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
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...
RIPTA: 21 (Reservoir/Garden City)
Arghhhh, the 21 is a hard one to sit through. It has a ton of deviations, it takes over 40 minutes to ride, and...blech. Let's just get it over with. Coming into CCRI. Unlike the other Warwick Mall to Providence routes (the 22 and the 30), the 21 begins past the...
RIPTA: 50 (Douglas Ave/Bryant University)
Can the 50 really be considered a Key Corridor Route if only a third of its length gets the frequent service? And the rest of it is basically in the middle of nowhere? Well, I have to review it either way, so let's start at the brutalist outpost known as Bryant...
RIPTA: 92 (RI College/Federal Hill/East Side)
When riding RIPTA, it often seems like Providence doesn't have any...um...nice parts. However, it turns out that they just saved all those neighborhoods for the 92! Takin' the layover. The route begins at Eastside Marketplace, a supermarket that out-Whole Foods Whole...
RIPTA: 33 (Riverside)
A route through the East Providence Transit Tunnel! YES, I love going through there! Where does the 33 go afterwards? Oh...a dead shopping plaza? Huh...I mean, alright, then... A hastily-taken picture while boarding. We headed down Washington Street over the...
RIPTA: 35 (Rumford/Newport Ave)
Well, well, well, we finally return to my first RIPTA route! I was super excited to ride the 35 when I first did my Service Change post on it, but what is the 35 like as a route? Only one way to find out... We're going all the way to Prov, not East Prov! We began in...