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
MVRTA: 16 (Washington Street/Westgate Plaza)
This will be our last time taking a local bus out of Washington Square, and I am totally okay with that. These Haverhill routes have all been pretty...well, mediocre and boring. The 16 continues that trend. Our final picture here! We went down Washington Street,...
MVRTA: 18 (Riverside)
Oh boy, another twisty one! Alright, 18, do your worst. Washington Square once again. We went down Merrimack Street in the opposite direction of downtown Haverhill, so there were far fewer businesses along the road. It eventually became Water Street as we went by an...
GUEST POST: Windsor Gardens
Windsor Gardens is a station that I've visited but the review for it has yet to be published. In the meantime, let's see what Ryan Norton thinks of it! For my first guest post, I decided to take a look at Windsor Gardens! Located on the Franklin Line, Windsor Gardens...
MVRTA: 13 (Main Street/North Avenue)
Alright, time to take a trip up to our neighbor state to the north, New Hampshire! I've actually ridden this route before as part of an old Service Change post, but now it's time to review it. We're going to find out what the 13 is really like! The bus at...
MVRTA: 15 (Hilldale Avenue/Haverhill Commons)
The next route on our Haverhill list is the 15, a twisty one serving the western neighborhoods of Haverhill. Let's see how it is. Getting on at Washington Square. From the Washington Square Transit Station, we headed straight up Essex Street, more or less avoiding the...
Jules Asks…
With the T trying once again for late-night service, what are your general thoughts about the service area and scope of it? Well, this came out of left field, didn't it? Just so everyone's caught up, the T is planning on contracting out a route for late-night...
MVRTA: 14 (Bradford/Ward Hill)
Okay, the MVRTA's Haverhill weekend routes are insanely annoying to plan around. Sam, Nathan, and I literally had the schedules of each one spread out across a counter at the Washington Square Transit Station trying to figure out what our order had to be to do...
CATA: Green Line (SEASONAL: Blue Gate Meadows Parking Lot – Rockport Loop)
Welp, here we are. Our last CATA route. And luckily, this summer-only "Green Line" Rockport Shuttle is a great one. And of course, the last trip is on one of these buses. I boarded the bus at Rockport Market and we headed up Broadway before turning onto Mount...
CATA: Green Line (Gloucester – Rockport via Eastern Avenue)
For such a low-ridership, inefficient, and primitive system, it's kind of amazing to see how intricately-scheduled the Gloucester to Rockport routes are. They interline the Red and Blue Lines perfectly into the Green Line to allow for hourly service on the latter,...
CATA: Stage Fort Park Trolley (SEASONAL: Stage Fort Park – Downtown Gloucester – Good Harbor Beach – Rocky Neck)
Apparently the Stage Fort Park Trolley has been running for eight years. You would think that would be enough time for people to actually, you know...use it. Oh no... Yes, this thing uses a fake trolley, and it is soooooo much worse than the ones RIPTA uses....
South Station
It's the fifth anniversary of this blog, and we've gotta do something special for it! Here we are: South Station. The biggest station on the MBTA. The busiest station on the MBTA. The last station on the MBTA. Let's. Do. This. Well, this isn't starting us...
CATA: Purple Line (Gloucester – West Gloucester – Essex Town Line)
It turns out that "Essex Town Line" means exactly that: this route starts right at the border between Essex and Gloucester. There's not even a signed stop or a proper loop! The bus literally just bangs a u-turn in the middle of Eastern Ave and comes straight...
CATA: Purple Line (SEASONAL: Ipswich – Essex – Crane Beach)
Reviewing a summer-only route in January...great. The Ipswich-Essex Explorer (say it three times fast!) is Ipswich's summer shuttle to Crane Beach, and that's where 99% of the riders take it. Of course, being the stickler I am, I had to get one of the three...
CATA: Yellow Line (City of Beverly Shuttle)
Who knew Beverly had its own circulator route? And who knew it costs a mere 50 cents to ride, or 25 cents for seniors and people with disabilities? It has an 8 dollar monthly pass! Of course, to get where you want to go on the Yellow Line, you have to sit through...
Rockport
The final stop on the Rockport Line, and its namesake! What kind of epic terminal station does it have? Is it full of amazing amenities? No? Well, okay then... The parking lot. Rockport has a strange layout. The parking lot has 88 free (!) spaces, and it wraps around...