The blog that started it all! Check out reviews of every bus route and train station in Boston, as well as ongoing reviews of the regional bus systems in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Recent Posts from Miles on the MBTA
226 (Columbian Square – Braintree Station)
Day two of new MBTA routes, and we're heading down to Braintree to ride the first 226 ever! Oh wait...the first trip leaves before the first Red Line train gets there. Huh, okay, hang on... Day two of new routes, and we're heading down to Braintree to ride the second...
61 (North Waltham – Waltham Center)
Isn't it great that this service change fell on a Sunday? Since the 226 doesn't run on Sundays, I'm able to get day-one reviews of both that and the other (seven-days-a-week) new route introduced this rating that we'll be talking about today: the 61. Perfect! The last...
Guide to the MBTA’s Winter 2020 Schedule Changes (BETTER BUS PART 2!)
Schedules have been released! It's Better Bus Part 2! We've got some brand-new routes; we've got some cut routes; and we've got a myriad of little schedule changes in between the big ones that don't really matter but that I still have to talk about anyway! Let's go!...
Holbrook/Randolph
Why is my last ever Commuter Rail station review of Holbrook/Randolph, a station that's less than 15 miles from Boston, gets served by every single Middleborough/Lakeville Line train, and has connections to two, count 'em, two local bus routes? The world may never...
BRTA: 21 (Lee/Great Barrington)
Despite reviewing the BRTA's hub at Pittsfield first, my friend and I didn't actually start our day there. Instead we parked at Fairgrounds Plaza, the first stop of the 21, which we took toward Pittsfield at the beginning of the day. If you're looking for gorgeous...
Ari and Miles rate Boston Magazine’s “40 Ideas”
There's no post tonight...on this blog. But check out the collab I did with Ari "Amateur Planner" Ofsevit over on his blog - we review Boston Magazine's "40 ideas to save transportation in Boston"! Each one gets a score from 1-10, and an often snarky explanation why!...
Pittsfield (Amtrak)
Well, now that we've finished the FRTA, there's nowhere else to go but west. It's time to tackle the BRTA, the westernmost RTA in the state, covering a big vertical rectangle of land spanning from Williamstown to Great Barrington. But before we can get to the system...
Service Change: A Day in Virginia (Richmond and Hampton Roads)
So you can take Greyhound from Philly to the Hampton Roads area for a little over 30 bucks one-way? And you can do overnight buses each way so you don't have to spend the night anywhere? And one itinerary involves a five-and-a-half hour layover in Richmond, allowing...
FRTA: 22 (BlueLink Connector)
Why does the 22 have a colored name? Does that make it important? Because it only runs four trips a day. It doesn't serve Greenfield. It almost entirely duplicates other routes. No, doesn't seem important to me. The bus approaching at Turners Falls. We boarded this...
FRTA: 24 (Crosstown Connector)
The 24 is probably the FRTA's best route, but our experience on it was one of the worst. It all started when a real clunker of a bus showed up at the JWO Transit Center about 25 minutes late... This'll be a fun ride! Hopefully. So the 24 runs from Greenfield Community...
Service Change: Scotland, Part 3 – The Highlands
Click here for Part 1, click here for Part 2. Our final part of the Scotland series takes us to the northern tip of Great Britain...and beyond. But we first begin in Inverness, the largest city in the Highlands (with slightly under 47,000 residents) and one with a...
GATRA: GATRA GO
Gotta tell ya, I was not anticipating a GATRA ride on my return to Boston. "Wanna do the GATRA GO when we get to Foxboro?" Jules asked on the train there. YES, OF COURSE I DO. Oh boy, time for a GATRA trip, and it's a doozy! Okay, get ready for a bunch of phone...
Foxboro (and the “Foxboro Pilot”!)
Alright, strap in for a long preamble: for me, getting the first trip on a new MBTA Commuter Rail service ain't how it used to be. While I could've attempted to ride the first inbound train at 5:47 (potentially winning Patriots tickets, apparently), I wanted to do the...
FRTA: 31 (Northampton/Greenfield)
By the time my friend and I got to this point in the day, we had been seeing a lot of fields and tiny towns. The 31 was kinda like going back to civilization - it travels to the giant metropolis of Northampton! Okay, maybe it's not that big, but it is the largest town...
FRTA: 41 (Charlemont/Greenfield)
Welcome to the most rural route that the FRTA operates! The 41, the system's westernmost route, runs out to a tiny town called Charlemont that I wouldn't have heard of if the 41 didn't end there. Also, it only runs four times per day... The minibus comes rolling in....