Winchester Street and Nahanton Street, as well as sections of Centre Street and Dedham Street, saw their final route 52 MBTA bus today, Friday December 20, as the second round of Better Bus changes takes effect on Sunday December 22. (Route 52 does not have weekend service.) The same number of trips will run as before, but all will be along the Parker Street / Wheeler Road route. There is no longer bus service convenient to the JCC, Wells Avenue, and other locations. This service along Winchester Street had operated since 1984.More information can be found at https://mbta.com/projects/better-bus-project/52 and http://www.transithistory.org/roster/MBTARouteHistory.pdf (pages 188-189). The second link is especially interesting as it mentions former route 52 service including weekend service (first reduced in 1998, gone by 2012), service to Newton South High School (1973-1981), and service to Brighton Center (1987-2005/2010).
Also, although not advertised as part of the Better Bus program, good news for Newton Corner riders: a couple extra evening trips on Route 503 are added, effective Monday December 23.
Not So Better Bus
Mayor Fuller was quite active at the beginning of the Better Bus process (via her newsletter and through discussions with the MBTA itself). She was among those who took action in convincing the MBTA to preserve some Elliot St service on route 59.
In a letter to Steve Poftak dated February 20 2019, Mayor Fuller encouraged the MBTA to maintain Winchester St service on route 52, among other commentary and suggestions. I hope that in a future edition of her newsletter she elaborates on the circumstances under which the MBTA was ultimately not convinced to maintain this service that many, including Mayor Fuller, had hoped would remain.
The vast reduction of 59 bus service along Eliot St. was a rotten thing to do.
Needham St. certainly needs greater frequency, but the 59 has been going down Eliot for at least 40 years and there are a ton of elderly and handicapped residents there who were undoubtedly left out of the planning process and are left with limited travel options (The Ride is surely unaffordable to many of its potential users). Kudos to the mayor for trying to stand up for them.
Very unfortunate that the “52” route down Winchester to Nahanton St. is not preserved. This route connected to the D line Highlands and Newton Centre stops. It served the JCC, Wells Ave, Nahanton Woods and the UMASS/Mt. Ida campus. I’m at a loss as to why Newton officials couldn’t have fought harder to keep the 52 run.
The elderly have access to that city-run ride share. That should more than make up for the diversion.
@Peter Karg – do you have evidence they didn’t fight hard? My experience with bureaucracies like the T is that it can be next-to-impossible to get them to change their minds on things like this.
@Michael – the Ride is comparable in cost to the bus. The big problem with it is that you can’t take spontaneous trips – everything has to be set up at least a day in advance.
@Yuppie Scum – NewMo is more expensive than the Ride or buses, although it’s cheaper than cabs or ride shares.
@Meredith – Fares on the ride start at 2x the cost of the bus.
https://www.mbta.com/accessibility/the-ride/ride-fares-and-adding-funds
Peter,
I intentionally worded my own comment as to not immediately blame our elected officials. At this point we don’t know how hard they actually fought, since they have not publicly reflected on the matter. Based on the (slightly better) outcome for route 59, and Mayor Fuller’s stated opinion on route 52 back in February, I can only assume that our elected officials acted as best they could to preserve the now-discontinued service, but the MBTA didn’t budge.
Also, UMass/MtIda is still served by the 52, although now only at Carlson Ave (Dedham St) and not at Nahanton St. Actually, access to Mt Ida via the Nahanton St entrance has in recent years been a bit of peculiarity if travelling by MBTA bus — at some point the bus stop on the eastbound side of Nahanton, at the condo entrance, disappeared, with only the stop on the westbound side, opposite the condo entrance, remaining.
Just saying that more of an outcry regarding the “52” bus may have resulted in a different outcome. Certainly we have clout with
Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack a Newton resident and through our legislative delegation.