North Station to South Station? (Boston, Revere: house, luxury, good schools)

[Patapsco]

Hi there!

I've been scouring these boards to try to do my best to not reinvent the wheel here with my 1000's of questons...

So where I can, I'll break them into smaller threads, like this one.

The financial district is closer to South Station, right?

If we were to househunt on the North Shore or Metro-west, how big a deal is it to get to where he would need to be? Does this add 5 minutes to the commute? or 30? Is it walkable? How about when it's -10? or raining?

Our budget is ideally (and I know, not too realistic for Boston standards) 450K-600K, and could MAYBE stretch to 650, depending on what he might be offered... and ideally also, good schools, although our kids are still babies at this point.

So anyway, bottom line (for this thread, anyway!) is:

Should we limit our search to areas serviceable to S. Sta. only, or is it no biggie?

Thanks in advance!
-Patapsco

[NY'er lost in MA]

I would target suburbs that have S. Station lines. N.Shore is not ideal. 25 minute walk. When it's cold and raining- you won't be happy at all. My wife did the N. Station to S. Station walk for 2 years and cursed me the whole time for moving to Salem. With your budget you will be fine- plenty of options.

Orange line connector is WAY too infrequent and slow...

[scarletfire]

If you go to MBTA Trip Planner > Find the Best Way to Get to Your Destination and enter the departure commuter rail station as the start point and your work address as the end point it should tell you the fastest route.

[surfingatwork]

the walk from north to south station in -10 weather is miserable! you do NOT want to do it (unless of course you want to try it once but once is all it will take for you to realize how horrible of a walk it is - that's if you don't like the cold). during the summer, if it's not raining and you're not in a rush, it is a very nice walk. the only way to get from one to the other using the T is green line (which is at north station) to red line (at park street), the red line will take you to south station. or you can get off at park street and walk to south station (10-15 minutes tops).

[CityGirl52]

Listen Up Good Patapsco! You want the South Station only haul not the North Station to South Station long haul. I'd take the walk up from South Station any day, if the job is definitely in or near the Financial District. I did that walk from North Station to South Station for over 16 years. Do you think it was easy? Well, guess again!! I have arthritis in my hip and both knees because of that exact walk every single day and night and it was on SO SO many below zero mornings and nights too, I'm paying for it now, big time! I can still see myself trudging along with all those poor souls catching their train at North Station, yikes! It's like I died and went to heaven NOT having to do that every day. If I were you? I'd go for that commute from South Station when you're looking for that house and from there every morning and night the jaunt up to the office will be a piece of cake, whether it's for you or for both of you or your husband! Always remember that. It's extremely important for down the road, when all those aches and pains start to kick in on you, you'll be SO happy you listened up good Patapsco!

If you DO end up North of Boston? There IS an MBTA bus at North Station that has stops all along the way and goes as far as the Moakley Federal Courthouse building, I'm sure it's still there. That was extremely convenient WHEN you caught it. But that was the thing about it. You had to catch it and if you didn't? You stand in that freezing cold OR you find yourself trudging up to the South Station area aggravated with it all.

I'm telling you, it would be in yours and/or your husbands best interest if it were only from South Station that you had to walk up from. Some day you'll be saying, WHAT was I thinking!

Good luck whatever you decide to do and best wishes with your new lives in New England! You're going to really enjoy living here!

[capecodcathy]

I'll just add in support of the others. I did the North to South walk for several years (Summer St). Windy, cold, miserable.

[Patapsco]

Hi, everyone!

The office is on Federal Street, and from what I can tell by our lovely "spy" satellite Google Earth, that's in the financial district?

Thanks so much for your insights. It's tough to tell from transit maps, sometimes, so is good to hear from the folks who've actually trudged it.

Here's another question - is it walkable from Rowes Wharf? Or is that another piece of insanity?

And another question - how safe is the T? If he were to for instance, drive in to Wonderland and hop on the T, is that parking lot safe at night?

Thanks so, so much!

[surfingatwork]

rowes wharf to federal street (and yes it's the financial district) is definitely walkable (maybe 15 minutes depending upon how fast ya walk). one thing to remember though is rowes wharf is on the water so it's gonna be cold, cold, cold in the winter. now that I think about it i don't think there's an easy way to take public transportation from rowes wharf to federal street without having to walk at least a little bit so you're better off walking the whole way.

as for the wonderland t stop, sorry can't help you. i've only taken the blue line to the airport and I picked it up (blue line) at government center.

[CityGirl52]

I took Wonderland and the Revere Beach blue line in to Boston's State Street station several times. I personally like the orange line much better from Oak Grove & Wellington, to tell you the truth, it's all in what you're used to and what the commuter wants to do every day. Not that the blue line wasn't fast or that the station wasn't clean, it's actually built MUCH nicer than the orange line, the stations were renovated and they did an outstanding job, but I don't know, something about that blue line at night that just gave me the heeby jeebies, you know what I mean? I'm sure your husband won't have that same vibe, it's a women's intuition I guess! I have a good friend that lives in Revere and she hates that about the blue line too. I thought it was just me, but she either drives all the way in to the Financial District every day or her husband drops her off near her office. (I should be so lucky, I didn't have that luxury and probably never will, BUT I shouldn't say never!) I always had the schlep up from North Station to South Station every day. Especially once the commuter rail got up to Newburyport, that was IT, I got that routine down to a science from then on!

Tell your husband to try all the different ways of getting in to Boston and he'll end up with the easiest for him. One thing about the MBTA, whether it's the subway or the commuter rail? It CAN be very quick 9 times out of 10. It's basically reliable I always thought, but it can stop all of a sudden after weeks of being on time, and I mean it can STOP and especially in the freezing cold winter months, even the commuter rail, that's no exception. It's brutally annoying as can be, but then it, all of a sudden takes off and you're on your way. SO many aggravating times that you can be on that train or commuter rail and it's totally packed with people and you're looking up at all these people either their flipping out or they're in another world completely reading books/newspapers or listening to their ipods and it never fails either, it's when you're in a hurry trying to get home or trying to get in to the office for a big huge meeting! Nothing you can do about it though, na da! Just relax and make the best of it, because THAT'S not going away any time soon, you can try to leave earlier, it doesn't matter. The "T" will always be like that, most of the time it's wonderful though, so don't get me wrong but be prepared, even their brand new silver line acts up from what we're hearing, NOT much, but it definitely has from time to time.

Good luck and again welcome to the Boston area!

[NY'er lost in MA]

Getting to Wonderland in the morning from the North Shore is not exactly easy. TONS of traffic lights, school buses, and single lane road. Not recommended.

It sort of sounds like your top choices for towns are on the North Shore. Sort of like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole when it comes to getting to the Financial District. My wife works on Federal Street.

Remember- this is Boston.....in New England = frigid and cold/wet horrible winds and weather at times. Sub zero weather. Don't fool yourself. I actually know people that got minor frostbitten noses walking around North Station.

One other issue with North Station is all the Celtic/Bruins games- makes for a crazy commute home when you suddenly have to weave through thousands of people. And with the Celtics new players, expect sold out crowds. Perfect after a long day of work!