Comcast Center Bus service

No ride? No problem
New England concertgoers without cars now have Rockbus, a service that delivers them right to the Comcast Center

By Katie Johnston Chase, Globe Staff | June 13, 2009

MANSFIELD - Getting to the Comcast Center without a car can be a headache. And if you drive, getting out of the crowded parking lot after a concert can be an even bigger one.

Enter Rockbus, a new service to and from the amphitheater that picks up concertgoers at as many as 10 New England locations. The business, launched last month, will give rock fans without wheels a better alternative than the commuter rail. The train runs only until around 10 p.m., about the time most rock bands are just getting warmed up. The bus also has a "priority exit" from the Comcast parking lot, allowing concertgoers to avoid the long waits cars often have to endure.

Business manager Jim McPartlin started kicking around the concept last year after a group of his carless friends tried, and failed, to find a way to travel to the Comcast Center together to see alt-rock band Radiohead.

"It's always been a fairly difficult venue to go to," he said, "especially without a car."

The Rockbus operation is a family affair and has close ties to the Comcast Center. McPartlin is a vice president for concert promoter Live Nation New England, which operates the Comcast Center. His sister serves as communications manager for Rockbus, and her husband is the operations manager/custom music mixer for each bus trip.

Rockbus isn't the first bus to serve the Comcast Center. A service ran from Boston to the venue when it opened as Great Woods Center for the Performing Arts in 1986, said Comcast Center general manager Bruce Montgomery, but it wasn't very efficient. Sometimes a big bus would show up with only a handful of people on board, he said.

Rockbus's Internet sign-up is intended to lessen that possibility. If only a few people shell out $20 to $35 for a ride, the company can run a smaller shuttle - or drop the trip altogether. The size of the bus, and where it picks up passengers, depends on demand. Rockbus has teamed up with AA Transportation in Shrewsbury and has about a dozen buses at its disposal.

Last Saturday, Rockbus ran two buses carrying about 50 fans to the Phish concert, with stops in Manchester, N.H., Woburn, and Braintree. This week, Rockbus added two Boston-area "rally points" - South Station and Harvard Square. It plans to add more pickup points around the region.

"We're trying to aggregate demand so that we can avoid that run-a-bus-with-three-people problem," said McPartlin, who wants to expand the service to other concert venues, and possibly even to events in other states, such as the Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee.

Just don't let the Rockbus name fool you: This is no party bus. There are no disco balls spinning or drinks flowing. In fact, alcohol isn't allowed. On the contrary, the white 44-passenger vehicle looks just like an ordinary bus save for the small "Rockbus" signs taped to the windows and the rock music blaring on the stereo.

Regardless, Rockbus was a godsend for Isaac Lezcano, 18, and Mike McDougal, 17, of Keene, N.H. They were on Rockbus's first trip earlier this month with 11 other Nine Inch Nails/Jane's Addiction fans.

Before they found out about Rockbus on a Nine Inch Nails online forum, Lezcano and McDougal had concocted an elaborate two-day plan to get to the Comcast Center. They were going to take a Greyhound bus to Boston and then get on the commuter rail to Mansfield, hitchhike back to Boston after the show, stay overnight in Boston, then catch a Greyhound back to Keene the next day.

Needless to say, riding the Rockbus from Manchester was much more convenient.

After the concert, the chatter on the bus was all about the show. The general consensus: Nine Inch Nails rocked, Jane's Addiction, not so much.

And the quick exit past all the cars jammed in the parking lot?

"I've never in my life gotten out of that place so fast," said passenger Sean Smith.

Katie Johnston Chase can be reached at johnstonchase@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company