Commuting to South Boston from Lowell (Cambridge, Quincy: Home Depot, buy, living in)

[BostonCommuter]

Hi everyone-

I currently work in South Boston and am considering a move to Lowell. I'm wondering if anyone does this commute and how bad it is. I believe without the traffic, it is only 45 minutes. But, of course when you factor in traffic, especially at rush hour, that time almost doubles. My plan would be to commute in and out of the city just before rush hour, making my working hours 7:30 - 4 or something. I would prefer to drive as I think taking the commute rail could be too much of a hassle and maybe take just as long, between driving to the train station, taking the train in, then getting from North Station to Southie.

Any help/advice would be appreciated!!!

[goyguy]

My workplace neighbor lives in Billerica, leaves home "NO later than 7:30," and more often than not is scrambling to be at her desk (in East Cambridge) by 8:30. A former colleague routinely reported a two-hour drive to/from Somerville and Dracut. Ditto for a present-day co-worker who calls Tyngsborough home. All roads from New Hampshire, Greater Lawrence and Lowell, and north suburbia don't lead to Rome - I mean, Boston. They lead to I-93. Sometimes that expressway doesn't stop being a parking lot until after 8 at night, then becomes one again before 7 AM. There's literally no way around that.
What a lot of people do is a transpo combo. For someone dwelling in/near Lowell that'd translate into taking Route 3 south to 128/95, then following 128/95 south (instead of northbound to 93) to Route 2 and turning east. The Alewife terminal of the Red Line is situated right where the expressway part of 2 ends to continue into Cambridge. The wheels would be stashed in the big garage at Alewife - said to often be at capacity before 7:30 - with their owner catching the train from there right to Southie. Folks also endure 93 part of the way before exiting to leave their vehicles in the lots/garages around Malden Center, Wellington, and Sullivan Stations on the Orange Line. (A secret you didn't hear from me: the vast Home Depot parking lot that's a short walk from Sullivan is a favorite of up-with-the-sun workers. It's never filled and they never tow.)
We should all live so long to see a North-South Connector, what a huge boon to commuter rail that would be. For now, one of the reasons it's so much cheaper to reside in Lowell has been revealed.

[DreamworksSKG]

the commuter rail honestly is not bad. I'm in Winchester on the lowell line and they usually aren't more than 5 minutes late. The max i've had to wait is about 10 minutes. -

but normally they are right on schedule-

It takes about 30-40 min just to get from Lowell to Woburn-(let alone boston) then you have to add another 20 min to get into the Boston --through town to South Boston - So around an hour even without traffic to get into South Boston--from Lowell - with traffic could be 2 or even 3 depending on the situation - accident, weather, etc.


The problem with driving into Boston is that 93 is crazy in the rush hour--
route 3 is also crazy and you have to bottleneck with 128 at burlington and then get to 93..- or cut through the side-roads which is a hassle as well

the only real solution would be (if you dont want to go crazy being stuck in 1-2-3 hours of traffic every day depending on the situation) would be to try to get a job where you start work around 10-11am and end around 7-8 ..pm--

and/or

just take the commuter rail. It really isn't as bad as some people make it out to be.

Just imagien living in a city that has no commuter rail or subway system

we're lucky to even have one here.

Anyway

Take the Lowell line to North Station and then go down to the lower platform...where the orange-green line goes.

Whichever train comes first, Green or Orange hop on it

(Orange would be Forest Hills Train)

(Green is usually a "E" or "C") Car

from there you could take the Green Line to Park St. - and get the RED LINE to South Boston

from Orange line you would change at Downtown Crossing either way once you learn the system it would be much much easier than going from Lowell-South Boston in a cahh

the beauty of the north station subway platform is you can take whichever one comes first, Orange or Green line (since it is on the same platform) and just change when you get to the connection point on the RED

just make sure you take a ASHMONT or Braintree train
thats the other thing -
you can take either ASHMONT or BRAINTREE red line trains
to South Boston

Hope this helps

[DreamworksSKG]

Plus by taking the commuter rail and subway you will be helping with congestion--

You will be helping our environment

and you will be saving a load of money on GAS

Just buy a commuter rail pass-with the subway bus combo..

[DreamworksSKG]

I would highly advise against commuting from North of Boston for South Boston. Why not check out the south shore like Quincy, or Weymouth?

Weymouth is quite nice, and Quincy is right on the Red line

[bostonredsoxx]

Don't do it if you plan on driving. MISERABLE!!!!!!!!! Sitting on route 3 = awful. Sitting on 128 (sometimes) then sitting on 93 - which is just as bad. It will take you forever. I highly advise against it. Unless you don't mind a heck of a lot of traffic.

Taking the commuter rail to North Station would be a pain too. Then you would have to get on the green line (which I can't stand) then get on the redline again! My time is too valuable to spend it sitting on the train/or in traffic