My Commute: Commuter Rail from Porter to South Acton

I recently got an Android phone and one of the applications I've been playing around with is call My Tracks. It uses the phone's GPS to record a trip for you, capturing speed, distance, and elevation gain. Here is the result from a typical morning commute taking train 453, the 7:27 outbound from North Station.


View Porter To South Acton in a larger map
If you click on the marker at the end of the route (left side of the map), it displays the distance and speed data from the trip and shows a graph of elevation (you may want to open the map first in a larger window). On my phone there is also a nice chart showing speed plotted against distance, which clearly shows each of the stops my train makes on its way out to South Acton. Hopefully I can figure out a way to get this displayed in the future.

MBTA Makes Boston Traffic More Bearable

The Texas Transportation Institute recently released its annual report ranking 439 urban areas according to the amount of time lost by residents stuck in traffic during their commute. Boston ended up tied with Dallas-Fort Worth for 7th worst traffic in the US. The average commuter lost 48 hours in 2009 to congestion. The Boston Globe ran an article last Sunday that highlights the fact that without the T, things would be much worse. Having a significant portion of commuters riding public transit led to a savings of 32.9 million hours, or about 8 hours per person for the year. Nationally, the MBTA ranked 5th in terms of hours saved.

Christopher's

Christopher's Restaurant & Bar - 1920 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge (Porter)

Happy New Year!  One of my goals is to be more regular with my posting, but first I'll have to catch up on last year.  I am also making an effort to more fully explore my new neighborhood of Porter Square so here is the first of several posts to come for this area.

I went there with my roommate Jay for dinner one night last month.  I don't know why, but I went in expecting a nondescript, somewhat stuffy restaurant with outdated furnishings and menu.  Instead, I found the makings of a good neighborhood hangout.  There is a bar that wraps around most of the middle of the restaurant and the atmosphere was fairly lively.  The menu is classic American with an emphasis on their burgers and enough flair to make it interesting.  Like many places in Porter, the prices are very reasonable so it will be easy to go back.