Boston Thread Location • Page 44

Anyone going to the Vundabar /Ratboys show at the Sinclair next weekend? It’s gonna be sick

 

Would be interested in hearing a little more about the public transportation in Boston. By all accounts, Boston is one of the top cities in the US for public transportation. Considering how expensive it is to live in Boston, have you heard that people moving slightly outside the hotspot areas can be confident in the subway and commuter rails?

Seriously thinking about moving there but trying to find out more about some key factors for me. The question is kind of twofold - relying on it to get to work, and also relying on it to get to shows on weekday/weekend nights. Any suggestions, tips, tricks would be very helpful!

 

I’ve never had a problem with the T but I don’t use it every day

 

I used to live in Allston/Brighton area and worked at Mass General Hospital. Took me 1.5 hours each way to get home, in the same city. The subway, green, red, blue, orange lines are incredibly unreliable and inconsistent.

I got a new job at Dana Farber (Fenway area) and moved out to Natick (20-30 minutes west of my old place in the city) and take the commuter rail 30 minutes each way, much more reliable. Granted it’s more expensive for passes, I pay 30 a week, employer takes care of rest. The only gripe I have is that some of the busier trains don’t have enough cars as they should and people have to stand, and these cars aren’t really built for standing. There’s also an express train that gets me home in 20 minutes.

Honestly, moving out of the city, getting a big 2 bed apartment with dining room and porch, allows dogs (I got two), with my gf instead of a 2000 per month studio or 1-bed in a shitty place, was the best thing I ever did.

 

Do we really have one of the top systems in the country? You would *never* guess that based on the conversations about it here

 

The commuter rail is usually pretty reliable but in the winter if there's a lot of snow then they seem to have troubles. We live in NH but my wife used to work in Boston and now works in Cambridge twice a week so she's taken it a bunch. She usually liked it better than driving because it was more reliable than traffic and she could relax on the ride in. But on the days when they'd cancel runs it was miserable for her.

 

I can't say the rankings are due specifically to the T (also includes buses and trolleys), but yup, Boston is always up there.
Most Walkable Cities in the United States, Canada, and Australia on Walk Score
The Best Cities for Public Transportation - SmartAsset
America’s Best Cities for Public Transportation

Then again, so is DC and I can assure you I've had my issues and complaints, which is why I was hoping for some firsthand accounts.

You guys are great. Really appreciate it

 

Where in NH? I've thought about moving to Nashua/Brookline/Hudson to actually get a decent house and commuting in Boston. How does your wife do it?

 

We were in Hudson and just moved to Merrimack a few months ago. She would drive down to Billerica to catch the train into North Station. It's still almost a 2-hour commute both ways so it makes for a long day. I think the worst part of it though is the drive down to the train with the traffic. It's like 45min+ to even get there before the train part of the commute even starts.

There is also a bus that goes from Manchester/Nashua to South Station in a straight shot which she took a lot too. It's a little more unpredictable since it varies based on traffic that day but she would get some naps in the morning taking that.

 

Yikes that's a lot. The more and more I think about it the more I'm not sure we'll do it. Our budget will be around 500k, but even in Metrowest, that's tough.

I work from home a few days a week but who knows if I'll have the same job. I'm kind of specialized, so a lot of the work i'd get with my experience is in Cambridge/Boston.

 

I think it more just proves the point that public transit overall in the country is bad. But Boston's is at least pretty clear and easy to navigate.

 

What do you do at Dana Farber? I'm a patient there. Usually there every two months or so.

 

Bioinformatician. I work in a research lab working on software for sequencing data. I rarely make it out to the main campus (I'm over in Fenway).

It's always nice when I do go to main campus for meetings/other random things.

 

Yeah, it definitely takes its toll. When we had our first daughter she quit the job in Boston and found something in Manchester. But she hated the job so she found a new one that was in Lexington, MA so the commute was a little worse but not terrible. Then a few months into that they relocated her department to Cambridge, but one of the stipulations of doing that was that she would now be able to work from home 3 days a week so she only has to commute 2 days which isn't too bad.

I will say with a 500k budget you can get a really nice house with a good amount of land in southern NH. But if you do look don't forget the property taxes are much higher here than MA.

 

Yeah, in NH it seems we can get a move in ready, really nice 2000+ sqft home for anywhere north of 350k. We'd love to stay in Natick, MA (renting right now), but anything under 500k is like 1500 sqft and needs some updating. Were still a few years away from actually buying we think, and we arent accounting any growth in salaries right now, but we'll see where we are at when the time comes.

I keep making the mistake of checking Zillow everyday...

 

Zillow is insanely addictive and even more so when you start the moving process.

 

My wife and I just bought a house in Maynard this past Fall, so not too far from Natick. We rented in Woburn for a while and looked for over a year all over the place. Our budget was 400k, but everything either went incredibly fast, way over asking, or was not nice at all.

We had never even heard of Maynard until we saw this house pop up on Zillow for 385k so we decided to go check it out. We loved it and after a lot of back and forth we put an offer in. They almost went with the another offer because it was more money with a bigger down payment, but we wrote a real sappy letter so they went with us. Haha.

I’m incredibly thankful they did too. We love it. It’s a small town on the rise and our commutes aren’t bad at all. We didn’t have to do any work to the house either.

Point being, it’s a long, annoying, and stressful process but keep at it. Something will pop up that will be just right.

 

We are looking at Maynard too! I love the center. Seems like an up and coming place. Maynard, Hudson MA, Southborough, Acton, Westborough are all places I look at frequently. Glad you're digging it. Issue is I found a house that be perfect, there's even one in Maynard right now, we just need to save up a little bit more for that pesky downpayment.

 

I feel like Maynard has potential to blow up a bit. It’s small so it’s pretty easy to get everywhere. Route 2 is so close plus you can hit the commuter rail in Acton.

There’s an active effort to build up the mills even more. There’s a new taproom opening soon in addition to Battle Road which is already popular.

They are also converting an old church downtown into a cool space. It’s going to have a yoga studio in it, and also operate as a music venue. I was able to get a tour and it’s gonna be sweet. The room is gorgeous and they’re gonna host a ton of other events too.

They’re also opening a food co-op, just put a ton of money into the local schools, library, and movie theater.

Property taxes are high compared to a lot of places we looked though. Either way, it has sole buzz but keeps the small town charm.

 

You're making me salivate here bud. You had me at taproom and "converting" "old church"

 

I’ve lived in cities in the southwest and southeast and traveled pretty much the entire country. Boston’s systems are absolutely top tier and everyone still finds a way to complain because they’re not perfect. Public transportation is hard to figure out. Maintenance could for sure be better but that’s the American infrastructure story.

I have a theory that transportation on the east coast is better because it’s tailored more to people on foot, whereas west coast cities were built closer to the invention of cars, but I’ve yet to do any actual research on that

 

Well, keep scoping it out!

We haven’t really made any friends in town yet, so it’d be great to have some more more younger people (we’re 32).

Plus I have a fire pit, so it’s a good spot to hang.

Also, I work in Healthcare data too and just listened to Hidden Folk, which I assume is your band. Sounds great! I recently took a break from playing shows but I’ve been playing the open mic in town on occasion to stay fresh. It’s sometimes a weird scene, but can be fun.

 

Ha this all sounds great. We're 26 and 27 but moving out of the city has made us old farts. Pretty much just keep up with our streaming services and our two dogs, go to local bars/taprooms.

And yes, Hiddenfolk is my stuff. We're currently recording a new EP, to be mixed and mastered by Cory Bergeron (guitarist of Safe To Say, he produced and M/M all their stuff as well).

I fire pits.

 

Zillow is addictive, but so is Ikea for me.

 

This snow needs to stop. I can’t take it anymore.