Riverside station (MBTA)

Riverside is the western terminus of the MBTA Green Line D branch (Highland Branch) light rail line. It is located at 333 Grove Street, off Exit 22 on Interstate 95 (Route 128), in Auburndale, a village of Newton, Massachusetts. Scheduled travel time to Park Street is 46 minutes. Riverside includes a parking lot with spaces for 925 automobiles and bicycle parking. A loop allows trolleys to reverse direction for the trip back to Boston and storage tracks and the Riverside Carhouse are connected to the loop. The station is fully handicapped accessible.

Riverside
An inbound Green Line train at Riverside in December 2018
Location331 Grove Street, Auburndale, Massachusetts
Coordinates42°20′14″N 71°15′08″W
Owned byMassachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Line(s)Highland Branch
Platforms1 side platform, 1 island platform
Tracks2
Connections MBTA Bus: 558
MWRTA: MassBay Riverside Shuttle, Route 20 Shuttle
Construction
Parking925 spaces ($6.00 fee)
21 accessible spaces
Bicycle facilities48 spaces
Disabled accessYes
History
OpenedJuly 4, 1959
Traffic
Passengers (2011)2,241 (daily boardings)[1]
Services
Preceding station MBTA Following station
Terminus Green Line Woodland
toward Government Center
Former services
Preceding station New York Central Railroad Following station
Wellesley Farms
toward Albany
 Boston and Albany Railroad Main Line Auburndale
toward Boston
Terminus Highland Branch Woodland
toward Boston

Riverside station is home to a scale model of the dwarf planet Pluto in the Boston Museum of Science's community-wide solar system model.[2]

History
Trolleys at Riverside Terminal in September 1965
Map of Riverside station and yard showing current and former platform locations

Through 1958, when the Highland Branch was served by the New York Central's Boston and Albany Railroad, Riverside station was at the junction between the Highland Branch and the B&A main line (now the Framingham/Worcester Line). The MTA built a large commuter parking lot with a new brick station at the center and opened the branch to streetcar service on July 4, 1959. In 1995, new elevated platforms were built at the north end of the yard and the 1959-built station used as a bus terminal. The 1995-built platforms were raised slightly above track level; these made the station handicapped accessible when low-floor trolleys arrived in 2002.

Riverside is the only surface-level Green Line station aside from Lechmere with a prepayment (fare controlled) platform area. This allows passengers to board at all doors. Fare control began during morning peak hours only when the current platforms opened in 1995, and full-time in 2006 when the CharlieCard fare card system was introduced.

A track connection still exists with the main line; catenary is installed up to the junction for offloading trolleys delivered by the railroad onto the light rail network. On October 20, 1996, severe flooding overflowed the banks of the Muddy River and flooded the Green Line subway from the western portals to Boylston. From October 23 to 25, a commuter rail shuttle was run from a temporary platform at Riverside to South Station using the old track connection.[3]

In October 1997, Riverside was identified as a possible site for a parking garage, but this was not pursued.[4] On February 12, 2009, the MBTA authorized an 85-year lease of a portion of the Riverside parking lots for a mixed-use development. As originally planned, this development was to contain 420,000 sq ft (39,000 m2) of office space, 60,000 sq ft (5,600 m2) of retail space, and 190 residential units.[5] In late 2019, the city rezoned the site to allow for a larger development.[6] As of 2020, plans call for 254,000 sq ft (23,600 m2) of office space, 39,000 sq ft (3,600 m2) of retail space, 582 residential units, a 150-room hotel, and a 1,990-space parking garage. The station will be modified with two elevators, new ramps, and a new canopy structure. A parcel at the southwest end of the yard, originally to be used for the development, will be retained by the MBTA for yard expansion beginning around 2024.[6]

In 2014, the state announced plans Riverside would be the terminus of a proposed DMU Indigo Line to South Station, via the former track connection, but the plans were cancelled in 2015.[7][8]

Station layout
Aerial view of the Riverside Terminal complex in November 2015
P
Platform level		 Westbound ←      Green Line termination track
Island platform
Eastbound →      Green Line toward Government Center (Woodland) →
Side platform
G Ground level Exit/entrance, buses, parking, fare control

Bus connections

MBTA bus route 558 runs as a partial express to downtown Boston from Riverside. The 500 (discontinued) and 555 (cut back to Central Square, Waltham as the 553) routes formerly ran to Riverside as well.

Intercity bus services to and from Boston, including Greyhound Lines, Peter Pan Bus Lines, Go Buses, and Megabus, offer occasional stops at Riverside. This service was temporarily suspended in early 2010, but was reinstated that October.[9][10]

References
  1. "Ridership and Service Statistics" (PDF) (14th ed.). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 2014.
  2. "Community Solar System Official Passport" (PDF). Boston Museum of Science. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
  3. Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). NETransit.
  4. "INDEPENDENT STATE AUDITOR'S REPORT ON CERTAIN ACTIVITIES OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY: JULY 1, 1996 TO JULY 31, 2001" (PDF). Auditor of the Commonwealth. April 3, 2002.
  5. "Riverside Station Lease Approved". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 12 February 2009. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
  6. Henderson, Richard (June 22, 2020). "Riverside Transit-Oriented Development" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
  7. Annear, Steve (9 January 2014). "Take A Ride On The MBTA's 'New Indigo Line' In 2024". Boston Magazine. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  8. Stout, Matt (20 June 2015). "Charlie Baker derails T trains". Boston Herald. Archived from the original on 27 July 2015.
  9. Thomas, Sarah (19 October 2010). "NYC-bound buses will roll from Newton and Cambridge". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
  10. "Riverside bus service reinstated". Wicked Local. 19 October 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
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