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How to get from North to South Station
By kensavage on Wed, 01/18/2017 - 8:05am
What's the easiest and quickest way to get from North Station to South Station?
Currently I take the orange to the red line but that is usually a 20 min affair in the morning and worse at 5pm.
I'm thinking of getting an electric scooter or boosted board.
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Comments
North South Connector
Yet another reason why we need to push for a North / South Connector.
I currently walk from North to South Station every work day M-Friday. It takes me about 20-25 minutes on average, beats sitting in a packed train.
Let it go
Let it go people. a NSLink is never going to happen. Not in our lifetimes. We have a transit system that can barely afford to run what it is has or finish current projects like the GLX.. let alone take on a 16 billion dollar or more tunnel project.
After the Big Ditch, the fed will be hard pressed to give us any money for such a large capital project of such magnitude considering the mismanagement of the last one. Unless we get other agencies and states involved (Amtrak, Maine, RI, etc) who will help us lobby for the money, it won't happen. And considering the the climate of the incoming administration, they will be hard pressed to give our bright blue state any money any time soon.
But keep wishing, sometimes wishes come true. Most of the time, they don't. But go ahead, continue to waste your time clamoring for a project that is nothing more than a pipe dream.
Orange line to red line
Orange line to red line (change at downtown crossing). Only if they weather is subarctic. If it's 25 degrees or warmer, just walk.
It's only a 5 minute walk to
It's only a 5 minute walk to South Station from DTX. Cutting the red line transfer out would save you much of that 20 minutes.
You could also try the #4 bus if the schedule works.
When Spring rolls around, I'd also suggest Hubway.
The illusive bus 4...
The illusive bus 4...
Or, you're right, taking the
Or, you're right, taking the orange line all the way to Chinatown, then walking to South Station is an even shorter walk than getting out at Downtown Crossing.
Is it?
Is it?
I've heard this claim (Chinatown is closest to South Station) before, and I don't know if I believe it.
From the Chauncy St exit at DTX it's almost exactly 1400 ft to the front door of South Station, down Summer St.
From the Washington/Essex exit at Chinatown it's almost exactly 2000 ft to the side door of South Station, down Essex St.
Both of these routes are measured following sidewalks and using marked crosswalks.
And even if you come out of DTX closer to Washington St, that still only brings the distance up to 1700 ft.
Come to think of it...
...you can't get there from here.
Marshall Dodge
Marshall Dodge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Dodge
Marshall Dodge (1935-1982) was a well-known Maine theme humorist. He is said to have been born in New York City, to have attended high school in New Hampshire, and to have graduated from Yale University in philosophy.[1]
He and his associate, Robert Bryan, put out several defining albums of Maine humor, starting with Bert & I, released in 1958.[2] In 1964 he and Noel Parmentel published (with accompanying LP record) a long-remembered parody of popular folk songs entitled Folk Songs for Conservatives.
During the early-1970s he performed at various clubs around New England, Including Mystic, Ct.
In 1976, he founded the Maine Festival of the Arts at Bowdoin College.[3] In a 1979 interview, Dodge claimed that his real love was philosophy, and that he was writing a book on the subject.[4]
He died in a hit-and-run accident in 1982 in Waimea, Hawaii.[5]
Hubway
Hubway is perfect for this for the 9 months of the year it operates in Boston. It's a 5-10 minute ride and there will always be plenty of bikes and normally plenty of spots. During peak hours Hubway has a staffer on-site to take the bikes so they never run out of dock spaces. Easy ride too with bike lanes the full distance. (When valets aren't parking in them...)
You can thank Walsh's asinine policy of turning off the system Jan-April for why it's currently unavailable. (A problem Cambridge doesn't have.)
open longer
I thought many stations are open still, especially the better sheltered ones?
100% correct, except don't blame Marty
Thanks for the post, which saved me the time of concocting that exact message.
However, Hubway has been closing in the winter since it started (under biking promoter Tom Menino.) I think there is probably a way that they could keep a skeleton set of docks at major locations open most of the winter, although the cost of maintaining fewer stations is probably an issue financially. Or maybe play things more by ear, and keep them open during a winter like this one, but close down if you get a winter like 2015.
Cambridge keeps Hubway running during the winter
Unless something has changed since i moved out to the burbs a year ago, Cambridge Hubway is open year round. They must have figured out the financials for them :)
Cambridge
Cambridge keeps all the off-street locations open all winter. Unless someone is making the argument Boston gets more snow than Cambridge, this clearly refutes the notion that the bikes don't work when it's cold.
They still shut down the system remotely shortly before and after big storms so there's no technical limitation.
Boston seems to take pride in
Boston seems to take pride in generally not doing things that Cambridge does, or even being aware of what Cambridge is doing at all. It's sad, really.
When Boston was first talking about installing bike lanes throughout the City, someone suggested that they go over to Cambridge and see how they have done it there. The response from City Hall staff was "Cambridge has bike lanes?!"
Boston's stations closing
Boston's stations closing during the winter is purely political. The City insisted that it would be too difficult to clear snow around them, and not worth it for the limited users.
To give a bit of history (please correct any inaccuracies!):
-2011: Launched in July, shut down systemwide in November
-2012: Reopened in March, shut down systemwide in November
-2013: Reopened in April, all but 25 stations in Cambridge shut down in November
-2014: Reopened in April. In November, 18 stations shut down, but 25 in Cambridge and 62 in Boston remained open. The Boston stations remained open through 12/31.
-2015: Reopened in April. Partial, staggered winter shutdown as follows:
-November 25: 45 stations shut down
-December 7: 3 stations shut down
-December 31: 70 stations shut down
37 stations in Cambridge remained open all winter.
To summarize, the whole system shut down in winters beginning in 2011 and 2012, some Cambridge stations remained open 2013 and 2014, and all Cambridge stations remained open in 2015. Boston stations have been closing for the winter later each year.
I don't have dates for 2016.
And sure, Menino may have started Hubway, but he's been gone for 3 years now. More than half of Hubway's existence has been under the Walsh administration. I don't know whos' been making the decisions, but the Boston stations staying open through 12/31 started under Walsh. So his administration deserves some credit for that, but at the same time could easily order Hubway to remain open through the winter. So not blameless either.
The problem with this logic is that logistically you couldn't do that. You don't know whether we're going to have a mild winter or a snowmageddon until it happens. Sure, we can predict winter storms up to a few days out, but beyond that, nope. No one had any idea 2015's winter was going to be that bad. And setting up/shutting down Hubway takes money and time - it would be wasteful to take everything inside before a storm, then put it back out afterward, then take it inside again, and so on. It also takes at least a couple days to shut down, so you need to plan for it. You can't really "play it by ear".
There must be some mid-ground
I know. They have employees that maintain the system and you can't lay them off and hire them back, based on the weather. But how about if they plan to keep most of the system open until winter "really" hits? If we got two feet of snow in early December, they would close for the year. This year, they could still be open, at just about full capacity, but then when (or if) winter ever really gets here, THEN they could pack it up until spring.
They seem to be heading in that direction. This December they announced the closing of the last stations, but then the weather was nice so they didn't close them for another couple of weeks. They also open earlier in the spring than they once did, as long as the snow is gone.
weather
Except winter doesn't work that way.
You could have a huge snowstorm in early December and get a trace of snow the rest of the winter.
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/03/02/oh-snow-close-the-almost-record-se...
I know
I guess I'm advocating for a "we will close for the winter eventually" policy, whereby they would close after (or just before) the first storm big enough to leave snow on the streets for a week or so. Even if the sun came out and it was 75° for all of February, once they are closed, they are closed until "spring". That could work.
This would have worked in 2015
MUSHWAY!
From the New Yorker, March 16, 2015
"By Ear"
That's exactly what they do in Cambridge. They remotely turn off the ability to remove bikes when the stations are snow covered and then turn the stations back on once it gets cleared. Much cheaper than physically removing the stations and allows people to keep using the bikes for a majority of the winter.
Yes, which is great. I was
Yes, which is great. I was responding to the suggestion that they play it by ear with regards to completely shutting down for the winter - i.e. packing everything up and bringing it inside.
The problem in Boston as I
The problem in Boston as I understand it is that a larger portion of the racks are on streets (as opposed to sidewalks or other dedicated spaces) and that our suburban-dwelling DPW chief did not feel it was worth the inconvenience for him to have to manage clearing snow around the stations. To me this is pretty weird coming from a city that has no city-wide parking bans during snow emergencies (in other words, clearing around Hubway stations is impossible, but clearing around parked cars is fine?)
Hubway
In Cambridge I've seen official Hubway employees clearing the snow from the docks. I don't know what sort of arrangement they have with the city.
In Boston I would expect the on-street stations to be removed in the winter but they could at least keep the off-street stations at the major squares and transit hubs. Again, the works fine for Cambridge so there's precedent.
Could you elaborate?
ON this:
Are you saying, during snow emergencies, it's weird Boston doesn't ban all street parking on all streets? On my first pass my response would have been that Boston does has parking bans on major arteries, across the city.
Just wanted to clarify for my fuzzy brain.
Zipline.
Zipline.
If you build it, they will come!
I would find excuses to take this, if it existed.
#4 bus
it is express bus from North Station to the Design Center and only makes a couple stops one of which is South Station. Picks you up in front of Halftime Pizza to go to South Station.
Don't go to south station
Just stay on the Orange Line an extra few stops and get off at Back Bay and catch the commuter rail from there.
Unless the person is heading
Unless the person is heading to somewhere around South Station? Or is trying to catch an Old Colony train?
Or …
… connecting to a particularly heavy train and wants to ensure they get a seat
… connecting to a commuter bus
I second the 4 bus suggestion, although in that direction it loops around the North End. To that I'd add: build a Pearl/Congress-Merrimac busway. There's no reason the 4 shouldn't be able to make that trip in 7 minutes.
although in that direction it
No it doesn't:
http://www.mbta.com/schedules_and_maps/bus/routes/?route=4
Southbound AM #4 runs all go via Merrimac & Congress, at least according to both Google Maps and the T's own schedule. It's the PM Southbounds that go around the North End.
If you're connecting to
If you're connecting to Amtrak or a non-Old Colony commuter rail line (so, not Kingston/Plymouth, Middleboro or Greenbush), stay on the Orange Line to Back Bay and get on the train there. If nothing else it saves a transfer.
Also not Fairmount.
Also not Fairmount.
Boston PediCab
Boston PediCab http://www.bostonpedicab.com/
Buy a folding bike?
They are allowed on all T vehicles at all times.
Alternately
Keep a junkerbike at North Station.
Yes and no
If you get on at one of the last stops of a commuter rail line that is completely packed, they won't let you on for very justifyable reasons. If you are getting on at an early stop in the run, you're good.
Really?
Do they prohibit people from getting on the train with a large suitcase if the train is packed?
I used to walk regularly
I used to walk regularly between South Station and my then-office on Commercial St (Union Wharf) in 20-25 minutes (about 13-14 years ago). Now that the elevated artery supports/ramps are out of the way and there are many paths along/through the Greenway, I'd agree with those who suggest that as a manageable time for South-North.
Seconding walking
I usually walk the opposite direction from Fort Point to North Station a couple of nights a week. From South Station to North Station, if I'm in a hurry I walk straight up Congress, cut through the bus stop at Haymarket, then straight up Canal - 20-25 minutes. If I'm in less of a hurry, I walk the Greenway, and it takes 30-40 minutes. I don't find the 4 terribly reliable; it is still subject to traffic, and part of my crankiness towards it is construction and moving/nonexistent stops on the Seaport side of things, which probably doesn't affect you as much. But if you have a reliable transit app on your phone and/or a decent place to wait out of the cold, it helps.
Fastest way is......
To bike via the rose kennedy Greenway ;)
no
Because bikes are not allowed on the greenway. Dont be one of those people.
Easy enough just to take Atlantic.
North to South
As a new commuter into Boston from the North Shore, I am dismayed, but not surprised, by the commuter scene. I would have to rate Boston as low on the list of commuter-friendly cities. I think Boston still prefers the car, despite the huge headaches, because it keeps trying to accommodate cars over other forms of transit. I agree that a N-S hookup will never happen ... underground. So, let's find another solution. I'm almost afraid to try a bike on the core city streets during rush hour. I walk from North Station to Fort Point daily, and when I imagine being on a bicycle or even a scooter, I kind of say "hmmmm, maybe not." Mostly, it's those five-way intersections and where cars are clammoring to squeeze themselves onto an I-93 or I-95 approach before the light goes red.
It's things like places to park bikes or scooters, more bike lanes, wider sidewalks, construction-covered sidewalks that seem to exist for years. More options for every kind of non-car transit. Boston should be asking itself every day, "How can this city be made more accommodating to non-car commuters?" It may think it's a world class city, but it can never be until it gets serious about addressing this topic. I mean really serious -- not the annual whining about the MBTA budget.