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
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...
North Billerica (1000th post!)
Well, this was a surprise! NBC was still with me, and I was worried that North Billerica was going to be boring - apparently, that is absolutely not the case! Looking down the ol' platform. Okay, we'll start with the platform, which is the least interesting part...
THE BIGGEST VIDEO REVIEW WE’VE EVER DONE
CLICK ON THE LINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! https://youtu.be/BgrrPwP0pqY
Cohasset
Cohasset. More Old Colony. Cool. The parking area. The high-level platform is completely and totally standard: it's long, with benches along the whole thing, with a higher concentration under the station's modern shelter. Some paths lead to the parking lot, which has...
LRTA: 3 (South Lowell)
This is the route I reviewed with Rob Michaelson from NBC! And of course, because we had a big camera, the 3 had to be using a minibus! Being crammed onto a tiny vehicle with a big news camera was interesting, but it was a great experience...too bad the...
Nantasket Junction
Nantasket Junction. Old Colony. Let's go. This is about all you need to see. It's a single track, so it's just one platform. There are benches along the whole thing, but there's a higher concentration of them (plus wastebaskets) under the shelter. The station has 495...
RIPTA: URI Services (211 Ram Line, 69 Hill Climber, & 70 Engineering Line)
Time for a gauntlet-style review of all of RIPTA's URI services! Spoilers: they're not too useful. Shh...it's trying to camouflage with the trees! A well-timed 66 from the 210 took Sam and I up to Fairgrounds Road. We got off here and walked down to...