Relocating - Need Town Recommendation (Boston, Brockton: transfer, school, living)

[brainbree]

I can't speak to Quincy, Milton or Weymouth, but Braintree to Central is 1 hour tops. Literally anywhere in Braintree to the Braintree station is a 10 minutes or under drive -- most places in Braintree also has a bus that can take you to Braintree in under 15 minutes. Add another 40 minutes from Braintree to Central and 10 minutes walking to the vast majority of the offices located near Central or Kendall.

I believe the above poster also said it takes an hour to go from Braintree to Boston, when in reality you can go to JFK from Braintree or East Braintree in less than 20 minutes on the commuter rail.

[West-Bost-West]

Originally Posted by brainbree

Literally anywhere in Braintree to the Braintree station is under 10 minutes.

But if you plan on using their $7 parking, get there before the crumbling garage fills at 7AM and good luck finding an open spawt!

Originally Posted by brainbree

I believe the above poster also said it takes an hour to go from Braintree to Boston, when in reality you can go to JFK from Braintree or East Braintree in less than 20 minutes on the commuter rail.

He didn't, but take a look at the time tables to/from JFK to either of these stations and realize that this option might as well not exist. You get 1 train per hour inbound and you're better off walking home. Regardless, once you get to JFK you wait and then pack yourself into a rickety Red Line train for another 20min... but the return trip is where this idea gets really interesting... would love to hear the selling points of this option outbound when I'm parked at either Braintree or East Braintree!

Since the "home" stations are not interchangeable (i.e.: you have to choose to commute by car to either Braintree or East Braintree before your commute to Cambridge), you're better off finding a town worth living in farther away from both stations, which makes the point of them being 20min from JFK spurious if not moot.

Because Boston's public transit is so irregular and unreliable, many people simply choose to drive/uber, which creates the traffic for which Boston is famous second only to its inferiority complex and general inadequacy.

[brainbree]

Originally Posted by West-Bost-West

But if you plan on using their $7 parking, get there before the crumbling garage fills at 7AM and good luck finding an open spawt!



He didn't, but take a look at the time tables to/from JFK to either of these stations and realize that this option might as well not exist. You get 1 train per hour inbound and you're better off walking home. Regardless, once you get to JFK you wait and then pack yourself into a rickety Red Line train for another 20min...

Since the "home" stations are not interchangeable (i.e.: you have to choose to commute by car to either Braintree or East Braintree before your commute to Cambridge), you're better off finding a town worth living in farther away from both stations, which makes the point of them being 20min from JFK spurious if not moot.

Because Boston's public transit is so irregular and unreliable, many people simply choose to drive/uber, which creates the traffic for which Boston is famous second only to its inferiority complex and general inadequacy.

With these types of replies it's no shock you're unhappy. In any case, my point stands -- Braintree to Cambridge is not at least an hour. Anything but. Your conclusions are also very strange. Because you have to drive to the station you might as well live further away? What?

[bohemka]

Originally Posted by West-Bost-West

It takes at least an hour to travel the ~15mi from Braintree to Cambridge (Red Line, Commuter Rail, I-93, Blue Hill Avenue, bicycle), but that doesn't change the fact that these are some of the worst places to live in Massachusetts even if you had to commute from one to the other, never mind finding out on your commute that you could ride your bike faster to Cambridge if you could only ride 1mph faster in dress shoes and hockey pads.

These are heavily congested, economically perilous, and developmentally backward areas - traffic is horrible, there's an unkempt and altogether bizarre sprawl of housing, commercial, and industrial developments, and a constant stream of low flying A380s overhead (maybe your dogs will like the jetwake - the dogs in my neighborhood certainly do!). There's zero sense of community, just mile after mile of rundown strip malls, ugly, unkempt, and dumpy housing developments, and a senseless crisscrossing of routes, highways and high speed local "shortcuts". Never mind the doped up vagrants milling about, the high crime, littering, swearing out the windows, honking, and an overall pervasive intentional discourtesy.

Generally speaking, you get the impression in Milton, Quincy, Braintree, and Weymouth of a quality of life so low that you become willing to forgive fellow motorists for constantly and aggressively imperiling your life with completely nonsensical driving behavior because you appreciate their desire to end theirs. Even looking at houses around here risks the success of your child rearing efforts.

If anyone ever tells you to think about moving to one these "towns", go ahead and slap that jerk right across the face.

Have you ever considered writing for Hallmark?

[chicagoliz]

Originally Posted by bohemka

Have you ever considered writing for Hallmark?

Perhaps for the Chambers of Commerce and local real estate groups.

[West-Bost-West]

Originally Posted by brainbree

Because you have to drive to the station you might as well live further away? What?

Yes. Because you have to risk your life driving among belligerent/homicidal motorists to Braintree or East Braintree stations and then - as you suggest - switch to the Red Line at JFK, you're better off living in a decent town farther away, using that town's train station and reading a book while you give yourself heart disease. Put another way, a slightly shorter train commute for you does not absolve BraWey (as it's lovingly called) of the miserable quality of life your family stuck there will endure.

Your options are essentially this: find a decent, affordable community (with a village center) as far away as you can get from Boston while still working from an office there, and raise a decent family.. but you'll never see them. Or, look for the shortest commute you can find and hope the dumpy town you just invested in somehow does a 180 against 300 years of bad decisions and raise an unhappy, irritable family.. but you have to live with them.

[brainbree]

Originally Posted by West-Bost-West

Yes. Because you have to risk your life driving among belligerent/homicidal motorists to Braintree or East Braintree stations and then - as you suggest - switch to the Red Line at JFK, you're better off living in a decent town farther away, using that town's train station and reading a book while you give yourself heart disease. Put another way, a slightly shorter train commute for you does not absolve BraWey (as it's lovingly called) of the miserable quality of life your family stuck there will endure.

Your options are essentially this: find a decent, affordable community (with a village center) as far away as you can get from Boston while still working from an office there, and raise a decent family.. but you'll never see them. Or, look for the shortest commute you can find and hope the dumpy town you just invested in somehow does a 180 against 300 years of bad decisions and raise an unhappy, irritable family.. but you have to live with them.

Your hyperbole is just absurd. Anyway, good luck with life.

[rethcir]

Originally Posted by West-Bost-West

<bunch of nonsense>

Dear lord, have a frickin Snickers.

[mwj119]

I don't know what West-Bost-West is on about. Isn't he the guy that said Greater Boston relies only on chain restaraunts? And, in contrast, that South Jersey is the mecca of all existence?

I do agree with one thing- I'm not going to choose to live in Braintree-Milton-Quincy if I work in Cambridge. Frankly, towns like Arlington-Acton-Andover-Chelmsford, all viable options, are more my taste. Definitely more convenient in your situation, too.

[ecraigie]

Sounds like op is looking for something a little more suburban than Arlington or Quincy. But if a public transportation commute to, say, Kendal Sq. is a consideration, then living within walking distance to any of the four T stations in Quincy will be more convenient, save for the little corner of Arlington that is near Alewife.