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
Bonus Review: 89/93 (Clarendon Hill – Haymarket Station via Charlestown
What's the best way of getting to South Station for a 5:30 AM train to Providence? How about walking to Clarendon Hill for the early-morning 89/93 trip that only departs at 4:33 AM? Sounds good to me! The Clarendon Hill busway is weird at this time... It was an...
MVRTA: 21 (Andover Shuttle)
What the heck is the 21, MVRTA? Deviations, weird headways, and PVTA Syndrome...oh my! Oh, and it goes to a senior center. Even better! We left the North Andover Mall onto Winthrop Ave, but we soon turned onto Waverly Road, the first cross street we came across. It's...
MVRTA: 33 (North Andover)
Whenever my train gets into Lawrence, I always check the 33 schedule to see if there's a bus coming to the station to take me to Lawrence. So far, I haven't been lucky, being forced to do the rather long walk to the Buckley Transportation Center. Still, the 33 has...
MVRTA: 1 (Lawrence – Methuen – Haverhill)
Welcome to the busiest route on the MVRTA! This bad boy takes a direct shot from Lawrence to Haverhill, via Methuen...in which it has to make a bunch of deviations. Okay, the shot is mostly direct. The bus at the Washington Square Transit Station. We went down...
MVRTA: Washington Square Transit Station
Located right in downtown Haverhill, the Washington Square Transit Station is the hub for all of the MVRTA's routes in the city. But here's the million-dollar question: is it nice like the Costello Transportation Center, or disgusting like the Buckley Transportation...
MVRTA: 51 (Haverhill – Amesbury)
In comparison to the last route, the 51 is a rather straight connector between Amesbury and Haverhill. It's also the busiest route based out of Haverhill, despite the fact that it runs more infrequently than the other Haverhill routes. Weird! The bus in Amesbury,...
MVRTA: 54 (Amesbury – Newburyport – Salisbury)
Why just take the 83 back from Salisbury Beach when I could do a different route back? Say, a route that does a bunch of deviations and takes three times as long? Looks like the 54 is right up my alley! What an odd-looking background. Because it was summer, the start...
MVRTA: Costello Transportation Center
It's a little odd to call something a "Transportation Center" when it only serves three routes, one of which has four trips per day only in the summer. This is a legitimate place, though, and it's not to be underestimated. This review took place over the course of...
MVRTA: 83 (Salisbury Beach/Hampton Beach)
This is the problem with hyper-riding a million routes at the end of the summer: now I'm stuck reviewing a summer-only route in December! Oh well, this is a pretty cool one. The 83 runs from Lawrence allllllllllll the way to Hampton Beach! The bus at Buckley, with...
Liam Asks…
What's your favorite rapid transit line on the MBTA? I'll do you one better, Liam, and rank them from worst to best! 5. Silver Line I mean, if you want to even count the Silver Line, of course it's rock bottom. Although the Waterfront routes have their little subway...
MWRTA: 9 (Worcester Road)
Staples headquarters at 8 PM is a lonely place. I was just standing around, waiting for the 9 and hoping this last 8:10 trip actually existed. If it didn't, I had no idea what I would do. 8:10 came and went. So did 8:15. Was I stuck forever? Finally, the bus showed up...
MWRTA: 7C (Inner City Marlborough)
To keep the 7's schedule from being too infrequent, the MWRTA has decided to relegate all the Marlborough deviations to a separate route, the 7C. Is this route any good? No, no it isn't. Another day, another minibus. We made our way onto Newton Street from...
Maggie Asks…
What would you say is the route on the MBTA that requires the most work? This is a very interesting question, and my default answer for this one is always the 70. This is a very long, very important route from Central Square, Cambridge to Central Square, Waltham. Or...
MWRTA: 7 (Southborough/Marlborough)
Another MWRTA route that has the potential to be great but is dragged down by a horrible schedule? I'm really getting sick of these. It's the 7! The back of the bus at the Banana Lot. From the Banana Lot, we made our way up to Franklin Street, an industrial road. That...
MWRTA: 4S (South)
Oh man, these MWRTA are starting to get me down. Alright, here's another completely useless one, the 4S. Minibuses galore. We went down Blandin Ave and merged onto Irving Street, then Loring Drive. It was mostly industrial until we came to one of the largest parking...