Commuting times before covid (Newton, Randolph: how much, affordable house, transfer)

[pineapple1234]

Hi all,


My wife and I are planning to buy a house in Newton, Needham, or Westwood. I work in the Alewife area and my wife works in Randolph, so we're looking for a town that has a "reasonable" driving commute to both places. Hence, why we're looking at towns along I-95.


I know that commuting times have been massively reduced during covid, and I'm trying to get a sense for the commute time from these three towns to the Alewife area (i.e. I-95 N to Route 2 west). I work in biotech, so I'm also considering potential commute times to the Kendall Square area.



Google maps gives the following estimates for leaving at 7:30am on a weekday. But I feel like there's no way these times are accurate during non-covid times:


Westwood to Alewife: 26-35 min
Needham to Alewife: 22-28 min

Newton to Alewife: 18-26 min


What would the normal commuting times look like for these 3 towns? Westwood is more affordable than the other 2, but I don't want a nightmare commute.



Thanks

[yesmaybe]

Pre-Rona, 128 NB up to the Pike was practically a parking lot. Like I looked at a place in Norwood and that was 40 minutes to just the Pike.

[BostonMike7]

I'd say Pre-rona, you can double it for a sunny day, and possibly triple it for a rainy/snowy day.

128 was a parking lot a year ago. I myself had a 50-60 min commute just to go 7 miles down 128/95 north of town.

[simplexsimon]

Would you consider taking the commuter rail to South Station and then taking the Red Line up? Commute time might not be that different this way and the commute would be much less soul crushing for me compared to driving.

[pineapple1234]

Originally Posted by simplexsimon

Would you consider taking the commuter rail to South Station and then taking the Red Line up? Commute time might not be that different this way and the commute would be much less soul crushing for me compared to driving.

I definitely would consider commuter rail + red line as an option, although it would depend on the commute time. Overall I don't acutally mind sitting in traffic compared to riding on public transportation, it's more a question of overall commute time for me.

It seems clear that the commute from Newton/Needham/Westwood to Alewife/Kendall are all not ideal during non-covid times, but I'm trying to figure out how much worse the commute would be from Westwood (more affordable house) compared to Newton. If it's only a 10-15 minute difference each way, I'm OK with that. But if it's an extra 30 minutes each way, that's probably too much.

[fabfan84]

Originally Posted by pineapple1234

I definitely would consider commuter rail + red line as an option, although it would depend on the commute time. Overall I don't acutally mind sitting in traffic compared to riding on public transportation, it's more a question of overall commute time for me.

It seems clear that the commute from Newton/Needham/Westwood to Alewife/Kendall are all not ideal during non-covid times, but I'm trying to figure out how much worse the commute would be from Westwood (more affordable house) compared to Newton. If it's only a 10-15 minute difference each way, I'm OK with that. But if it's an extra 30 minutes each way, that's probably too much.

Westwood to Alewife/Kendall during non-COVID would be very difficult. Needham would be a little worse compared with Newton. Westwood would be a lot worse.

[simplexsimon]

Originally Posted by pineapple1234

I definitely would consider commuter rail + red line as an option, although it would depend on the commute time. Overall I don't acutally mind sitting in traffic compared to riding on public transportation, it's more a question of overall commute time for me.

It seems clear that the commute from Newton/Needham/Westwood to Alewife/Kendall are all not ideal during non-covid times, but I'm trying to figure out how much worse the commute would be from Westwood (more affordable house) compared to Newton. If it's only a 10-15 minute difference each way, I'm OK with that. But if it's an extra 30 minutes each way, that's probably too much.

Well depending on where in Newton you could be halfway to Alewife compared to Westwood...

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by pineapple1234

I definitely would consider commuter rail + red line as an option, although it would depend on the commute time. Overall I don't acutally mind sitting in traffic compared to riding on public transportation, it's more a question of overall commute time for me.

It seems clear that the commute from Newton/Needham/Westwood to Alewife/Kendall are all not ideal during non-covid times, but I'm trying to figure out how much worse the commute would be from Westwood (more affordable house) compared to Newton. If it's only a 10-15 minute difference each way, I'm OK with that. But if it's an extra 30 minutes each way, that's probably too much.

I'm not convinced the Commuter Rail + Red Line for that trip is what I'd want to do and I generally prefer transit to driving in terms of a commute. I don't think you'd end up saving a ton of time. It's around 25 minutes from the 128 stop to South Station and another 20 minutes on the Red Line. So 45 minutes of travel time on the train + however long it'd take you to get to/from the T station, the walk/wait time for the Red Line at South Station, and the walk time to/from Alewife to your office. I'd bank on at least an hour for transit on a good day if you nail the transfers and live less than 10 minutes from the station. So it likely wouldn't really be a time saver and the hassle of dealing with commuter rail schedules as well as the transfer would be a bit of a turn off for me. If it was a one seat ride/straight shot I'd likely consider taking the train, but it isn't.

[J1NL1]

Hi - I’m just going to copy what I wrote on a thread a few years ago in case this info helps:

“We bought a house near Hersey station (Needham) close to 95, near Dedham line. He has parking at Kendall next to his office. If he leaves between 6:45-7:15am, it usually takes him 50 min by car, and 1 hr door to door. After 7:15am it takes him an extra 15 minutes due to traffic.”

[pineapple1234]

Thanks for your responses, this is all very helpful!


So to summarize, these would be the "rough" commute times by car during weekdays at 7:30AM:


Westwood to Alewife or Kendall: 70-80 min
Needham to Alewife or Kendall: 50-60 min
Newton to Alewife or Kendall: 45 min


Does this seem accurate? It obviously depends on proximity to I-95 in each town, but just trying to get a general idea. And I'm assuming Alewife and Kendall have relatively similar commute times despite being different routes.