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
WRTA: 14 (Union Station Hub – Showcase Cinemas/Holden via Burncoat Street)
RTAs often end their routes at malls, but Showcase Cinemas is a new one! Unfortunately, Sam and I weren't able to catch the 14 from its true start point, so we began at its second stop, the Porter and Chester Institute. On weekdays, buses deviate directly into it, but...
WRTA: 30 (Union Station Hub – West Boylston Walmart via Grove Street and West Boylston Street)
We're going to the West Boylston Walmart on the 30. Fun stuff. Nice wrap! We headed out onto Foster Street from the Central Hub, then we turned onto Major Taylor Boulevard. There were lots of office buildings with parking lots along here, and they continued as we...
GUEST POST: GATRA: South Bellingham Commuter Shuttle
Of all the guest posts I would've thought to receive, the GATRA South Bellingham Commuter Shuttle was very low on that list! Let's see what Jules has to say about this rare commuter route, run by everyone's favorite RTA, GATRA! This is the ugly duckling route of...
WRTA: 26 (Union Station Hub – Great Brook Valley via Lincoln Street)
It's time for the 23's cousin route, the 26! We'll be covering a lot of familiar territory in this review, but we start off at a unique section: Great Brook Valley. The bus at Great Brook Valley. The route technically starts at the Great Brook Valley Pool, but Sam and...
Chelsea, Bellingham Square, Box District, Eastern Avenue, and Airport
Well, we established yesterday that the SL3 as a route isn't as great as it might've seemed to be. Are the stations any better? Let's take a gauntlet-style look at all of them! The inbound platform at Chelsea. We begin with Chelsea, and we'll use this one to describe...
SL3 (Chelsea Station – South Station via Airport Station)
I sprinted out of my house at 4:17 AM. I arrived at the empty main street...no cars going in either direction. Well, Sam said to wait at an inbound bus stop, so I headed over to the closest one. No cars coming. *BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP*!!!!! A vehicle was...
WRTA: 23 (Union Station Hub – East Mountain Street via Lincoln Street)
There's a 23 leaving from the Hub in 9 minutes? Alright, let's do the 23. Excellent. We headed up Foster Street, then we turned onto Major Taylor Boulevard. This was a wide road that passed a lot of office buildings with big parking lots, as well as the DCU convention...
Logan Airport Shuttle: 99 (Back Bay Logan Express)
Yeah, this is technically a Logan Express, but they refer to it as the 99 on certain countdown clocks, so we're calling it a Logan Airport Shuttle. No, I'm not going to do the other Logan Express routes. Okay, let's go! Boarding at Hynes. The route starts at a...
Wyoming Hill
So...a four-minute bus ride from Wyoming Hill to Oak Grove is the difference between spending $6.25 to get into Boston and spending $2.25 to get into Boston. Uhhh...well, if you really want to take Option 1, you'll be using Wyoming Hill. Yup, it's another basic...
Melrose Cedar Park
Okay, this station definitely used to be called "Melrose/Cedar Park," with a slash. I guess we're not doing that anymore? Alright. Fine. Let's look at Melrose Cedar Park. One sign says "Melrose-Cedar Park" and the other one says "Melrose Cedar-Park"!...
North Wilmington
Oh...well, that's what I get for complaining about Ballardvale. North Wilmington proves that things can always get worse. See that raised bit over there? That's the platform. So yeah...what have we here? There's a section with a Haverhill Line schedule, a wastebasket,...
Ballardvale
This is one of those Commuter Rail stations that just begs the question: how? How can a station be this badly designed? Ballardvale is truly an enigma! Huh... Okay, Ballardvale clearly used to be two tracks, because the platform is abnormally wide. It's just this...
Pawtucket Transit Center
The Pawtucket Transit Center is a strange little place. It's not as raucous and busy as Kennedy Plaza, but it's not like it's an oasis from crazy occurrences. Case in point... There was a fight going on at that shelter, so Sam and I hung back to get this picture. The...
RIPTA: 72 (Weeden/Central Falls)
Want to get from Providence to Pawtucket? Well, don't use the 72! This route is all for the neighborhoods in between. Not actually our bus - this was earlier in the day. We left Kennedy Plaza on Exchange Street, which went over the Woonasquatucket River and led us to...
GUEST POST: Service Change: Transit in Melbourne
My girlfriend Zofia recently came back from a trip to Australia, and she wanted to report on the transit there. Here we go! Melbourne, Australia: where to start with it? We could talk about all the great places you can go and eat, but I’ve been told that’s not the...