Travel from Downtown Boston to Saugus or Medford (Harvard, Boylston: school, college)

[Radiojoe315]

So next year, I will be a freshman next year at Emerson College in Boston. (On Boylston Street). I will of course be living on campus and obviously be without a car.

My current part time job will be opening up stores in the area of Boston and has offered me a good position in the area as a part of the in store management team. I wasn't sure how achievable between mass transportation and such this would be. And plus what the cost of monthly train passes and such would be. So I was hoping you could help me out by giving me a rough idea as to if it were worth it. Clearly, I can get a job on campus and such. And that is the likely course of action. But I want to have all of my options on the table before me.

So the two sites that I could be working in would be Right by the Barnes and Noble on Broadway Ave (Route 1). The approximate address being: 444 Broadway. The other option is in Medford by the Modell's around 640 Fellsway. I can tell by mapping it that the Saugus store is a bit closer, but I figured that doesn't necessarily mean it is more accessible.

So as an outsider I was hoping you could pass along any tips/suggestions!

[redpanda]

The Saugus store is NOT closer or more accessible by any stretch. Rt. 1 is a parking lot in general, and relying on buses to get you from downtown to there would be nearly impossible. I would completely rule Saugus out.

You can walk to the location in Medford you mentioned from the Wellington T stop. It's not particularly scenic or pleasant, but it's safe and not very far. There are also some express buses that run from downtown to Medford, although I'm not sure if any of them go where you need to be.

Take the Chinatown T stop to Wellington and walk, that's probably your best bet. Saugus, seriously, I would forget about it without a car.

[eevee]

Originally Posted by redpanda

The Saugus store is NOT closer or more accessible by any stretch. Rt. 1 is a parking lot in general, and relying on buses to get you from downtown to there would be nearly impossible. I would completely rule Saugus out.

You can walk to the location in Medford you mentioned from the Wellington T stop. It's not particularly scenic or pleasant, but it's safe and not very far. There are also some express buses that run from downtown to Medford, although I'm not sure if any of them go where you need to be.

Take the Chinatown T stop to Wellington and walk, that's probably your best bet. Saugus, seriously, I would forget about it without a car.

agreeing w/ redpanda 100% here. I've never gotten to Saugus via MBTA, and I take the T almost everywhere. I'm not even sure what bus or train passes by that area

I can never remember where Fellsway is. is the B&N going to be in the Gateway center or in that strip mall across from Station Landing? if it's the former, the walk isn't that long (there is a bus, but it runs very, very infrequently) and goes along a major roadway so is safe. if it's the latter, there is some connection/bridge between Wellington Station and Station Landing I believe, so you may be able to make use of that. that area is going to get pretty nice w/ the new stores and residents moving in, so that walk should be fine too.

[Radiojoe315]

According to the MBTA trip planner the trip to Fellsway would be about 38 minutes in total?

The address of the college is 220 Boylston Street and taking that to 640 Fellsway. It says the walking distance from the college to the T-Station in Chinatown is 11 minutes. Which seems a little long. But about right from what I remember? I've only visited the campus on like 3 occasions.

But then from the Wellington Station to the address I was given of the store (640 Fellsway) is said to be 16 minutes? Does that sound right? Plus.. the safety was important since I would be closing the store at times like 10/11 PM.

And are monthly T-train passes really only $30? Thanks guys for all of your help!!

[holden125]

Originally Posted by Radiojoe315

According to the MBTA trip planner the trip to Fellsway would be about 38 minutes in total?

The address of the college is 220 Boylston Street and taking that to 640 Fellsway. It says the walking distance from the college to the T-Station in Chinatown is 11 minutes. Which seems a little long. But about right from what I remember? I've only visited the campus on like 3 occasions.

But then from the Wellington Station to the address I was given of the store (640 Fellsway) is said to be 16 minutes? Does that sound right? Plus.. the safety was important since I would be closing the store at times like 10/11 PM.

And are monthly T-train passes really only $30? Thanks guys for all of your help!!

I had to do this once. The walk from Wellington was along Rt. 16 and the Fellsway, two very heavily trafficked roads, so it was busy and not all that pedestrian friendly. I wouldn't say dangerous but noisy by day and desolate by night. The 100, 108, and 112 buses go from Wellington right to the shopping center. That would require a combo pass, which is $59. I'm not sure if they're still doing the train passes for about $30.

I would agree with the T website that most of the time would be getting to and from the 2 orange line stations but that the time from Chinatown to Wellington is fairly short. It's only about 7 stops.

[redpanda]

I agree with holden's assessment of the walk to the new B&N from Wellington and, more or less, with the T's assessment of how long the walk is (although I agree, the Chinatown estimate is off...I used to take the orange line to Emerson and I'd say more like 5 minutes on a bad day!)

Honestly, even though the walk from Wellington isn't very pedestrian-friendly, it's one of those too short of a walk to waste time waiting for the (infamously unreliable) bus but long enough to be annoying situations.

[Celticz617]

Medford is way closer u can get from Downtown Boston to Medford in 5 minutes.

Most likley it will be a OK walk but id watch your back and carry a knife to be safe. I was mugged by a group of kids wearing bandanas over there faces last winter when i was walking on Riverside ave in Medford which is pretty close so just FYI but the part youll be walking is not too many people hanging out there at night.

[RemiJP]

Have you thought about working at the B&N on campus? They always seem like they could use some extra help. Most freshman stay pretty close to campus for work and social activities, I think there's a good chance you'll hate going to Medford for work all the time. Also, it's important that you know your schedule at school before you commit to a work schedule. Freshman at Emerson tend to get the short end of the stick in terms of class schedules. It's not uncommon to have a schedule like this as freshman:

8:30am - 10am class then a 4pm-6pm class on MWF
10am -12pm class then a 4pm-6pm class on T/TR

It makes creating a work scheduel kind of tricky, especially if you have a long commute! Don't let that scare you, I worked all four years on campus. But I during freshman year I worked in Harvard Sq and found the commute to be annoying. It was much easier and let me more time for homework/social stuff to be closer to campus.