Commuting to Bostons financial district (Braintree, Lexington: hotel, house, transfer)

[AMPL]

We are moving from CA to MA in a couple of months and would greatly appreciate some help on the subject: Commuting to Bostons financial district. We are considering to live in either Stow, Holliston, Wrentham or Franklin due to the great schools and reasonable housing prices. I assume it must be the easiest to leave the car at a T-station and take the T in to Boston - is this a right assumption?
Which station would be the easiest to leave the car at if I want to take the T from either of the beforementioned cities?
From Franklin the Commuter Rail offers a 1 hour ride to the South Station, but it seems forever to get to the financial district from South Station - would it not be faster to take the car directly to a T that leads directly to the financial district?

Hope someone has some input.

[smarty]

All the towns you mention (except Franklin), you'll have to drive to a different town's commuter rail station. It'll add another 15-20 minutes to your commute.

Driving into Boston is fastest. However, it is also most expensive. Parking ($300+/mo) with gas and tolls could cost you about $30/day.

would it not be faster to take the car directly to a T that leads directly to the financial district
I assume you mean taking the subway. That is a good questioin. I'm sure many are doing that... so finding parking at those stations like Porter Sq, Braintree would be key. I heard parking lot fills up early. My guess is it'll still take you an hour (30 minutes drive to T and another 30 minutes ride on the T.) If you live in towns you mention, that mean you'll still drive half the distance. Not sure if it is worth it to save 15 minutes a day. You may lose it with the traffic on Rt2 or Rt95 when you come home.

Commuter rails go into North or South Station. From South Station, most people just walk to work instead of taking the subway. It is less than half a mile away. From North Station, it is a bit further.

[brightdoglover]

As far as I know, there is literally no parking at Porter Square. Depending on where you're coming from, you could drive to the Alewife stop of the Red Line (end of the line) and take the Red Line into South Station. I think parking at Alewife is $5/day or something.
Not sure about any of the towns you mentioned. They're all a good distance from downtown. I don't think Stow has a commuter rail stop. You'd have to drive to Alewife if you lived in Stow, at least, that would make the most sense.

[lorilou]

Originally Posted by AMPL

We are moving from CA to MA in a couple of months and would greatly appreciate some help on the subject: Commuting to Bostons financial district. We are considering to live in either Stow, Holliston, Wrentham or Franklin due to the great schools and reasonable housing prices. I assume it must be the easiest to leave the car at a T-station and take the T in to Boston - is this a right assumption?
Which station would be the easiest to leave the car at if I want to take the T from either of the beforementioned cities?
From Franklin the Commuter Rail offers a 1 hour ride to the South Station, but it seems forever to get to the financial district from South Station - would it not be faster to take the car directly to a T that leads directly to the financial district?

Hope someone has some input.

Greetings AMPL.
We transferred to MA 1.5 years ago and selected Franklin for many of the reasons you mentioned. It's a nice place to live...so is Wrentham. My husband takes the T into Back Bay each day. I just wanted to tell you not to necessarily select your home based on the T. We picked Franklin because of the 2 trains here in town, but my husband usually drives into Mansfield to hop on that train. Franklin line is +one hour with many stops and a very limited train schedule. From Mansfield (Providence line), the trip is half the time with fewer stops...and the schedule is much more flexible for return trips.
Feel free to send me a message if you have questions about living in Franklin or the surrounding areas. Good luck and welcome! lorilou

[holden125]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

As far as I know, there is literally no parking at Porter Square. Depending on where you're coming from, you could drive to the Alewife stop of the Red Line (end of the line) and take the Red Line into South Station. I think parking at Alewife is $5/day or something.
Not sure about any of the towns you mentioned. They're all a good distance from downtown. I don't think Stow has a commuter rail stop. You'd have to drive to Alewife if you lived in Stow, at least, that would make the most sense.

The drive to Alewife is heavy traffic and the parking lot there fills up very early, though I think you can pay the same rate at another lot across the street. Personally I would not look forward to a commute from Stow, but you could also take the train from South Acton. Be aware that the train time itself is about an hour (though a couple of morning express trains shave some off), plus the time getting to South Acton and the time getting from North Station to work. Trains into North Station do connect to the Orange line if you need to get to the State St. area.

You could look at the trains going into Back Bay station and pick up the Orange line there. It's about 40 mins from Mansfield to Back Bay, so I'd say Wrentham is a better bet than Stow for commute.

[puffle]

Why not live in Concord? You have the schools and two train stations that go directly to the North Station within a half hour give or take. Parking is good too since you have the choice of two and if you live close enough, you can walk there like we do.

[brightdoglover]

The parking lot at South Acton, which is quite large, fills very early. You practically need a shuttle to get to the train from the back parts of the lot.
Traffic to Alewife isn't so bad if you leave *very early*.

[holden125]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

The parking lot at South Acton, which is quite large, fills very early. You practically need a shuttle to get to the train from the back parts of the lot. Traffic to Alewife isn't so bad if you leave *very early*.

This is the whole issue of why I don't want to live that far out. I know I am not going to bed at 10 PM, and I have no desire to get up at a quarter to six just to leave the house in time to beat that traffic. Personally I'd rather sacrifice the space and be closer.

Globally, this is something the Boston area (and the rest of the US to an even greater extent) is going to have to address in the years to come. Since the suburbs are built in such a sprawling manner, there has to be at the least adequate parking at the stations for people to use them. There also needs to be more trains running. On some lines out of South Station there are no trains outbound between 6:30 and 8:30 or so. As someone who would often get tied up at work until past 6:30, I can say that the system does not work for someone who misses the 6:30 by 5 minutes and now can't get home to Hingham or Scituate until 9. I would never consider living there for that reason.

How many people drive to Alewife, or drive all the way into Boston, because the T system does not adequately meet their needs. Every line should run at least every hour, if not every half hour, from 5 to 8:30 or so on weeknights.

[puffle]

The trains here do run every half hour and there never seems to be a parking problem in Concord with two stations to chose from.

[Skwidy]

I used to live in Acton and take the commuter rail from there to work at International Place in downtown (across from the Boston Harbor Hotel). Door to door was about an hour and 15 minutes (unless I took the express train which shaved 10 minutes). The South Acton lot fills by 7:10/7:15 every morning. Driving in from there, was about the same time, unless you leave really early (before 7 am) or really late (after 10 am). And the cost isn't too much better than driving in either...with a Zone 6 pass going for $223/month. I absolutely loathed my commute from there.

So we moved to Lexington. Since we've only been there for a few months now, I can't speak to all seasons, but driving has been far quicker than parking at Alewife and taking the T. For most mornings that I drive (128 to the Pike to the Southie parking lots), it takes approximately 48 minutes door to door...and that includes a 10 minute walk across the bridge from the lots. On the way home, it's even quicker with a 93 to 128 average time of 34 minutes. And this is leaving around 6:30 pm or later; so earlier might be a bit longer. As for cost, the parking lots cost $11/day vs the $24 early bird special daily rate or the ~$400/monthly cost in my building...yuck.

Compare this to the Alewife option, which I did for a couple of weeks. 50 minutes door to door with little variation. $5 to park at Alewife (I got there at 8:30 am one day and there were still a bunch of spaces left...maybe a fluke?).

So my 20 minutes saved by driving each day costs me a bit more on parking and the gas, (and I don't have to pay for a pass), but I also have the freedom to leave when I want and do errands on the way home. At times it was nice to be on the train, like for instance I was reading a good book or had just a little bit of extra work that I had to take home on the really heavy snow days (but even then, you're driving to the station, so I consider that a wash). I'd much rather drive.

You should also consider where in the Financial district you're going to work...some buildings are really close to South Station, but others, like those on State Street, are closer to North Station. And then there's the T to consider. International Place is about as far from the Subway as you can get it seems, so regardless I'm walking from whichever MBTA option I choose. Good luck with your decision!