Out of all of RIPTA's express routes, the 95x is a good one. I believe that it's also the longest one, travelling from Providence to Westerly.
Routing is simple and makes sense for an express route. The routes start at Kennedy Plaza, at stop X, which is where all the other express routes are. It travels along I-95 to Westerly, stopping at a few park and rides along the way. It does all of that in about one hour and ten minutes. These park and rides are all right off I-95, and one of them, the Richmond / Wymoing Park and Ride, is right near the Stop and Shop where the 301 terminates.
95x has a reverse commute route. One trip in the morning (at 5:37 am) goes from Providence to Westerly. A return trip is also in place, leaving Westerly for Providence at 3:40 pm. These trips do not do the Downcity Loop around downtown Providence like the others do. All the other trips (3 northbound, 4 southbound) use go to Providence in the morning, and back in the afternoon.
Morning trips leave every half an hour from Westerly, at 6:00, 6:30, and 7:00 am, and afternoon trips leave Providence at 2:05, 4:02, 4:32, and 5:02. I like that 2:05 pm trip though. It serves as a nice mid-day route, but it also returns to Providence as the 3:40 pm trip.
For ridership, the 95x sees an average of 90 riders per day. This puts it on par with all the other express routes.
Like all the other express buses, the 95x does not run on weekends, but this would be a really good route to run on the weekend, especially in the summer. Westerly, like the rest of coastal Rhode Island, has beaches. The 95x is the only RIPTA connection from Westerly to the rest of the state, but Amtrak also provides some service on the Northeast Regional. This whole part of Rhode Island doesn't see too much transit at all. RIPTA should probably beef up some service along the 95x, or maybe even add a route along US 1 to connect Westerly with Narragansett.
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Cedric on May 1, 2022 at 9:23 pm: Good post, I like. The 204 Westerly Flex actually goes out to Narragansett 3 times a day, but people want more. Miles (and I) want it turned into a fixed route, as there is a lot of demand for that type of thing.