South Shore MBTA Service

[nowyano]

Why is the MBTA service on the South Shore religated to commuter rail and buses only in a few communities? Does anyone know? The reason for the exit fee on the Quincy and Braintree lines was to expand service on the south shore but this never happened?

There are buses in Quincy and Braintree but not in Randolph, Stoughton, Avon, Brockton, Weymouth or Rockland. I understand Bridgewater being too far out but for cities like Weymouth and Rockland or the whole Randolph/Avon/Brockton area? And even Bridgewater could use buses. Does anyone know why the South Shore is lacking in services while Metro West has light rail all the way out to Newton and buses out to at least Waltham if not beyond. The North Shore has heavy rail all the way upto Revere with plans for Lynn, Swampscott and Salem and buses as far up as Beverly (I believe beyond there even). But the South Shore service stops at Braintree which is still technically Metro Boston and not even really the South Shore.

Does anyone know the reasoning behind this?

[Cotuit]

I think the South Shore is just more suburban than the North Shore and MetroWest. Between Boston and the Cape there's really no historically large urban area such as Newton, Waltham, Salem, Lynn... It was much more rural, and now is suburban. Brockton being the exception, but not really on the South Shore.

[nowyano]

Honestly this makes the most sense of any of the reasons that I've heard from anyone. However Swampscott (where they want to extend the Blue), Oak Grove in Malden (the last stop on the Orange line), and certainly some parts of Brookline where the Green Runs through are less dense than say Randolph, Avon is an Urban area about the size of Salem and if the Red already goes to Braintree (btw it has a terrible location in that city) it should go to at least Weymouth which is equally populated and has a beach...

[Recchia]

I could see an extension to Weymouth being very feasible, and possibly even Brockton, with a couple stops in the actual city. And while we're at it, can we finally get friggen commuter rail to Taunton, Fall River and New Bedford!?

[nowyano]

I could see an extension to Weymouth being very feasible, and possibly even Brockton, with a couple stops in the actual city. And while we're at it, can we finally get friggen commuter rail to Taunton, Fall River and New Bedford!?

they are actually building a communter rail to New Bedford/Fall River andto TF Green in Rhode Island I would assume that one of these would have at least one stop in Taunton

[Recchia]

they are actually building a communter rail to New Bedford/Fall River andto TF Green in Rhode Island I would assume that one of these would have at least one stop in Taunton

Planning, not yet building.

[JDC]

I always found it curious that the Middleboro/Lakeville train went that far and only that far. It seemed sort of haphazard. I mean Bridgewater's stop was right on BSC's campus, a fitting place for a terminal I suppose, also being close to 18, 28 and 104. But Middleboro/Lakeville seems very remote and rural. If you're gonna go that far, may as well stretch it to New Bedford, right?

[Cotuit]

The NB-FR line will actually be a branch off the Attleboro/Providence line:

Middleboro/Lakeville, if extended, would go to Buzzards Bay, then on to the Cape.

[Recchia]

This is a project that simply cannot be put off any longer. The fact that Taunton Fall River and New Bedford do not have commuter rail service is appalling. Now if only those beotchs in Raynham and Easton would stop opposing this, then maybe it would go somewhere. Maybe if they built a station in Raynham with ANOTHER Walmart Supercenter attached to it then if would fly...

[dixiecupdrinking]

I grew up on the South Shore and my parents recently moved back there. I've actually been pleasantly surprised at the MBTA accessability through Hingham, considering it's a good 20+ miles outside Boston and very suburban. I got to Hingham Center from Logan in little more time than it would have taken driving, and this was with a Blue to Orange to Red Line transfer (wasn't sure about how to do the Silver Line) and then a bus transfer at Quincy Center. I think it was maybe an hour altogether.

Of course, there is nothing south of Hingham. My parents live in Hull and though we're personally only a couple of miles from Hingham, Hull is a town that would definitely benefit from MBTA bus service. A route going from 3A even halfway up Nantasket Ave would probably be very popular - especially in the summer. A ton of the people at Nantasket Beach on any given weekend are down from Dorchester for the day.

Alas, the real answer may be NIMBYism. It took how long to get the Greenbush line approved?

[JDC]

Of course, there is nothing south of Hingham.

Hey now, I grew up in Hanover and Rockland, which are just south of Hingham. My childhood is south of Hingham.

[dixiecupdrinking]

Hey now, I grew up in Hanover and Rockland, which are just south of Hingham. My childhood is south of Hingham.

Hey - no offense, I meant there is nothing in the way of MBTA service south of Hingham! I lived in Scituate until I was 12, myself. I mean, why would anyone want to go NORTH of Hingham?

[JDC]

Yeah, I'm just playin around. In all seriousness though, there really ain't a whole lot in terms of transit (or density for that matter) south of Hingham. The south shore has remained staunchly suburban, borderline rural in parts. With Route 3 as the lifeline of the area, I can't see many folks using MBTA commuter lines, especially since Braintree is such a short trip away from towns like Norwell, Hanover, Rockland, Scituate, Pembroke and Marshfield.

[nowyano]

I think a lot of people forget about Plymouth being on the South Shore. It is a major attraction and, I don't know the exact population, but I would guess a fairly large city. Granted it has a commuter rail but one would think it would run as much, if not more than the Kingston branch...

[dixiecupdrinking]

With Route 3 as the lifeline of the area, I can't see many folks using MBTA commuter lines, especially since Braintree is such a short trip away from towns like Norwell, Hanover, Rockland, Scituate, Pembroke and Marshfield.

That could be.. but I think the Greenbush line will see some good ridership. Growing up I had some friends whose parents used to drive from Scituate to Hingham to take the ferry to Boston... which must have been a pain, to say the least. The stretch of shore from Weymouth down through Marshfield really stretches a pretty good distance from Route 3, and any of those towns are pretty out of the way for commuters, like, twenty minutes off the expressway with no traffic.

Whether it'll be a boon or a nuisance is still up in the air though. Scituate Harbor has already seen a bunch of pretty ridiculous condo developments in the last couple of years, probably largely due to the train. For one of them, they demolished Combs, an old shoe store that must have been there for a couple of generations, and built this ugly multistory monstrosity that is totally out of scale with the rest of the harbor.

I think a lot of why the South Shore has remained so rural and small town is because it's been kind of out of the way and inconvenient for commuters. It'll take some serious effort to keep it that way in the future, I think.