Living in Manchester-by-the-Sea when working in Boston...reasonable??

[InternationalOrange]

Originally Posted by lindsaycg

Wondering if anyone has any experience with the commute from Manchester-by-the-Sea to Boston. I'm interested in learning the difference from driving to taking the train. Is it safe to say that it's an hour commute....or is it even longer in rush hour?? I know the station there has extremely limited parking. How do the locals park and then take the train? Do people drive to nearby towns / train stations instead?

I lived in that area for a while when I was in high school and college, and you're right about the train station having VERY limited parking. Once you're on the train, though, the commute is easy, especially if you work right near North Station. I like the train because you can read, sleep, listen to your iPod, etc., and let someone else do the "driving." It's about an hour from Manchester to Boston. At that time, my mom worked in Boston and my dad would drop her off / pick her up at the train station every day (he worked locally and was able to do that pretty easily). Otherwise, you're going to either want to live within walking distance of the train station because I don't know of any satellite parking lots you could use where you can leave your car all day. That town could pull in some extra revenue by selling spots in the lot behind the town hall! I don't know where in Manchester you live, but if you're closer to the West Gloucester stop, that has more parking, as does Beverly Farms. Hope this helps.