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
238 (Quincy Adams Station – Holbrook/Randolph Commuter Rail Station)
We're really in the home stretch here! Ironically, despite this being a proper MBTA bus review, the route in question is one of the most suburban ones in the system! That's not to say the ridership isn't there, though - let's talk about the 238. Not the 238 I rode - I...
West Hingham
Oh boy, an Old Colony station...but not just any Old Colony station. That's right, we're looking at the Greenbush Line today! The Greenbush Line: taking the tried-and-true concept of sticking stations in the middle of nowhere with huge parking lots, but...
Rural Ride (Trailer)
Nathan and I got up at 5 AM to take Amtrak to a rural place to ride a rural route. No, I'm not telling you what we tried to ride! Enjoy the trailer and stay tuned...
Harvard Shuttle: River Houses B (Harvard Square – Quad – Memorial Hall – Lamont)
During the day, getting to Mather House is pretty simple - all you do is board the Mather Express and it'll take you there. But once the clock strikes 4:30, things spiral out of control when the route gets replaced by the (awkwardly-titled) River Houses shuttles....
Ayer (feat. the Circus Train!)
This station sucks. Being stuck here for 4 and a half hours sucks. Sure, there was a nice reward in the end, as the title's parenthetical remark suggests, but...this station still sucks. Wow, that's a lot of railfans! Alright, let's start with the outbound platform....
MART: Gardner – Wachusett Commuter Shuttle
Poor ol' Gardner is a really isolated city for transit, and there's no easy way of getting from there to Boston...well, until Wachusett Station opened, that is! And sure, that station still uses the "drive and park" mindset that all modern Commuter Rail stations have,...
MART: MART ITC Gardner
"ITC" stands for "Intermodal Transit Center," right? I mean, what the heck else could it stand for? The "MART ITC Gardner" has to be the central bus hub for all of the system's Gardner routes! That's gotta be it, right? It's...it's gonna be good, right? It's gonna...
MART: Winchendon Link
Alright, everyone, raise your hands if you've ever heard of Winchendon, Massachusetts! Anyone? Anyone? Yeah, neither had I until I rode this strange little shuttle. Who the heck thought that a link from Gardner to Winchendon would actually get a few people? The bus...
MART: Intercity/MWCC
A route from Fitchburg to Gardner sounds really useful! After all, Gardner is pretty skimpy in the transit department, so something connecting it to a bigger city is a good idea, and one that seems like it would result in good ridership. Is the awkwardly-titled...
The MBTA’s Mock-Up Orange Line Car!
Well, it's not every day you see a train car in the middle of City Hall Plaza! For the past three days, the T has had a 2/3-scale mock-up of one of the new Orange Line cars that will be entering service in 2018-2019, and it was amazing. Time for a multitude of...
MART: 5 (Intermodal Center – Parkhill Plaza – Central Plaza)
This is a route designed to waste everybody's time. No matter where you want to go on the 5, there is almost no doubt that you will have to suffer a ride far longer than it should be. How could a route be so inefficient? Read on, dear reader! The bus, as seen from...
MBTA Announces Private Company to Take Over Bus System
It's no secret that the MBTA is in desperate financial waters right now. The T has been looking for any way to cut costs, and they've often turned to privatization to do so. The Commuter Rail, for example, is operated by Keolis, while the door-to-door RIDE service is...
RIPTA: 17 (Dyer/Pocasset)
Remember how the 19 allowed me to discover the majestic land known as Walmart? Well, now we're riding its sister route, the 17. I wonder if it has any more amazing big box stores to discover! Oh...Stop & Shop is this route's terminus? Weeeeeeeeeeeee... That's a...
RIPTA: 18 (Union Avenue)
The 31 is one of RIPTA's most frequent and well-used routes. However, more than half of it is shared with another route, the 18. The 18 is not nearly as frequent... The bus coming into Kennedy Plaza. Leaving Kennedy Plaza, we made our way onto Washington Street. It...
RIPTA: 78 (Beverage Hill/Newport Ave)
Oh boy, Beverage Hill! I've heard rumors that it's a magical land full of beverages of all shapes and sizes! Orange juice, milk, soda...and some alcohol for the older folks *wink*. Well, I cannot wait to discover if these rumors are true! The 78 is our bus today,...