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
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,...
RIPTA: 76 (Central Ave)
RIPTA's routes out of Pawtucket are definitely the sad stepchildren of the system. They generally get worse buses, they almost always have terrible schedules, and their ridership is often lower than the rest of the system. Does the 76 stack up to those expectations?...
Transit Tales: 70 Minutes in Attleboro
If there was ever one redeeming factor about the GATRA, it was that its buses could be reasonably trusted to arrive on time. I never had any doubt that their routes were at least reliable, and even if they were late, it was never more than five minutes or so....
M2C (Coolidge Corner)
So, did you know that a few night M2s run via Coolidge Corner? Yeah, I had no idea, either! I mean, who would suspect? It's just so unexpected that these few random M2s happen to take a vastly different route than their counterparts....
UMass Boston Shuttle: 1 (JFK/Umass – Campus Center)
Longtime readers will definitely have seen this one before - maybe even more than once. But hey, it hasn't gotten a proper review yet, so it's time to take our final look at the route and give it a definitive score! Time to take one final ride on the 1. The beautiful...
Hingham Shipyard
You'd think a new ferry terminal would be at least somewhat of a big deal, but the T apparently didn't think so - this place got practically no fanfare at all! That's why Sam and I had no idea to expect when we headed down to Hingham to see the new Hingham Shipyard...
UMass Boston Shuttle: 3 (Bayside – Campus Center)
Nathan and I had decided on a whim to ride the UMass shuttles as we were approaching JFK/Umass on a Red Line train. Five minutes later, we were scrambling over barriers in the Umass Bayside Lot trying to catch a 3 laying over at the shelter way on the far end of the...