Commute Orleans to Boston? (Brockton, Weymouth: house, to live, prices)

[CC Commuter]

I'm looking at positions in the downtown Boston area. I'd need to do the daily commute, from the Orleans area, and would greatly appreciate hearing from anyone with experience...

Thanks.

[CapeCodder]

Wow...that's a wicked commute...no way would I do it.

My bro commutes from Falmouth to Boston and HATES it. Brutal traffic and gas is high.

[cbrew26]

That is not a commute. That is a trip. It's over 90 miles away and would take 2 1/2 hours each way. Live in Duxbury on the South Shore.

[CC Commuter]

Sigh. Yes, this is what I've heard... I'm hoping someone will chime in who has done the bus to South Station run... it would be great to hear from them what that's like. I know it'll take time, but I'm thinking maybe I can make use of the time...

[CapeCodder]

My brother started out doing the bus...he hated it. Plus, if he missed it he got home an hour later. He's still doing the commute from Falmouth by car, he's been doing it for over a year and the only thing that makes it somewhat ok is the fact he has friends in Boston and some nights he goes out with them to avoid the bridge...plus he's going over the Bourne bridge...you'd be doing the Sagamore and that's worse.

I suppose if you could work from the bus on your computer...maybe it would make the time well spent?

[mytimenow]

You really need to think hard about doing this. I lived mid-Cape & took the bus to South Station for 2 yrs. Sometimes I would park at Sagamore, sometimes I would go to Hyannis. I would leave my house before 6:00 AM, get home around 6:30 PM. That's on a good day with no traffic, snow, etc. I do remember one stormy afternoon when I did not get home until 9:00 PM. (This was a while ago, before the Cape started having "winter") I just felt like all I did was ride, work, ride, sleep, ride work......during the week and that was no good for me. If you don't mind the unbalanced schedule, it may be OK for you. The only reason I did it that long was that I had some friends who drove into Beantown several weekdays a month and needed an "extra" so could use the zipper lane. Otherwise, I would not have been able to last the 2 yrs.

[CC Commuter]

It's a trade-off... being employed doing what I enjoy doing and being paid well for it, vs. not being able to do that on Cape, at least for now.

I definitely am thinking long and hard about it... working on short term alternatives while building a longer term solution (hopefully). Maybe a year or two of that commute, what with a laptop to work on, and maybe an iPod for listening/learning... maybe not.

Thanks for your help, everyone.

[RLCMA]

That's going to be a 2 hour commute without traffic. With traffic you're looking at 3 hours easily. You'll hit a back up around the Weymouth area (Exit 15 on Route 3) every day. I found Friday's weren't as bad as the rest of the week when I commuted to the Boston area but Orleans is a good 45 minutes to the Sagamore Bridge with no traffic and another hour from the Sagamore Bridge to Boston with no traffic. Best case scenario is 2 hours. With gas prices on the rise I really hope it's worth it. You're going to be filling up at least twice a week so gas is going to cost you at least $500 a month and probably more since they're predicting $5 a gallon by the end of summer for Regular. If your car manufacturer recommends higher octane fuel and you drive around a lot on days off I'm guessing you're looking at about $700-$900/month for gas.

[HoneyRyder]

How are you planning on doing it? I've gone from Providence RI to Orleans using public transit a bunch of times, and it always takes at least 3 hours. The Peter Pan bus is not direct from Orleans -> Boston (the one to RI made a bunch of stops in cities along the way, the one to Boston will probably be the same), and it is $50 round trip (if you book ahead). Hyannis, where the bus starts, is still about 20 mins away from Orleans. What I did was take the Plymouth & Brockton bus to Hyannis from Orleans, that is $6 each way. Driving is the best way to do it, but with gas prices and traffic...yuck. I understand wanting to live on Cape Cod though...good luck!

[capecodcathy]

Orleans to Boston. Whoa!!!!! I don't think so. But if I had to do it, I think I'd go to Plymouth and catch the commuter rail, rather than a bus. Still an hour or so from Plymouth to Boston. And another hour from Orleans to Plymouth? I've done long commutes and used them to catch some extra sleep, but I don't think I'd be doing this one.
Commuter rail cominng over the bridges sounds even better and better.