jaymac wrote:The EGE » Tue Nov 29, 2016 3:05 pm
It'll be very interesting to see what Thursday brings. I imagine there are some current Littleton/South Acton boarders - and some who drive all the way to Alewife to avoid the congestion at those lots - who will be switching to Wachusett with the new calendar month.
At 0605/12-02-2016 and 15 minutes before 404's 0620 departure, there were 11 vehicles in the Wachusett parking lot plus some drop-off activity.
At 8am (410) and at 5pm (415) there are typically several dozen cars parked at Wachusett.
I doubt there's anybody switching from South Acton to Wachusett, if only because anybody from west of Acton who drove to South Acton before probably switched to Littleton due to parking and ease of access.
Even then, I don't see many switching from Littleton to Wachusett, the parking savings (until MART sets up the infrastructure to charge for parking) get eaten up by the gas.
As dbperry notes, to the extent that Wachusett cannibalizes further-in stations, North Leominster is the big source, which isn't surprising: North Leominster isn't a great situation for a park-and-ride: the lights and rush hour congestion between there and Rt 2 make it unappealing to anyone coming from Rt 2 west. From the east and south, North Leominster isn't that bad if you take the connector and Nashua St, so I guess North Leominster could still effectively serve the knowledgeable from Lancaster, Sterling, and Princeton.
I suspect, given the level of ridership from quite far out on Rt 2 (not just west of Gardner, west of Athol/Orange!), that Wachusett sees a more intercity/less rush-hour oriented demand pattern.