Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Buses

SORRIEST BUS STOPS 2021: Trenton vs. Narberth

12:01 AM EDT on March 19, 2021

This is the third first-round matchup in the Sweet 16 round of our annual Sorriest Bus Stop contest (voting continues through Saturday at 4 p.m. Eastern). Polls are still open on one first-round bout, Lynchburg vs. Queens. In our previous first-round battle, Quebec City advanced to the Abominable Eight with a complete destruction of Philadelphia. (Full bracket below.)

There's just something unnatural about a society that neglects to provide even the most basic dignities to its bus riders — especially when a city straight up doesn't do anything about the overgrown plantlife around a stop.

Today, we're pitting two weed-choked waiting areas against one another in our quest to find the sorriest (or should we say seediest?) stop around.

Read up on two nominations that definitely belong in the bush league, and scroll to the bottom to vote for which one should advance to the Atrocious Eight.

Trenton's Grassy Disaster

Believe it or not, B-movie cinephiles, this photo is not a still from the paranormal horror film In the Tall Grass. And we're willing to bet that not even Stephen King and Joe Hill would be caught dead at this sorry stop:

EwDvRYPXMAQz3Qx

Located right on the line between the near-Detroit suburbs of Trenton and Riverview, Mich. (contrary to that Google Maps tag in the corner, our nominator says this stop's on the Trenton side of the street), this overgrown embarrassment is located on a 35-mile-per-hour residential street with no sidewalk, no shelter, no bench. There is a sign, but you might have to stand on your toes to see it above that comically tall grass.

And we've gotta talk about what's behind the curtain of foliage, too: a large limestone quarry. Studies have shown that environmental "exposure to dust from quarrying activities could pose health dangers to the population living nearby" ... and probably those waiting for the bus nearby, too.

After Trenton made the Substandard 16, nominator Matt let us know that this stop will actually be eliminated soon due to service changes that will re-route the line. Let's hope that the stops along the new route are a little more considerate of their riders' basic needs — so vote for this stop ... if you want SMART Bus (@smartbusorg) to remember it as a strong example of what not to do next time.

Narberth's Vegetation Abomination

What's worse: a bus stop you can barely see thanks to a wall of grass, or a bus stop you can barely stand at, thanks to a mess of weeds wrapped around a guardrail?

Narberth 2

Located in the Philadelphia suburb of Narberth, Pa. — yes, two different stops in the larger SEPTA network made the Sorry Sixteen — this stop is located in a residential area less than half a mile from a nature conservancy. And nature is definitely in full effect here: as our nominator notes, if you're even able to clamber over the guardrail to get out of the narrow road, you'll find yourself "standing in the tall vegetation and mud with a huge hill behind you."

Your other choice? Waiting in 45 mile per hour traffic on a steep road that provides one of the only points of access to the I-76 interstate in the area. And of course, there's no sidewalk, or even a shoulder.

Like Trenton's Grassy Disaster, this Vegetation Abomination doesn't have the highest ridership. But because folks in the suburbs deserve access to high-quality bus stops, too, we thought it deserved a place on this list.

Okay, folks. If you had your choice between these sorry stops, would we find you in your field of grass? Or would you be waiting in the weeds? Voting is open until Saturday at 4 p.m. Eastern time.

[poll id="175"]

Here's the first bracket so far, in case you're playing along at home.

SBS2021 (4)

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Why We Care About Some Transportation Tragedies More Than Others

Why do we respond to major transportation disasters with so much urgency — and why don't we count our collective car crash epidemic among them?

March 28, 2024

The Toll of History: MTA Board Approves $15 Congestion Pricing Fee

New York City's first-in-the-nation congestion pricing tolls are one historic step closer to reality after Wednesday's 11-1 MTA board vote. Next step: all those pesky lawsuits.

March 28, 2024

Take Thursday’s Headlines Home, Country Roads

Heat Map reports on why rural Americans are resisting electric vehicles, and why it might not matter much for the climate.

March 28, 2024

Guest Commentary: Traffic Engineers Must Put Safety Over Driver Throughput

No other field would tolerate this level of death and destruction. The tragedy of West Portal is more evidence that the traffic engineering profession is fundamentally broken.

March 27, 2024
See all posts