For the first time in about 20 years, Newton now has regular express bus service between Riverside Station and Logan Airport. Blue Apple Bus started service on November 14 with over a dozen buses a day in each direction, at a cost of $15 per ride.
Passengers purchase tickets online, and the tickets are not tied to specific dates, times, or directions. Two checked bags are included with every ticket, and allowance for extra bags or bicycles may be purchased. Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. One-way tickets are valid for 60 days, round trip tickets are valid for 180 days, and unexpired tickets are refundable.
Seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Currently there are plenty of seats both ways between Newton and Logan, and Blue Apple says it is ready to add extra buses between just Newton and Logan if demand requires it. At 2:05PM on Tuesday, November 25, there were plenty of seats on the inbound bus from Riverside to Logan, and Blue Apple spokesperson Sean Curran notes that this is because the company is just starting to get the word out about this new service.
Blue Apple’s Newton service began as a new stop on the company’s existing Mansfield-to-Logan route. Curran said the company has carried over 65,000 passengers on that route since early summer.
Blue Apple chose Riverside in part because of its ample parking and also because, as Curran noted, “the MetroWest area has been woefully underserved” for Logan bus service.
Blue Apple’s pickup and drop-off location at Riverside is a new bus stop in the far back-left of the Riverside parking lot – not by the brick MBTA building that used to be a bus terminal.
The service has started with 13 daily inbound trips from Riverside to Logan Airport (first trip at 3:35AM, last trip at 10:35PM) and 14 daily outbound trips from Logan Airport to Riverside (first trip at 5:45AM, last trip at 1:15AM). Blue Apple service is the same every day – weekdays, weekends, and holidays.
The CEO of Blue Apple Bus is John Cogliano, who is well known in Massachusetts transportation, having previously served as state Secretary of Transportation, chairman of the MBTA, commissioner of state Highway Department, and the Chairman and CEO of the state Turnpike Authority.
“This new daily bus service will increase frequency as the ridership increases,” Cogliano said in a November 12 press release. “[It] is a game-changer for people living in communities surrounding Newton.”
In the release, Cogliano emphasized that the bus service from Newton to Logan Airport is a real solution to the high price of gas and the stressful drive people have traveling to the airport.
“Traveling on a Blue Apple bus to Logan Airport is a safer, greener, and more cost-effective way to travel to your destination. Every Blue Apple bus can take up to fifty-five cars off the road, which reduces local traffic congestion, reduces overall gas consumption, and truly benefits the environment,” Cogliano said.
