Cambridge vs. Brookline (commute, bike, crime) (Boston, Somerville: renting, safe area, school)

[jemesuvien]

Hello everyone, I know there are some other threads like this, but I haven't found any that answer this in particular.

I'm moving to either Cambridge or Brookline but not sure which. I will be working in the Longwood Medical Area and attend Harvard (in Cambridge).
My questions are:

1) I looked it up on mapquest, but realistically with traffic, how long from Longwood to Cambridge?

2) Which is more comfortable living in (cambridge or brookline)? I don't want to worry about my car being broken into. I'm looking for a place with decent residents in the neighborhood (not a ghetto and no college students smashing beer bottles on the sidewalk at 3 in the morning, which is what I hear somerville is sort of like).

3) Is it easy to bike from Longwood to Cambridge? Any direct paths? How long would it take?

Thank you all so much in advance.

[RemiJP]

1) I'm guessing this isn't the case, since you asked about biking, but are you planning on driving every day for work and school? This might not be the best option because of traffic and parking issues. There is a Harvard shuttle that runs frequently between Longwood and Harvard that you might want to look into. (MASCO - Parking and Transportation Services) You could also take the Redline to the Green line and I believe the 47 bus goes from Central Square (not far from Harvard) to Longwood. I'm not sure which one is fastest.

2) Depends on the neighborhood. You definitely should avoid Central Square, but Harvard, Inman, Davis, and Porter are all fine. Brookline is nice too, but certain neighborhoods have more students than others, generally, if it close to a T stop, there will be students!

3) From Longwood to Harvard, I would hop on the Southwest Corridor Bike Path to Mass Ave and then ride that all the way to Cambridge. There is probably a better way, this route might take 30-45 mins. Beware, Longwood Ave itself isn't the safest street for bike riders, the lanes of traffic are narrow and there are lots of emergency vehicles. That said, lots of people do brave the traffic and I'm sure there are plenty of people commuting between Cambridge and Longwood by bike.

[jlyang]

Hi,
Driving from Longwood to Cambridge will take 15-40 minutes depending on traffic. I worked in Longwood at HMS for 3 years and the traffic around there can be awful. It can take over 15 minutes just to travel 1 mile in Longwood if you get stuck at a bad time/place. If you are eligible to take the M2 shuttle bus, that is a good option, as it ferries you between Harvard Sq and HMS. That ride takes 20-40 minutes depending on traffic.

Brookline has some but not a lot of college students, and I believe the only noise complaints are toward the north of Coolidge Corner close to Commonwealth Avenue/Boston U. Anyplace south of Beacon St tends to be pretty quiet at night. In fact, the streets are dead-quiet in much of Brookline at night.

Harvard Square has a lot of college students, but I've lived there before and didn't find it to be rowdy at night either, as Harvard students are not that out-of-control.

Re. cars--the ones that get broken into in Brookline usually have visible GPS units that thieves are looking to steal. Overall there would be less crime on cars in Brookline than Cambridge. Renting a parking spot in Brookline is about $150-$175/month though. Cambridge has residential street parking but I don't know how easy it is to get a spot.

If you take the T trains from Cambridge to HMS, that's about 40-50 minutes door-to-door from Harvard Sq to Longwood, since you need to go inbound into Park St from Cambridge before taking the Green Line out to Longwood.

Biking from Longwood to Cambridge is prob. 20-25 minutes. No "direct" paths per se, and it's not that safe fighting traffic through snow/ice in the Boston area while you're on a bike.

Overall I'd say that Harvard Square in Cambridge is more fun for younger folks, whereas the 25-and-above crowd would probably prefer Brookline.

Hope this helps!

Originally Posted by jemesuvien

Hello everyone, I know there are some other threads like this, but I haven't found any that answer this in particular.

I'm moving to either Cambridge or Brookline but not sure which. I will be working in the Longwood Medical Area and attend Harvard (in Cambridge).
My questions are:

1) I looked it up on mapquest, but realistically with traffic, how long from Longwood to Cambridge?

2) Which is more comfortable living in (cambridge or brookline)? I don't want to worry about my car being broken into. I'm looking for a place with decent residents in the neighborhood (not a ghetto and no college students smashing beer bottles on the sidewalk at 3 in the morning, which is what I hear somerville is sort of like).

3) Is it easy to bike from Longwood to Cambridge? Any direct paths? How long would it take?

Thank you all so much in advance.

[jemesuvien]

Thank you for your very detailed responses! That's very helpful.

So I take it finding a parking spot is harder in Cambridge than Brookline? And car break-ins/thefts are more often there too? That's unfortunate...I do like Cambridge, but it seems there's no way to efficiently get to Longwood and come back to a reliable parking spot.

[lz1982]

One thing about Brookline is that there's no overnight street parking.

[septimus]

Originally Posted by jemesuvien

Thank you for your very detailed responses! That's very helpful.

So I take it finding a parking spot is harder in Cambridge than Brookline? And car break-ins/thefts are more often there too? That's unfortunate...I do like Cambridge, but it seems there's no way to efficiently get to Longwood and come back to a reliable parking spot.

Parking is easier in Cambridge. Cambridge has resident parking which outside of Harvard Square isn't very bad (all relative--you might have to park a block or two from home, but there are almost always spots except street cleaning days and after snow storms). Brookline doesn't allow overnight parking so you would have to pay for a spot (upside never have to look for a parking spot).

I used to walk to Longwood from Cambridgeport for my doctor's appointments. My neighbor worked at BI and took the 47 bus which is much faster than taking the T there.

As for the previous poster's comment about Central Sq. I would avoid north of Mass Ave, but the Cambridgeport side is fine (closer to the river)

[jemesuvien]

Avoid north of Mass Ave? Because of the parking situation, or that they're not safe areas? That eliminates a big part of Cambridge and all of Somerville. Where do grad students, faculty, and young professionals with cars live safely?

[Scooby7]

Originally Posted by septimus

I would avoid north of Mass Ave, but the Cambridgeport side is fine (closer to the river)

Someone else said (different thread) avoid Area 4

that's quite limiting -

[jemesuvien]

It's just surprising, I mean, I'm not too familiar with the area, but I looked up statistics and Cambridgeport crimes were several times more than those in Brookline.

[Scooby7]

I'm in the same situation of trying to decide between Cambridge & Brookline.

Looking at the crime stats, neither is much of a problem, but you have to look at the detail. For example, Larceny is up in Brookline, but it's mainly down to shoplifting. I'm not keen on people stealing from shops, but rather that than stealing from me

I like the look of Mass Ave between Harvard & Central square, but I'm not sure how lively it gets there.

I can see advantages to being close to the centre of things, but I'm not really part of "student cluture" either