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
222 (Quincy Center Station – East Weymouth via Bicknell Square)
The Washington Street corridor east of Quincy is quite a busy one. I've already covered one of its well-used routes, the 220, which goes out to Hingham. Now we'll be taking a look at the other main one on this corridor, the 222. This bus stays in Weymouth for the most...
230 (Quincy Center Station – Montello Commuter Rail Station via Holbrook and Braintree Station)
Welcome to the southernmost bus route on the MBTA! The 230 is one of those suburban trips that stays on the same road most of the time and goes through multiple towns. So, is everyone ready for some Brockton-Holbrook-Braintree-Quincy action? Let's do this. The bus at...
Montello
Alright, let's switch gears to a proper Commuter Rail line. As one of the more transit-dependant cities in the greater Boston area, it makes sense that Brockton has more than one Commuter Rail station. The northernmost one in the trio of Brockton stops is the...
Uphams Corner
Uphams Corner Station is directly served by the 15, one of the busiest bus routes on the MBTA. Plus, there are some other routes a few blocks away, at Uphams Corner proper, that get quite a bit of ridership as well. So why do all these buses succeed where the...
Newmarket
Well, I have to give the city an A for effort. They took an industrial area and completely turned it around by putting fancy new signs up that advertise it as...an industrial area. Newmarket even has a website, which calls the neighborhood "Boston's most vibrant...
17 (Fields Corner Station – Andrew Station via Uphams Corner and Edward Everett Square)
The 17 is a short little route, taking only around 15 minutes to do the whole thing. Running between two Red Line stations, though, no one would take this from beginning to end. Like many other MBTA routes connecting two stations on the same line, it's all about what...
19 (Fields Corner Station – Kenmore or Ruggles Station via Grove Hall and Dudley Station)
This one never made sense to me - why would a route that runs through such transit-starved neighborhoods run weekdays-only? I guess it's because almost the whole of the 19's length is shared with other routes, but it was always a little weird to me. But this route...
CT3 (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center – Andrew Station via BU Medical Center)
Considering that the CT3 was on the chopping block in 2012, I assumed it would be pretty bad. I mean, I'm not a fan of the crosstown routes anyway, since they supposedly offer "limited stops" but really don't skip that many. So imagine my surprise when I found out...
Thomas Asks…
"I don't know if you've heard but the MBTA is letting the public choose the new trains' paint schemes. I'd like to know which ones are your favorite." Yes, I did take that survey! Here's the link for anyone who hasn't taken it yet, and now let's get into the ones I...
Andrew
Um...I went to Andrew once before. I didn't review it then, but since I went again, I'll review it now. Yup. Okay, it's a bad sign when a station's so boring I can't think of an intro for it! Let's just get into the review. Oh, come on, sun, why do you have to get in...
Sullivan Square
Okay, I'll start off by saying this: Sullivan Square is admittedly better than Community College. I mean, they're quite similar aesthetically. They both have center platforms, they're both under the elevated I-93 structure, and they both use copious amounts...
Chelsea
Whenever I return to Boston, I like to come back with a bang. So, who's up for a Commuter Rail station on its last legs? Chelsea Station has always been a bit of an outcast, a lone Commuter Rail station where there ought to be proper transit. That's being...
Service Change: Portugal, Part 15 – TST Bus 161 (Costa da Caparica – Lisbon (Pca. do Areeiro) via Alcantara)
You'll remember how on the way to Costa da Caparica, we used the ferry-bus combo, which was pretty long. I will say, however, that that way is useful if you're coming from downtown Lisbon. However, if you're staying further north (like we were), your best option by...
Service Change: Portugal, Part 14 – TST Bus 124 (Cacilhas – Costa da Caparica)
Okay, so it turns out there's a faster bus from Cacilhas to Costa da Caparica, but we ended up on the slow one. That made things more interesting, though, since we got to see a bunch of local neighborhoods. Of course, maps on the TST website are pretty much...
Service Change: Portugal, Part 13 – Lisbon Ferry (Cais do Sodre – Cacilhas)
When we got back to Lisbon, we only had one full day left in Portugal, with one thing we wanted to do: go to the beach. Now, Cascais is the city's main touristy beach, but we found out that the water there can get so polluted that you can't even swim in it! So we...