in service in the morning. Ridership wise, the 45 performs well for less hourly route with up to 29 passengers per revenue hour during academic months. This number dips to around 12 during the summer but that’s still good for what it is. Route wise, the 45 offers more of a quieter ride and rural feel than most of the other route in UMass Transit’s collection.

Considering all this, the 45 is a pretty decent rural route serving the town Belchertown. The worst feature about the route is its service gaps, and I feel like this route could do better with a consistent schedule of 70- or 80-minute intervals throughout the day. But still, the ridership shows that there’s plenty of people who make do with the limited schedule.

Anyways, the 45 is at least a thousand times better than its alter ego, Route 46, but I’ll save that for another Route Focus.

On the return trip, the bus heads back to the GAR (garage) after serving UMass stops

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Route Focus: PVTA Route 31 - Sunderland/South Amherst

Route Focus: PVTA Route 31 - Sunderland/South Amherst

  April 25, 2020    Kareem W

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Trip: Sunderland

Taken: February 2020

At first glance, you might not expect the college town of Amherst to have any impressive bus routes with city-like features like high ridership and frequent buses. Well you’d be wrong; UMass Transit’s routes 30 and 31 have exactly those features when operating during the academic year.

Both routes 30 and 31 travel from north to south through Amherst, serving the UMass Campus in the middle. The southern end of the 31 begins at an off-campus apartment neighborhood called Southpoint Townhouses and The Boulders. The 31 uses an articulated bus (New Flyer XDE60) during semesters, so of course I had to catch a trip with one.

PVTA #3402, the stretch limo

Leaving the stop for The Boulders on Brittany Manor Drive, we went around the road lined with apartments, and the bus made one more stop before turning onto East Hadley Road. The road curved and paralleled a small brook up until an intersection with South Pleasant Street.

We turned up Pleasant Street heading towards Amherst Center, passing homes with large yards and the generally rural landscape of Amherst with forests and fields. Before long, the buildings and halls of Amherst College appeared, but the 31 doesn’t turn in to serve it, unlike the 38.

Buildings of Amherst College

Instead, we made a stop at the busy Amherst Common, then proceeded through the equally active downtown of Amherst with all its cafes and shops.

This is neither a café nor shop, but there are plenty around here

After two more stops for the Amherst Post Office and Pray Street, the bus went around a roundabout and we were now on North Pleasant Street, heading towards the UMass Campus.

Around we go!

Soon, the bus made another turn, starting the stretch of North Pleasant Street running through UMass, which I like to call UMass’ Main Street because of how busy it is.

Fine Arts Center and the Haigis Mall

Making three stops along North Pleasant Street (Studio Arts Building, Morrill Science Center, and Arnold House respectively), we made our way along the street gaining more passengers. Usually the bus would be packed by the time we reached the last stop, but the trip I took was during a class-time, and there was only a moderate number of students on the bus continuing north.

The view of the campus center and library from North Pleasant St

Going around another roundabout and still on North Pleasant Street, the UMass Campus buildings started to disappear were replaced by residential. We made a stop outside of the Crestview Apartments, which is across the street from UMass’ family-style North Village apartments and close to the Puffton Village Apartments. As you can see, there’s plenty of affiliated and non-unaffiliated off-campus apartments around here.

Route 30 pulls into and ends at the Puffton Village Apartments

Soon after all the apartments, the bus headed into North Amherst center, which has a couple of businesses and a church, and we turned onto Meadow Street.

Taking tight turns like a champ!

On this street, there’s a stop for more off-campus housing called “Townehouse Apartments” [sic].

Townehouse Apartments. No, I am not misspelling their name.

After this, the bus turned onto the higher speed and almost highway-like Amherst Road. Along here there are only a couple stops at occasional clusters of businesses. Also along Amherst Road, we entered the town of Sunderland.

Solar Panels by an elementary school, with Mount Sugarloaf in view.

Eventually, we reached Sunderland Center, and we turned down Main Street, making the last leg of the route to Sugarloaf Estates.

Sunderland Center

Upon reaching Sugarloaf Estates, we turned into the entrance for the apartments and the trip ended at a stop towards the end of the parking lot. FRTA Route 23 to Greenfield also serves Sugarloaf Estates 6 times a day.

Up close and personal with #3402

Overview

On academic weekdays, the 31 has frequent headways of 15 minutes, and on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, the 31 operates as late as 1 AM to serve the late-night party crowds. For ridership, the 31 has tremendous ridership with up to an average of 40 passengers per trip (or up to 70 passengers per revenue hour). From a transit planner’s perspective, these are great numbers for a mid-sized route like the 31, but from a rider’s perspective, this means packed and often overloaded buses, especially if you didn’t catch the one 60-foot articulated bus and got a 40-foot bus instead.

The bus got packed right after I got off. Class time had just ended, and rush-hour was in full swing.

The other downside of the 31 is that it has very long headways of 75 minutes on weekends. This is because the 31 uses just one vehicle on weekends, which is typically an articulated bus. The demand for better headways is certainly there, but the ability for UMass Transit to operate more vehicles on weekends is limited.

The typical loud and crowded experience of riding 31 aside, the 31 is an excellent route with great headways, straightforward routing, and good service on weekdays. Like Route 30, the main purpose of the 31 is to transport students to and from the UMass campus and a variety of off-campus apartments in Amherst and Sunderland. While the 31’s purpose is quite specific, the service is on par with trunk routes connecting dense areas, like the B7 or G1 in Springfield. Plus, it’s just cool and unique to see articulated buses running on rural roads.

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