MBTA Orange Line Safety? Back Bay to Mass Ave at night (Boston: apartment, rental)

[peacefl0wer]

Hi, I'm moving to Boston soon and considering an apartment in the South End. If I lived there, I would need to take the Orange Line to/from Mass. Ave to Back Bay for work. I'm wondering about the safety of those stations, as well as the train itself?

For reference, I'm a young Asian woman and I will be working long hours so I'm particularly wondering about personal safety at night, e.g. 8pm-12am.

Thanks in advance!

[porterhouse]

The orange line itself is reasonably safe, and Back Bay station is generally fine. However, the Mass Ave station itself has had some issues in the past. It is not somewhere I would necessarily recommend a young woman going alone late at night.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by porterhouse

The orange line itself is reasonably safe, and Back Bay station is generally fine. However, the Mass Ave station itself has had some issues in the past. It is not somewhere I would necessarily recommend a young woman going alone late at night.

Yeah pretty much this, and I also might be a little more worried about the streets surrounding Mass Ave. than the station itself.

[bostongymjunkie]

You're talking about less than a mile span. You can walk as it is, although not a great idea late nights. But if you can simply get an apartment literally less than a mile closer to Back Bay (I'm assuming work is near Back Bay or you intend to take commuter rail from there), then the issue is moot. There is always an element of risk walking in the city late at night. There are tactics that you can use to mitigate, but not eliminate, those risks.

[massnative71]

OP are you familiar with the South End at all? I ask, because it can be a little dicey and Mass. Ave. is generally the more problematic side. Where will you be living? For instance, this is "Methadone Mile" and hopefully you did not commit to any rental in that vicinity.



(15) Out Here On Mass Ave Aka Methadone Mile - YouTube

[bostongymjunkie]

Great, now we have lunatics from RI coming here to stir up a hornet's nest in the name of "helping." Okay.

[massnative71]

I guess he's helping out Domingos DaRosa's campaign.

[id77]

Originally Posted by peacefl0wer

Hi, I'm moving to Boston soon and considering an apartment in the South End. If I lived there, I would need to take the Orange Line to/from Mass. Ave to Back Bay for work. I'm wondering about the safety of those stations, as well as the train itself?

For reference, I'm a young Asian woman and I will be working long hours so I'm particularly wondering about personal safety at night, e.g. 8pm-12am.

Thanks in advance!

That's a very short trip to take via T. Mass Ave is a little sketchier, though there's also enough people still out and about from around 8-11ish that nobody is going to risk having 20 witnesses to a crime right on Mass Ave. If you start walking darker side streets, particularly southward into Roxbury, it could be a problem.

If you live between Mass Ave and Back Bay stations, I'd just walk as there really does seem to be an invisible line on Mass Ave. Even one block north is very different than one block south. That's not to say bad things don't happen, but they will happen with much less frequency. The epicenter of issues is Mass & Cass, with things getting a little less sketchy at Mass & Washington, again at Mass & Tremont, and by the time you're at Mass & Huntington about the worst you'll see is the occasional person who's drugged off their backside screaming random profanities or the sad kiddies on their ATVs and bikes making noise down the street.

[Boston Shudra]

Originally Posted by massnative71

OP are you familiar with the South End at all? I ask, because it can be a little dicey and Mass. Ave. is generally the more problematic side. Where will you be living? For instance, this is "Methadone Mile" and hopefully you did not commit to any rental in that vicinity.

The walk from Methadone Mile to Mass Ave Station is probably longer than the walk from Mass Ave to Back Bay. So the OP prooobably isn't too close.

@ the OP, Methadone Mile is around the Boston Medical Center. It's worse to the south of the hospital, but the blocks to the north go from real nice to sketchy fairly quickly.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by Boston Shudra

The walk from Methadone Mile to Mass Ave Station is probably longer than the walk from Mass Ave to Back Bay. So the OP prooobably isn't too close.

@ the OP, Methadone Mile is around the Boston Medical Center. It's worse to the south of the hospital, but the blocks to the north go from real nice to sketchy fairly quickly.

I would not advise a single young female to be within blocks of Boston Medical Center in ANY direction, but you are probably right. I just wanted to throw that out there.