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
435 (Liberty Tree Mall – Central Square, Lynn via Peabody Square)
Okay, I really wish I was doing a review of the 431 right now. When the 435 reaches Lynn, it does a tiny separate loop route, the 431, and then returns outbound. I was planning to take the 431, do the loop, and then take the 435 up to the mall. Unfortunately, things...
Transit Tales: A Rant About Photos, Fun, and Deportation
I was originally going to use this as an intro to my upcoming review of the 435, but no. This needs its own post, because this is ridiculous. So I was in the Lynn Busway, taking pictures of a 431 (previously 435) bus coming in. The driver beckoned me in and started...
Service Change: Florida, Part 5 – The Tri-Rail
The last time I took the Tri-Rail was going south from Delray Beach, all the way down to Fort Lauderdale. This time I took it the other way, as we were using it to get to the West Palm Beach Airport. I've talked about Delray Beach Station in the previous Tri-Rail...
Service Change: Florida, Part 4 – Palm Tran’s Route 70 (Lantana to Delray Beach via Seacrest Boulevard)
Okay, so the "cliffhanger" at the end of my last Florida post was probably obvious. Of course we got off at the Lakes of Delray gated community in order to get onto another bus! This time it was the 70, which would take a different route back to Delray Beach...and...
3rd Anniversary!
Okay, if I'm late for my own blog's 3rd anniversary, what exactly does that mean? Is the anniversary nullified because I failed to address it on the proper day due to large amounts of homework? And if so, does Miles on the MBTA remain 2 years old for another year? And...
Service Change: Florida, Part 3 – Palm Tran’s Route 81 (Delray Beach Crosstown via Atlantic Ave)
Do you like malls? Or how about residential developments where all the houses are the same? If your answer to both of these questions is "no", then...well, you won't be a fan of the 81. Or, indeed, most of South Florida. But I digress. The shelter at Delray Beach. We...
Service Change: Florida, Part 2 – Palm Tran’s Route 1 (Palm Beach Gardens to Boca Raton via US 1)
Palm Tran is the bus system servicing Palm Beach County in Florida - my first notable experience with them was a typo. In the Lake Worth inset on their system map, it says that Route 62 goes to the intracoastal "Sunday's only". "SUNDAY'S"?????? APOSTROPHES ARE NOT...
Service Change: Florida, Part 1 – The WPB 1 Tri-Rail Shuttle
Well, we've just had our first snowfall after some unseasonable warmth. I'm happy to finally see some snow on the ground, but come on, the warm weather was nice! So before I come to terms with the fact that it ain't autumn anymore, let's take a trip to a place where...
Back From Florida!
I was in Florida for the past few days, and I rode some public transportation over there! I'll be doing posts about that in the coming days, so look forward to that.
89 (Clarendon Hill or Davis Square – Sullivan Square Station via Broadway)
Split terminals. Ugh. Yes, I consider it lucky that most of the MBTA's bus routes are linear and only have one terminus. However, there are those unfortunate few that have to deal with two...such as the 89. Much of the route is shared, but on its eastern end, there is...
88 (Clarendon Hill – Lechmere Station via Highland Ave)
This is a pretty hard route to have a catchy intro for. I mean, the 88 is a very simple bus that just gets its job done. It runs mostly through Somerville, with a brief section in Cambridge as it comes into Lechmere. Um...and that's about it. Let's look at the route...
80 (Arlington Center – Lechmere Station via Medford Hillside)
Oh, how I hate the 77 sometimes. After waiting 20 minutes for a bus on a Saturday (when headways should be 10), I ended up just walking from North Cambridge to Arlington Center. And the whole way, I kept checking back to see if a bus was coming, and when one...
14 (Roslindale Square – Heath Street via Dudley Station, Grove Hall, and Jackson Square Station)
The 14 has always struck me as a bit of a weird route. For one thing, its northern terminus is Heath Street, making it the only bus that terminates there (though the 39 goes by that stop, too). For another, the 14's southern terminus is Roslindale, which seems odd....
Roslindale Village
My friend Michael and I had just walked from Central Square, Cambridge all the way down to Roslindale. Sitting in an empty pizza joint eating really bad pizza, we silently looked out the window at Washington Street. Night was falling. Finishing the food, we stepped...
Ruggles
Okay, I certainly had a lot of praise for Mass Ave, going as far as to call it the best station on the Southwest Corridor. I still stand by that, but it has to be said that Mass Ave's southern neighbor, Ruggles, is quite impressive. With an Orange Line station,...