The 4 is very similar to the 3. It apparently used to be part of the 3 until very recently (according to one of the few readers of this blog).
It's also odd that RIPTA decided to call this the Warwick Ave route, especially because it's not really ever on Warwick Ave, besides one short section. It runs a similar route to the 3, going from Providence to the shores in Warwick, except the 4 runs closer to the Providence River than the 3 did. The 4 also does not go to Oakland Beach.
The route runs every 40 minutes through most of the day, with service changing to every 80 minutes after about 7:00 pm. Oddly enough, there is a 60 minute gap following the departure after 6:00 pm.
More limited on Saturdays, with only 70 minutes between 7 am and 8 pm. Sundays has 100 minute gaps with service between 7 am and 7 pm (roughly).
This route feels kinda redundant. It has the same service pattern as the 3 and the route is basically the 3 with two deviations to the east and not serving Oakland Beach.
Remember how I said that the 4 used of the part of the 3? The latest ridership numbers are from 2019, and have the combined 3 and 4. Those ridership numbers from the 3 aren't that great with 956 people per weekday. So that's not just the current 3, but both the current 3 and 4.
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Heli on August 17, 2021 at 11:34 am: i somehow didnt read this until now lmaoo. the route is kinda redundant but the pawtuxet village section is pretty dense and the outer section is separated frm the 3 by water. so i think its fine as it is, the frequency matches the demand fine. nice post as always. fun fact: the 4's pawtuxet village section used to be a branch of the 1 and the 3 was mostly on warwick ave before splitting to oakland beach and warwick neck, so back then it made more sense to call it as one route. but since the 3A was rerouted to cover pawtuxet village its kinda dumb to call it one route. so later in 2019 ripta finally split it into different route numbers but they have the same schedule card sooooooooo