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Location: Earth, a nice neighborhood in the Milky Way
3,778 posts, read 2,692,075 times
Reputation: 1609
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Quote:
Originally Posted by QuilterChick
A commute from Quincy to Woonsocket would be equally brutal, and not a midway point at all. Except there may be a minor saving in mileage, very minor. The best advice from my experience having traveled those routes at all hours during my lifetime in RI, by car, train and bus, would be to choose somewhere along the western Rt.495 corridor. Both for your ease of commuting and more average cost of living. As they say, 'your mileage may vary'.
I have to disagree with your statement Quilter, as someone who logged 187,000 miles doing a nearly equivalent commute from Somerville to parts elsewhere in RI. There is no way that East Cambridge to Woonsocket is any way equivalent to Quincy to Woonsocket, since you have to drive across the Leonard Zakim Bridge and down the 9 miles of SE Expressway and, in the process, essentially get to Quincy to do the commute. That in an of itself has the potential to add quite a bit of time in bad traffic. It's way more than just another 10 miles logged each way. It is time, and I assure you it is more than a mere 20 minutes round trip.
Clearly Quincy is not geographically the middle location between the two target cities. But it may split the difference from a time expended commuting perspective, if one person is driving their one car from home to Woonsocket, and the other is taking public transportation to Cambridge. In reality, an even balance from a time perspective is exceedingly difficult to achieve. By staying on the red line the whole way from Quincy to Kendall, that commute ends up shorter than the commute to Woonsocket, I would guess. And this is why I suggested Sharon, though that may flip the balance slightly the other way because of the need for the Cambridge commuter to transfer at South Station. Someone needs to do the estimate on google or some other site that actually has that kind of info. I'm hoping the OP realizes the folly of relying on a bunch of people with differing agendas and experiences and does some legwork.
I have to disagree with your statement Quilter, as someone who logged 187,000 miles doing a nearly equivalent commute from Somerville to parts elsewhere in RI. There is no way that East Cambridge to Woonsocket is any way equivalent to Quincy to Woonsocket, since you have to drive across the Leonard Zakim Bridge and down the 9 miles of SE Expressway and, in the process, essentially get to Quincy to do the commute. That in an of itself has the potential to add quite a bit of time in bad traffic. It's way more than just another 10 miles logged each way. It is time, and I assure you it is more than a mere 20 minutes round trip.
Clearly Quincy is not geographically the middle location between the two target cities. But it may split the difference from a time expended commuting perspective, if one person is driving their one car from home to Woonsocket, and the other is taking public transportation to Cambridge. In reality, an even balance from a time perspective is exceedingly difficult to achieve. By staying on the red line the whole way from Quincy to Kendall, that commute ends up shorter than the commute to Woonsocket, I would guess. And this is why I suggested Sharon, though that may flip the balance slightly the other way because of the need for the Cambridge commuter to transfer at South Station. Someone needs to do the estimate on google or some other site that actually has that kind of info. I'm hoping the OP realizes the folly of relying on a bunch of people with differing agendas and experiences and does some legwork.
I did not say that Cambridge to Woonsocket was equivalent to Quincy to Woonsocket. I'm confident that the OP and partner will do the research necessary based on several responses and do their own research and legwork. They do not appear in conversation to be naïve. The drive from Quincy MA to Woonsocket RI can be stressful, and is neither convenient or easy. We do our best, and there is no "folly" in replying to posters or this country/worldwide relocation forum would not exist. We are merely here to help people relocating, not to denigrate other posters.
Location: Earth, a nice neighborhood in the Milky Way
3,778 posts, read 2,692,075 times
Reputation: 1609
Quote:
Originally Posted by QuilterChick
I did not say that Cambridge to Woonsocket was equivalent to Quincy to Woonsocket. I'm confident that the OP and partner will do the research necessary based on several responses and do their own research and legwork. They do not appear in conversation to be naïve. The drive from Quincy MA to Woonsocket RI can be stressful, and is neither convenient or easy. We do our best, and there is no "folly" in replying to posters or this country/worldwide relocation forum would not exist. We are merely here to help people relocating, not to denigrate other posters.
I guess I paraphrased your post too much. In post 48 of this thread you said the commute (from Quincy to Woonsocket) was "equally brutal", with a minor saving on mileage. The implication was that you were comparing it to the commute from Cambridge to Woonsocket, which you implicitly advised against in post 46. My bad, I thought that's what you meant. Now I don't know what you meant.
To my knowledge, I have not denigrated anyone, if that is your implication. Also, isn't this more than just a relocation forum?
Woonsocket is pretty cheap, so if you were commuting there from Bos, you might even think about a cheap, basic apt rental or room rental to use a few nights per week.
...that will get broken into on the the other nights.
I don't know why people give such advice to people with no knowledge of the area, who are relying on our answers for an accurate picture of things. Totally baffles me.
I thought my problem was solved! So the Quincy commute is equally "brutal"?
What are the cities you recommend on the "western Rt.495 corridor"
Quote:
Originally Posted by QuilterChick
A commute from Quincy to Woonsocket would be equally brutal, and not a midway point at all. Except there may be a minor saving in mileage, very minor. The best advice from my experience having traveled those routes at all hours during my lifetime in RI, by car, train and bus, would be to choose somewhere along the western Rt.495 corridor. Both for your ease of commuting and more average cost of living. As they say, 'your mileage may vary'.
I thought my problem was solved! So the Quincy commute is equally "brutal"?
What are the cities you recommend on the "western Rt.495 corridor"
Equally brutal as Cambridge to Woonsocket? Not quite, but I'd still never choose it for myself or even my worst enemy. But then again, I could care less about "urbanity".
On the western 495 corridor, Franklin has been previously recommended as being a short drive to Woonsocket and with train access to Boston.
I thought my problem was solved! So the Quincy commute is equally "brutal"?
A Franklin to Cambridge commute is going to suck mightily. You'll hate your life. And you'll find yourself working late one night, finishing up....and having to wait around for 90 minutes to 2 hours for the next train home. There's no such thing as just being "a few minutes late" on that line.
If you lived in Quincy, you can hop on the red line and there's another train every 10 minutes.
The person driving to Woonsocket will have a longer drive than if you lived in Franklin, but their commute won't exceed an hour. That wouldn't be the case for the Cambridge worker who lived in Franklin.
I think it's the fairer option. They also have different options for getting there and traffic won't be too bad once they get past Rte 93.
I know that Quincy has a lot of apartment complexes catering to professionals who work in Boston and I've seen ads for buildings that run shuttles to the T station. Quincy has four stations on the red line, and big parking garage at Quincy Adams. Or you can switch things up and take the ferry in from Hingham. I don't think mass transit in Franklin just can't compare.
You should probably try cross posting this on the Massachusetts board for advice. This is a tough one as the locations are pretty far apart and the wrong choice could easily leave one or both parties miserable.
I think OP should take from this that what they want, having a relatively urban lifestyle with a long but manageable commute for both parties, is just not possible. There is no good answer, no 'just right' town that will make this work well. You're going to be very unhappy with at least one aspect of your lives with any of the choices, to be blunt.
You can live in a midway point in Franklin, Sharon, or other suburbs between PVD and BOS, and both have long but somewhat managable commutes, but you'd be living in quiet, semi-rural suburbia and almost certainly you would both need cars.
You could live in Providence, and the Cambridge spouse would have a very long commute by train, which is less taxing than a car commute, but also much less flexible.
You could live in the Boston area, and the CVS spouse would have a truly horrific driving commute, though you'd also have a much more dynamic professional environment and big-city amenities.
On Boston, Quincy isn't a _bad_ choice if not right in Cambridge/Boston, but I'm not sure the tradeoff is obviously worth it -- while changing somewhat, Quincy is traditionally a very blue-collar place and still doesn't have much in the way of bars, restaurants, cultural activities. You lose a lot of what it sounds like you value in a place to live but don't change the commute _that_ drastically (I tend to disagree with Sandsonik, I'd expect >60 min even from Quincy during rush hour). A different tradeoff could be 128 corridor suburbs like Wellesley, Waltham, Natick, upscale professional in feel, though suburban, not urban.
Many people who work at cvs live in south Boston. Quincy is closer than south Boston at least
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