State Rep. Thomas Walsh can sum up an important point quickly, and he hit the nail on the head when he observed the North Shore has been short-changed when it comes to Registry of Motor Vehicles service.
Expressing understandable skepticism, the Peabody Democrat said he won’t be convinced a Registry center is opening at Danvers Crossing until he sees a signed state lease. As Walsh points out, North Shore residents have been the ones inconvenienced by the lack of proximate Registry service.
The decision to close the Registry office at the Liberty Tree Mall forced drivers who could not conduct business online with the Registry to drive to Registry offices in Revere or Wilmington to do business.
Even with extended hours and semi-automated services, the Registry is no day at the beach and the added inconvenience to North Shore drivers has heaped insult onto injury. Drivers and commuters living north of Boston are all too familiar with the experience of making do with fewer transportation options than fellow citizens living south and west of Boston.
As Lynn Mayor Thomas M. McGee is quick to point out, the North Shore lacks the transportation choices that speed other commuters living around Boston into the city and back to their homes.
Semi-reliable commuter rail service serves the North Shore, but riders disembark in Boston at North Station — blocks away from Boston’s Financial District. Subway service ends in Revere at the Wonderland Blue Line station, and Route 1 and Route 1A end in tunnel and Tobin Bridge bottlenecks unknown to drivers who can choose between the Massachusetts Turnpike, Route 3, Interstate 93, or the Orange and Red Lines for highway or mass transit options.
Giving the North Shore transportation options that match the ones enjoyed by other Greater Boston area residents is not an overnight proposition. But basic driver services, including convenient Registry access, should not be a daunting proposition.
To his credit, Walsh fought to get a new Registry office opened in Peabody and a Danvers Registry office at Route 1 and Route 114 would serve Peabody and surrounding communities. After two years of Registry inconvenience, Walsh is right to want to see the ink dry on a contract before he applauds a new North Shore Registry.
