- Newton Center Langley Lot/Newton Centre Green Line,
- Newtonville Commuter Rail Station,
- Chestnut Hill Green Line Station,
- Newton Highlands Green Line Station,
- Needham Street,
- Wells Avenue area (includes the Wells Avenue Office Park, UMass Mt Ida, JCC, Nahanton Woods Condominiums).
- Needham Heights Commuter Rail Station.
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We hope the pilot brings a lot of riders so we can expand soon to more locations in Newton.
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How does NewMo 2.0 work?
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A Newton resident traveling back from Boston on the T could book a ride on NewMo 2.0 to get picked up at the Newton Centre Langley Lot/Green Line, Chestnut Hill Green Line or Newton Highlands Green Line stations and get a ride to their home anywhere in Newton. Likewise, they could be picked up at their home and taken to any one of the seven NewMo 2.0 stops.
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Another example is an employee at a Newton restaurant or business who may live along the Green Line or Commuter Rail line will also be able toĀ book a ride to get to and from their job in Newton to one of the designated MBTA Commuter Rail or T stations.
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To be clear, while NewMo 2.0 will not do drop offs and pick ups at every commuter rail and T station, people anywhere in Newton can get a ride to and from the Green Line or to the Commuter Rail Framingham/Worcester line or the Needham line.
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NewMo 2.0 builds on the excellent work of Newtonās Senior Services staff and Transportation Planners who first piloted the NewMo 1.0 system for our older residents in 2019, providing more than 25,000 rides since inception. As these riders know, the driver shortage is also sometimes causing longer wait times for rides on the current service. Please bear with Via as it continues to hire more drivers.
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The City of Newton’s partner is Via, a leader in transit. Viaās system rivals the convenience of a personal car with a reduced environmental impact. Itās an āon demandā service with riders booking through a smartphone (or a phone call) in real time. Itās also a āshared rideā service; Viaās computer system optimizes the routes and directs the driver to pick up and drop off passengers along the way.
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NewMo 2.0 helps reduce traffic congestion with shared rides, and importantly, provides a ride for that crucial āfirst and last mileā to public transit stations.
This is awesome(depending on wait times). The first announcement was so confusing.
I can see this being used alot for the T. The commuter rail schedule is so poor that a delayed newMo will mess up your schedule completely
Someone on FB said $475k was plunked into this. Taxpayer dollars?
@Matt – the $475k is accurate and is a combination of grants from MassDOT and the Boston Region Metro Planning Org. So, state and federal taxpayer dollars that are intended for projects exactly like this, but not something that’s fungible into e.g. school funds or other general municipal needs. (See: https://www.ctps.org/community-connections)
Personally this seems really great, though I am a little worried that it will exist for a year, people will start to use it and it will slowly ramp up, and then it will disappear before we really know what the demand is (since a multi-year ramp in usage is very standard for this kind of transportation network change). Either way I am glad to see what seems like a very reasonable general-purpose last-mile solution built off of the foundation of the (popular and effective) senior program.
And what Jonathan said too. This money was only going to be spent on transportation, which is a good thing. If it didn’t go to Newton, a different community would have accessed it.
west newton and auburndale get the shaft again
oh well
we are used to it
Joe, this system is designed to get people to and from transit. Residents in Auburndale and West Newton, including me, will be able to get to and from any of the major transit lines from and to our homes. By focusing on Newtonville (and limited stations on all the lines), the system can get some benefits of scale.
What Mike said and, truly, this system is to get workers to and from jobs in Newton. That’s not only good for all residents because we all benefit from commercial tax revenue (and we don’t like to wait in long lines at cash registers or for our order because a place is short staffed), but it takes cars off the street (less traffic) if fewer people choose to drive to work since there’s a good, dependable, safe, alternative.
However, West Newton and Auburndale should be happy to know that the 505 express bus will resume this fall.
Not running the 505 is an example to how West Newton and Auburndale were getting the shaft.
My main concerns about NewMo are:
Does it take kids? Will it help reduce the drop-off and pick-up traffic to the JCC, Russian Math, Exxcel Gym, Solomon Schecter, etc.
It ends at 6:30, what about the evening and night workers like cleaners or waiters?
Part of the route overlaps with the 59 bus, will this drain resources and reduce the urgency to improve the workhorse of transit – the public bus?
I’d rather see more public buses with fixed routes and later service that anyone can use, than the proliferation of private buses or quasi-private buses in Newton – BC (9? 10?), Lasell, UMass, Trip Advisory, MASCO, etc.
NewMo may help reduce traffic, which would be a very good thing, but it doesn’t strike me as equitable. Sort of like school bus fees.
Lucia
“Iād rather see more public buses with fixed routes”
MBTA is broken beyond repair. The private sector will have a solution long before MBTA even commits to fixing its own mess
Lucia, I agree. The 59 has the potential to be a key route and excellent resource (as does the 52) but both routes are hampered by infrequent scheduling and limited hours (the 59 should run much later, for sure). Working in and around the Longwood area I am often frustrated by the number of seemingly overlapping private bus routes, rather than integrating needed service into a larger system like the MBTA. This should be an interesting experiment, though.
Correct Eric. Mass General/Brigham and Womens and Dana Farber both operate shuttles that pick up and drop off at the hospital. They make a stop at Brookline Village and then continue out to the Chestnut Hill Mall. They run on a very reliable schedule.
The idea of booking a ride seems a bit dicey because sometimes you get to the station to pick up a green line train and there are two trains due to some in two minutes apart. Other times you just miss the train pulling out and the overhead reads 15-20 minutes until the next train. I think one would have to wait until they are on the train and then judge how long it will take to get to the pick up spot. And hope the MBTA doesn’t decide to hold the train for the dreaded “schedule adjustment”
Does anyone know if the service has launched? I downloaded the app this morning (NewMo on your app store), and went through the process of booking a ride and it did show that there would be one in 7 minutes. I did not fully book. Although I don’t work in Boston, there are still plenty of reasons to use this service and avoid a car trip.
Great work and foresight.
I’m delighted to see this. While I don’t expect NewMo (or any single solution) to be perfect, or to solve all of Newton’s traffic and transit problems, having the option of a $2 NewMo ride is HUGE for Newton residents like me. I do not drive or bike, so I rely on a combination of walking, the MBTA, and Uber/Lyft to get around. The recent Uber and Lyft price increases and elimination of the 52 bus meant that I literally could not work at my usual summer job this month because I would either have had to spend 45% of my salary just on commuting costs (seriously!) or risk injury inching along the “sidewalk” and underbrush to cross the Nahanton St/Kendrick St Charles River overpass and sprinting across Rt. 9 exit traffic in order to walk through the Wells Ave office park to the 59. I will happily try a door-to-door $2 NewMo ride over a $14 door-to-door Uber/Lyft ride or a $1.70 52 or 59 bus ride that leaves me with a dangerous walk to my destination. Again, I don’t expect NewMo to be perfect, but I am glad to have the option on the table. We desperately need last-mile solutions, as well as solutions for reverse commuters and anyone who does not work a 9-5 or dares to travel outside of the MBTA’s peak times, if we ever hope to have mobility justice and safe, affordable, equitable ways to get around. If it works as promised, NewMo will go a long way towards filling these gaps.