The 16 is the other half of the loop from the 31. This is the more useful and more direct route along the loop to the Lincoln Plaza as well. (Please read the 31's post before this one.)
The 16 starts like any other WRTA route (except for a few) at Union Station. The 16 goes east from Union Station along Hamilton Street, briefly running alongside the 1 and the 5. At the end of Hamilton Street is Quinsigamond State Park along Lake Quinsigamond, at least the southern part of the park. The route proceeds to run alongside the lake along the appropriately named Lake Ave. The route meets other routes at the UMass Medical Center across the street from the other part of the Quinsigamond State Park. This side has a small little beach along the lake. The route continues up Plantation Street to Lincoln Street where it "terminates" at the Lincoln Plaza. Some trips, and by request, will make a deviation into the Plantation Towers Apartments located just off Plantation St.
Scheduling... the exact same as the 31. The 16 has the opposite of the weird frequency problem that the 31 has. Same problem, but, just in the other direction. All 16 trips continue as 31 trips and vise versa to complete the loop. Same old runs pretty good hours on weekdays and Saturdays, 40 minute headways on weekdays, and no Sunday service.
Final thoughts on the whole loop thing - the WRTA does not market this as a loop at all. The only way to tell that this is a loop is that there is a dashed line on the 16's map showing the 31's route (and opposite on the 31's map), with a little note that says trips continue around the loop as the other route. A true loop route would, at the minimum, have the same route number all the way around, which the WRTA fails to do. I have two different recommendations for the 16 and 31. The first is to better market this as a loop service by giving both sections the same route number, and marking it on the schedule as such "clockwise" and "counterclockwise" instead of "outbound" and "inbound". The other recommendation is to completely axe the 31 and extend the 16 to Quinsigamond Community College. The 31 is mostly redundant as it runs alongside the 30 for most of its route. (There's more thoughts with the 16 on the 26's post).
Posted: May 30, 2022 23:53
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