Yet another question about where to live (Boston, Cambridge: rent, transfer to)

[m.keating]

Hi,

I'm sure all of you are very tired of helping transfers decide what neighborhoods to live in, but I'm hoping you'll have "room for one more"! I'm from Philadelphia and will be moving to Boston next year to attend UMass Boston for grad school. Somehow my best friend from high school will also be moving to the city and attending BC so I have a built-in roommate. Obviously we know that we will each have a commute ahead of us, but I was just wondering what neighborhoods would be best. Hopefully we would be trying to get to our respective schools in around half an hour taking public transportation.

Currently I attend Temple U (and live in North Philly) I'm looking for an area where I won't have to walk down the streets with my mace out during the daylight hours but other than that I don't really have any requirements! Our target rent-range is around $1400/month for a 2-bedroom (hopefully with heat included if possible!)

Thank you so much for any help you can give!

[holden125]

Hi. I assume that BC will be the main campus and not the Newton campus on Centre St.?

The schools are on opposite ends of the city but it's doable, though your price range will make it more challenging.

Something in the Kenmore area is about 30 mins each way. It would be right by the Green Line B for BC and you could take the Green and switch to the Red at Park for UMass. It's probably 25-30 mins. The 8 bus goes the whole way, but that is a long slow ride.

Near Hynes ICA station is another possibility if you like urban. The streets near Hemenway and Westland have a lot of Northeastern, Berklee, etc. students and are fun if a little undergrad-heavy. Hynes is just one stop closer to the city on the same line.

Both of those places are a bit more expensive. They are starting to split 1BRs into 2's NYC-style, so if you can deal with that you might find something. NYC calls them flex-2, but here they call them "split style" or something like that.

There's also the area west of Kenmore on the B. The immediate area is BU land, then there's Allston, a bit of a student ghetto but with a lot of places to eat and relatively cheap rents where you might find something in your range. Obviously the farther west along the B you go the closer to BC and the farther from UMass. The B line is also pretty slow and crowded since it makes a lot of stops west of Kenmore, so I'd advise against going much to the west of Harvard Av if you need to get to UMass. Harvard Av is probably 40-45 mins to UMass since you have to transfer at Park.

One other place that comes to mind is Central Square in Cambridge. To UMass it's a straight shot on the red line for about 8 stops. Very quick. To BC you'd take the 47 bus, which is about 10-15 mins to BU, and then the Green Line B out to BC, which is about 25 mins. If you live south of Central by a bit, that bus ride would be shortened since that's where it's passing through. It might be too expensive though. It would help if you could come up with another 100/month each.

[eevee]

Originally Posted by holden125

Hi. I assume that BC will be the main campus and not the Newton campus on Centre St.?

The schools are on opposite ends of the city but it's doable, though your price range will make it more challenging.

Something in the Kenmore area is about 30 mins each way. It would be right by the Green Line B for BC and you could take the Green and switch to the Red at Park for UMass. It's probably 25-30 mins. The 8 bus goes the whole way, but that is a long slow ride.

Near Hynes ICA station is another possibility if you like urban. The streets near Hemenway and Westland have a lot of Northeastern, Berklee, etc. students and are fun if a little undergrad-heavy. Hynes is just one stop closer to the city on the same line.

Both of those places are a bit more expensive. They are starting to split 1BRs into 2's NYC-style, so if you can deal with that you might find something. NYC calls them flex-2, but here they call them "split style" or something like that.

There's also the area west of Kenmore on the B. The immediate area is BU land, then there's Allston, a bit of a student ghetto but with a lot of places to eat and relatively cheap rents where you might find something in your range. Obviously the farther west along the B you go the closer to BC and the farther from UMass. The B line is also pretty slow and crowded since it makes a lot of stops west of Kenmore, so I'd advise against going much to the west of Harvard Av if you need to get to UMass. Harvard Av is probably 40-45 mins to UMass since you have to transfer at Park.

One other place that comes to mind is Central Square in Cambridge. To UMass it's a straight shot on the red line for about 8 stops. Very quick. To BC you'd take the 47 bus, which is about 10-15 mins to BU, and then the Green Line B out to BC, which is about 25 mins. If you live south of Central by a bit, that bus ride would be shortened since that's where it's passing through. It might be too expensive though. It would help if you could come up with another 100/month each.

wow, I'm personally not sure about those time estimates w/ the T. I can't believe it takes only 30 minutes to get to either BC or UMass from Kenmore via the T (granted, it could've gotten better since I've left Boston). I swear it used to take 30 mins. just to get from Kenmore to Packard's Corner on some days. plus, for UMass, you also have to add in time for the shuttle bus from the T stop, plus the wait time when switching from the green to red (unless you're lucky and the train is right there). and it has to take at least 15 minutes to get from Kenmore to Park. of course, my times could be very off, esp. since I haven't been on the T in a while

I think another area to consider is the area near the Harvard Stadium, near Lower Allston (hope I got my neighborhoods straight) kind of along Western Ave. there's a bus route, the #86 that goes to Cleveland Circle and passes over the B line tracks, not too far away from BC. in the other direction, it goes to Harvard Sq and the red line. you will have to transfer to the train and I'm not sure about the 30 minute limit, but it will be convenient for the both of you. rent and safety wise, I know little to nothing about this area (sorry, hopefully someone else will chime in), though it didn't look horrific (it had an awesome library branch and is near a small shopping center)

this bus also goes through a bit of Brighton via Market St. in fact, now that I think about it, you could maybe check out the area near St Elizabeth's/Market St, which is close to both the B line and the #86 bus (though the trip to UMass will likely take more than 30 minutes, the trip the BC would be much shorter). from what I remember, the #86 was a decent bus, pretty reliable though it doesn't run really often.

[holden125]

Originally Posted by eevee

wow, I'm personally not sure about those time estimates w/ the T. I can't believe it takes only 30 minutes to get to either BC or UMass from Kenmore via the T (granted, it could've gotten better since I've left Boston). I swear it used to take 30 mins. just to get from Kenmore to Packard's Corner on some days. plus, for UMass, you also have to add in time for the shuttle bus from the T stop, plus the wait time when switching from the green to red (unless you're lucky and the train is right there). and it has to take at least 15 minutes to get from Kenmore to Park. of course, my times could be very off, esp. since I haven't been on the T in a while

I think another area to consider is the area near the Harvard Stadium, near Lower Allston (hope I got my neighborhoods straight) kind of along Western Ave. there's a bus route, the #86 that goes to Cleveland Circle and passes over the B line tracks, not too far away from BC. in the other direction, it goes to Harvard Sq and the red line. you will have to transfer to the train and I'm not sure about the 30 minute limit, but it will be convenient for the both of you. rent and safety wise, I know little to nothing about this area (sorry, hopefully someone else will chime in), though it didn't look horrific (it had an awesome library branch and is near a small shopping center)

this bus also goes through a bit of Brighton via Market St. in fact, now that I think about it, you could maybe check out the area near St Elizabeth's/Market St, which is close to both the B line and the #86 bus (though the trip to UMass will likely take more than 30 minutes, the trip the BC would be much shorter). from what I remember, the #86 was a decent bus, pretty reliable though it doesn't run really often.

I was not adding in the UMass shuttle, true enough, but I think 15 mins from Kenmore to Park and another 15 or so to UMass is about right most days. In my experience there's not that much of a wait at Park St for the Red if you go close enough to the normal rush. The actual time on the Red Line is about 10 mins and it shouldn't be that much more than 5 mins waiting. An advantage of this trip is you can take any inbound trolley that passes through Kenmore.

I don't think heading outbound in the morning it's that bad to BC either. I don't think it would take half an hour from Kenmore to Packards Corner, but maybe that was the reason I started avoiding the B line like the plague. I thought it was just that I got too old.

I forgot about the 86 bus, which would be pretty convenient to both. That area above the Mass Pike is pretty affordable. I don't know if I'd call it unsafe, but there is not much of anything there so personally I'd not want to live there. My friend has a lot of friends there and is there a lot, I'll ask him.

The same friend lives not too far from St. Elizabeth's (actually a couple blocks west of Market St) and works down on A St by Fort Point Channel. Going from there to South Station (either 86 to Harvard for the Red or 57 to Kenmore, then Green to Red) takes an hour. UMass is even farther away. When I'm free to drive him the trip takes 15 mins on the Mass Pike but by T it's a big hassle. The 86 much closer to Harvard would be better since much of the delay is the bus.