I ran into a couple of frustrations this weekend in my goal to live a sustainable, transit oriented lifestyle. Sometimes I just have to realize that (at least in the US) the convenience of a car is, well..., convenient.
It started Friday. My car is in the shop and I was borrowing my friends car so I didn't want to drive it farther than the train. I was going to my friend's place in Lowell. Coming from Hudson, that's probably a 25 minute trip by car. However, I ended up taking the commuter rail all the way to North Station (53 mins) and then immediately got another train to Lowell (43 mins). I'm not saying it was unpleasant: I got to read, nap, and in general rest, but it would have been nicer and more effective to have driven. Obviously, it would be great if we had more than a spoke and wheel transit system. Think train lines paralleling the major north/south highways, but that is not likely to happen in my lifetime. It would be great if Boston could complete the long sought Urban Ring, nevermind a regional version.
Part 2 of my frustrations came today. I went up to Tewksbury for Father's Day. Since I usually don't have a car, I make the trip up to Wilmington on the Lowell line and my parents pick me up there. It works out pretty well. A Lowell line train travels in and out of the city on a two hour cadence on weekends. This isn't necessarily the most convenient approach if we're going to encourage off peak transit, but I digress. The real pain is getting from Davis to that train. I live about 3 miles from the West Medford station. There is a bus (route 94) that goes from Davis right past that station. However, it is apparent to me that the MBTA doesn't even try to sync up the running of the bus with the running of that train. It runs every hour and this morning I got to West Medford at 11:37 for my 12:11 train. Talk about time to kill. My other option is to spend 25-30 minutes taking the Red and Green lines to North Station, which isn't exactly appealing either. This is just a case where a more system level plan could potentially benefit riders.
2 comments:
I know this is mad late but dont put down the entire US because public transportation in mass and specifically boston is so terrible. there are other cities where ppl get around and get their weekend chores done very efficiently.
Thank you for continuing to be about the only poster on this blog, Ajay. I have and will continue to laud the NYC area for its best in the nation transit network. However, it's no secret that most of America does not enjoy access to efficient, comprehensive public transit. I'm sure even NYC has things to work on, but the goal of this blog is to highlight concerns and improvement opportunities in MA and the nation as a whole.
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