Enfield CT public transportation (Boston, Worcester: construction, high school, to live in)

[jacrm]

I am looking for a job in the Springfield area and my fiancee will be working at Baystate. We want to live in the Enfield area. I plan on working in the Springfield area. I am a "new driver" and not sure I want to deal with the traffic on I91 or the snow during the winter months. I'm hoping I can use public transit on those days when I just don't want to drive. I cannot find any public transit from Springfield to Enfield for the evening commute. I see there are a couple of options for the morning trip from Enfield to Springfield so I am surprised there's nothing for the way home. Am I missing something?

[mdovell]

To be frank most transit authorities don't cross state lines. There would have to be agreements and some high ridership to justify that at least for a bus.

CT rail expands in May. Enfield eventually gets a stop.
New Haven - Hartford - Springfield Rail Program: Stay Informed

To be honest I91 traffic is light except during the big E.

[in_newengland]

Can you just take rte 5 instead of 91? Although you wouldn't be on 91 for very long and taking rte 5 would mean meandering through slow traffic.

[jacrm]

That would be an option. Thanks for your response,

[jacrm]

mdovell- I agree that it is unusual for transit authorities to cross state lines, but what I find strange about this situation is that there are buses that travel from Enfield to Springfield in the morning. I guess once you get to Springfield, your stuck. I have looked into the CT expansion but I think the Enfield station is still under consideration and hasn't secured funding. Thanks for your response.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by mdovell

To be honest I91 traffic is light except during the big E.

Huh? Enfield to Springfield has a traffic jam every day. I-91N drops down to two lanes in Longmeadow. It's not Southeast Expressway-level traffic jam but 20 minute delays happen all the time from the Mass line the length of Longmeadow to Springfield. The Friday late-afternoon northbound traffic can be crazy between commuters and people driving from Connecticut to Vermont for the weekend. On a holiday weekend, that can back up 10 miles. It might get a little better when the Springfield construction is done but there's still a choke point at the lane drop.


There's Pioneer Valley Transit Authority bus service between Union Station and Mass Mutual in Enfield but it's really limited.

Here's a link to the schedule: http://www.pvta.com/schedules/G5.pdf

There's no telling when the commuter rail between Hartford and Springfield is going to stop in Enfield. Connecticut has a massive budget crisis. The Windsor Locks stop might be the nearest station for many years. The service between Springfield Ma and New Haven CT is supposed to launch in May.

[Dm84]

Originally Posted by mdovell

To be frank most transit authorities don't cross state lines. There would have to be agreements and some high ridership to justify that at least for a bus.

CT rail expands in May. Enfield eventually gets a stop.
New Haven - Hartford - Springfield Rail Program: Stay Informed

To be honest I91 traffic is light except during the big E.

LOL. It's actually super common for mass transit services to cross state lines (MTA, NJ Transit and Metro North all do it in the NYC Metro area and the MBTA does by going to RI).

If you take off your Springfield cheerleader hat, you'll realize that there's just no demand for anyone to spend the money funding anything beyond the most basic of mass transit in what amounts to a failed region of the country.

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by Dm84

LOL. It's actually super common for mass transit services to cross state lines (MTA, NJ Transit and Metro North all do it in the NYC Metro area and the MBTA does by going to RI).

If you take off your Springfield cheerleader hat, you'll realize that there's just no demand for anyone to spend the money funding anything beyond the most basic of mass transit in what amounts to a failed region of the country.

"Huh? Enfield to Springfield has a traffic jam every day. I-91N drops down to two lanes in Longmeadow. It's not Southeast Expressway-level traffic jam but 20 minute delays happen all the time from the Mass line the length of Longmeadow to Springfield. The Friday late-afternoon northbound traffic can be crazy between commuters and people driving from Connecticut to Vermont for the weekend. On a holiday weekend, that can back up 10 miles. It might get a little better when the Springfield construction is done but there's still a choke point at the lane drop"

It's dramatically improved though. Springfield traffic jammed up because exits six and seven were closed for two years. They reopened last fall. It all really depends as to what times you go.

"Super common" you do realize that MTA is one of the largest public transit systems in the country...right? It's hard to compare anything to MTA. MBTA does go to RI but there's a reason for it. When the feds calculate transit funds they lump RI in with Boston. Sometimes they allocate about $30K but RIPTA turns it down because it would cost more to manage that rather than use it.

Failed region of the country? Gee that's a bit harsh. Then again we don't really have the traffic problems boston has, we actually have a growing middle class and it is diverse (unlike Boston). Everything in Boston is imported. Labor (the transit system assures that), capital (FAFSA for starters)anything manufactured (hardly anyone makes anything west of 495 anyway). It's pretty much a colony in everything but name. F1 didn't happen, Olympics didn't happen, GE is falling apart, Wynn is falling apart and Amazon might not pick it. Half the people in boston make 45K or less (which is the average MGM Springfield wage) and the high school graduation rate is still in the low 70 percentage (hardly better than Springfield) Sure Boston has more of a bread and circus mentality with sports to get people to ignore statistics but beyond that.... If higher ed eventually moves online how would the area look? If companies start leaving because they can get people to work faster in smaller urban areas (Worcester for example) why stay in Boston?

[jacrm]

GeoffD- Thanks for the link to the pvta schedule. I see there is a second route that leaves at 4:15 which is considerably better than the 2:45 option. I also am worried about the proposed Enfield stop. I appreciate your input.

Dm84- Thanks for your thoughts on the transit situation in Springfield.

[western mass and love it]

Enfield to Springfield on 91 north is backed up every day between 4:30 and 6:30 pm. Going south in the morning gets pretty heavy too. I've stopped taking 91 and use 159 to 190 if I'm working in Enfield.