This station was right near the hotel where we were staying at so it was really convenient for us…read more This station was the first American train we took somewhere. We didn't really know what to do at the start because there weren't any instructions of how to purchase a ticket. Apparently you can just put your card to the turnstile and it will credit you for a ride and open the gate. Ignore others jumping the gate. It's not right and others we talked to said eventually people get caught jumping the gate or drafting people through.

I felt like a prisoner being held by from a riot while trying to catch a train at this station…read more Unlike South Station, this feels low brow, like the Penn Station of old. Right near if not attached to the TD Garden and only a handful of eateries. Makes me wonder if there is even a bathroom on the premises. I guess considering it is a commuter rail station that my options are fairly restrictive. A basic station and nothing more.

Easy to use station that runs to either Medford/Tufts or towards North Station and west of that…read more Platform is upstairs and it's accessible by elevator or stairs. Trains come every few minutes and incoming trains are indicated on screen above platform.

After decades, finally Green Line was extended and Lechmere station is new above ground. Because it…read moreis new, it is much better and not as stinky as other old MBTA stations. However, T often stuck here for while. Once the driver had to change at Lechmere and the new one did not come for like 10 minutes. Luckily I only use this station for a severe rainy day.

The Ferry is a great way to get back to downtown Boston after doing the Freedom Trail since it…read moreleaves from Charlestown, the end of the historic route. You get dropped at the Aquarium! My husband warned me that I will get the local attitude at some point, the harshness, the rude behavior. So I was prepared, didn't know when or how. But it did happen! In the person of the ticket checker from the ferry. We bought Charlie card passes for 7 days. On the MBTA site it specified that you can use the ferry with the card pass. Well, the ticket checker on the ferry had a different take. He didn't accept it. Other passengers had the same issues, read the same thing! We all had to buy the $3,70 fare for 1 person, One Way. Luckily, I had cash. I don't have a problem with the rate, I think it's a good deal. But they need to get it together. Also, have a booth at the harbor so we can check on the situation and purchase tickets. Not on the boat, after it started, it's a short ride, so you miss on the fun, on the views. MBTA needs to get it together. Their employee was harsh, angry, ready to fight "No, it's not"- his answer when I mentioned the info on their site. "I had the same conversation with a lady yesterday" (imagine the New England accent). So, yes, people are confused and the brusque, rude person working on the ferry didn't leave a good impression. Luckily, he was the only Boston bad cliche employee type I encountered during my trip! Otherwise, nice views of the city, great ride to take - it's short, doesn't cost much and it's a great sightseeing option! Hope you'll have a better experience! The views of Boston are beautiful, the behavior of the staff, not!

This ferry rocks…read more It's fast, efficient, and you never get stuck in traffic :-). It's $3 to ride one way (Charlestown to Boston or back). It runs every 15 minutes during the week, and less frequently on weekends. You can also bring your bike on it for free. Best part? They sell beer on board. Best. Commute. Ever.

North of Boston, Wellington MBTA station is in Medford and serves the Orange Line. The station does…read morehave a large 1300-space parking garage that is linked to the station with a long pedestrian skybridge that goes over the tracks and a maintenance facility. Overnight parking (up to 10 nights!) is permitted. The station is fully handicapped accessible from the parking garage area. There are audible and visual displays of the next trains in both directions. The ticketing lobby has a number of kiosks for purchasing a ticket or adding value to your CharlieCard. There is a small Dunkin Donuts kiosk just outside the ticketing area. The station is between Assembly (inbound, towards Forest Hills) and Malden Center (outbound towards Oak Grove).

When we were in the Boston area, we used this train station a couple of times. It's not very clean,…read morebut it was very convenient to park there and go to the city and back. Kids 11 and under rode for free, but you have to enter with them right in front of you, we didn't realize that until a worker told us, but we had already used our credit to pay for the kids. We were also told at the station that kids 12 and up have to pay as adults, unless they live in Boston and get a train card at their school.

Loved the fun ride, beautiful views of Boston, the water, great inexpensive way to get on the boat…read more The boat is nice, clean, big enough. Decent seating. Very nice fellow passengers. Can't say the same about the staff! Very rude and unhelpful! But despite that it's the best way to travel by boat in Boston!

The Massachusetts has the best captains, and deck staff. Drinks are generous and reasonable priced…read more If you are driving to Boston from the South Shore you are doing it all wrong . This relaxing way to & from the city is the way to go! Best way to enjoy year round life is from Boston Harbor!

Commuter Bus from Sullivan station to Ruggles through Kendall and Longwood Medical all while being…read moreexpress? Yes please! Where do I sign up? Wait I can't make it work on time if I take this bus? You are kidding right...I thought it was the commuter line from somerville? Damn you MBTA, you cruel temptress. I work in longwood and live in union sq. With the first CT2 hitting union at 6:40-6:42a and the hospital day shift starting at 7 I unfortunately can't use this great resource to get to work. Also the bus stops running before the 7p shift change so I can't even use it to get home either. *I discovered this unfortunate scheduling issue after getting the job. If you are a commuter line and go through a major hospital area then logically you would think to run a bus to accommodate workers for this area. The 7a and 7p shift changes are not exactly a rare or unknown thing. However, if your job starts later this bus line is kind of amazing and is very fast so make sure you are at the bus stop a couple min before your bus app tells you. It only takes the bus about 5min from sullivan to union. From union to kendall is just 10min which is very convenient for getting to the redline. I like this bus line and it is my preferred bus if I am not going to work but could be a more inclusive commuter bus with addition of a bus in the am and one at night *crosses fingers*

People have been discussing linking inner Boston neighborhoods together using a transit Urban Ring…read more for about a century at this point. Unfortunately, it looks like the CT2 is the best we're gonna get. I used the bus to hop from Mission Hill to Kendall Square and it was always so much faster than E train to Red Line, even though I had to first walk to Longwood. I've moved out but the bus is still useful to get from Kendall to Cambridgeport, BU, or Fenway after work. Its big flaw when I rode it was the horrible traffic snarls at the BU Bridge and at Fenway whenever there was a baseball game. It's always crowded, but I've never seen it bypass people waiting at a stop. This is a bus desperately needs to run more often and later into the night, and maybe throw in some weekend service as well. Until we get an Urban Ring (keep dreaming) this'll do.

The Charlie Card is the ONLY way to travel around Boston! Don't bother renting a card because the…read moreCharlie Card is so much cheaper and far more convenient. We were here for 5 days and bought the 7 day pass. This got us full access to the trains, buses and ferries for our entire trip. We stayed in an AirBnB close to Cambridge and took the Red Line into the city everyday. From there we also took the Green Line multiple times and the Blue Line to get to the airport. If you don't mind public transportation and walking just a short distance to where you need to go, the Charlie Card is well worth the value and even though we had to buy the 7 day pass for a 5 day visit, we got our money worth and then some. We checked Uber some days and the price of one Uber was the same as the Charlie Card for a week.

Why does it appear to be so hard to run a public transportation system? For chrissakes- we have…read morethe oldest subway system in the country- we've had more time than anyone else to figure this out- and we suck at it. Big time. And now, the newest disaster. The Charlie Card. In theory I like the idea of tap and go. It seems pretty quick. When normal people use it, it actually is quick. Unfortunately there seem to be more morons than normal people that ride the T these days. But, the card itself is not the biggest beef I have. It's the double-chargin-trying-to-rip-me-off aspect that really ticks me off. The story: Today I get on the silverline like I do every morning. After I tap my card I'm notified I only have 15 cents left. I decide to get off at New England Medical center to add some money to the card than just take the subway into work. Cool beans. So, I tap my card at the little kiosk. I slide my credit card and ask that 10 bucks be put on it. I have to tap my charlie card again to complete the transaction. No go. It won't read my card even after several "tapping" attempts. Alright. It says my transaction has been voided. I try again. This time it takes. Yeah! I have ten bucks! I go to the turnstile/saloon door and tap my card. BZZZZ!! Go see an agent. Screw that- they are about as helpful as a stick up my ass. I try again, and it goes through but it says I only have $8 on my card! WTF! I should have started out with $10.15- minus $1.70 means I have more than $8 left on my card. Now, if I want to squabble over the amount I'm owed I'm pretty sure I have to go the eighth level of hell. I don't think I should have to do that. And, on top of all that- I just checked my checking account. Yep. They are charging me ten bucks twice. God. I love the MBTA.

Along the river, this stop is easy to get from Boston to Cambridge. It's clean and offers views of…read morethe city.

Just for shiits and giggles, hubs decided we leave our car behind and hop on the train directly…read moreacross the street from our hotel- to take us to the Downtown Crossing stop in Boston for dinner. I honestly had zero clue where we were going, but hubs can read a map blindfolded- so went with the flow. The Charles/MGH T train stop is super convenient as it's located right across from The Whitney Hotel. Even though hubs had a good idea where we were going, we still needed a little push from Ricco who has the kindest heart (with red jacket on) and helped us find our way. We honestly didn't see anything wrong with this train station- unlike someone writing about how this station is "crappy" or "dirty". Plus coming from someone who knows NYC subway perfectly well.... this was neither. This stop just took us from point A to point B seamlessly.

This review applies only to the first inbound trip of the morning on the 93. The first run is…read morevariously called the 89, 93, 89/93, and the 194. There's a quirk of the bus schedule that the 4:33am 89 goes to Sullivan Station, where it turns into a 93 and goes to Haymarket (where you can catch a host of other early morning buses, like special routes of the 39 and 57 that start at Haymarket). The bus came precisely on schedule at Powderhouse Circle (a minute after 4:33) and was exactly on schedule at Sullivan (4:47) and Haymarket (4:57). I'm one for one with this bus. Four stars for precision.

This bus goes to charlestown. Therefore it is quite useful if you need to go to charlestown. It is…read morerelatively unuseful if you need to go to watertown, or dorchester, or brazil, unless you are starting from charlestown. It runs relatively often compared to other buses but it is also slow. The buses tend to bunch at rush hours.

The MBTA hasn't changed much in 30-40 years, which pretty much sums up why it is slow, and as a…read morepublic transit system, half functional. Just because other American cities don't have any public transit, doesn't make this one stellar. There is no reason to compare, but to look at it simply from the perspective of its functionality: it is slow. The red line moves fast, but has not expanded N since the 1980s, wheras sunurban development has exploded. Buses are a slow alternative. The green line is absurdly slow, which means I avoid going to businesses or institutions located along its lines such as the MFA. Someone compared it to LA. LA is huge, but in the last 20 years has expanded very aggressively. They've added Metro lines, trains, and new dedicated bus-only fast lanes for fast buses. Boston can learn from Metro LA. Boston's commuter rail trains are dirty and extremely old. They also come too infrequently, for those living in the suburbs. In weekends, for example, trains might come every 2-3 hours! Plan accordingly... If you travel the same route, or don't go far, it is affordable and you can find a way to speed up your trip (by not switching lines, etc). But if you need to go cross-town to meetings, etc., you gotta drive. And the traffic is insane, but what choice does the MBTA give you. Wheelchair accessibility is also dismal, with many major stations still lacking, and elevators constantly down. It literally just took me 1 hour and 20 minutes to get from Central Square to Watertown because I tried waiting for the number one bus but that was 15 minutes behind then took the subway and had to wait 40 minutes at Harvard Square because two buses skipped going to Watertown. This is a 15 minute drive and it took me 5x longer!!! The other day I went from the Longwood area to Somerville, and it took me also about an hour... Another 15 min drive.

Don't get the low rating and 1 star reviews here. I love good public transportation and have lived…read morein places with some good ones. Coming from Los Angeles where I live with transportation that's struggling, Boston's system is a breath of fresh air. Not perfect, there are some delays and a bit of confusion - I'd get over it fast if I'd live there! But it's reliable, comes fast, takes you everywhere in the city, great connections. You can take it to and from the Airport (Logan) which it's a major plus! Pretty fast and easy. It is the oldest in USA (Bolyston station has a small nice museum inside, very cool!), so many stops don't have AC, but they have fans. Staff- some folks nice and helpful, some just OK. Not the cleanest, a tad squeaky, but it extends to ferry lines as well. A few nitpicks, but a solid transportation system that takes you everywhere. Love the lines that take you above ground. I got a pass on a Charlie Card and I used it a lot during my Boston visit. My husband lived here in college and told me it's still has the same smell. Nothing bad for him. More like Proust's madeleine.