Question from and out-of-towner

P

Patrick

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Hello all transit folks, a quick question.

I just interviewed for the position of City Planner in Somerville. My wife and I own a house in Portland (ME) and will in all likelihood be renting it out if I am offered this position. Until we find suitable tenants, I would be commuting to Boston via train (Amtrak) if offered the job. My question, as someone who has never taken the downeaster to Boston, is this: Is there any convenient way to get from wherever Amtrak lets off in Boston to Somerville City hall via the T? Are the two systems interconnected in any meaningful way (in other words, can I step off the Amtrak and hop on the right T line (or bus) to Somerville? If so, what might the expected travel time be? Thanks in advance!
 
The T is well connected with North Station, but Somerville City hall is in a random place with no decent connections.

According to google, biking would actually be faster.

http://g.co/maps/e55gm
 
I agree with the biking suggestion. Otherwise, you'd get on the Green Line (light rail) right across the street from North Station, take it two stops, then transfer to a bus.
 
North Sta. Green Line to Lechmere, transfer to bus.

Cab.

Or:
http://www.greenzonebikes.com/ for a Dahon folder knock-off. Probably cheaper for one of these than a week's cab fare.

Ron Newman could probably tell you the best route for that last option. There is eventually going to be a fairly direct bike specific path from North Station along the Lowell Commuter Rail line to that part of Somerville. But that's years away from completion with the Green Line extensions to points west.
 
Lurker said:
North Sta. Green Line to Lechmere, transfer to bus.

Cab.

Or:
http://www.greenzonebikes.com/ for a Dahon folder knock-off. Probably cheaper for one of these than a week's cab fare.

Ron Newman could probably tell you the best route for that last option. There is eventually going to be a fairly direct bike specific path from North Station along the Lowell Commuter Rail line to that part of Somerville. But that's years away from completion with the Green Line extensions to points west.
Click to expand...

Thanks everyone. I guess it might be easy to have a bike stationed somewhere down there every day, locked for my use. I could drive it down by car at first, or even purchase it there.

Suppose I took the green line two stops, and then biked the rest of the way. Is that feasible, and if so how long might the bike portion take? Thanks again.
 
From North Station, Green Line to Lechmere, then bus 80 or 88 (whichever comes first) to Somerville City Hall. The 88 leaves you right in front. The 80 drops you at the bottom of the hill in back.

It's a very reasonable bike ride, though it's uphill in parts, and you have to feel comfortable riding on McGrath Highway.

If you are going to ride a bike, I don't see any point in taking the Green Line to Lechmere first. Just ride from North Station.
 
Congrats on the job.

Come winter time it would make more sense to take the bus from Lechmere.
 
vanshnookenraggen said:
Congrats on the job.

Come winter time it would make more sense to take the bus from Lechmere.
Click to expand...

OK, thanks for the advice (and thannks on the congrats, but the interview process is still unfolding....I've had an initial interview and was invited to take further steps in the process after that). Any idea how long the bus would be? I still might prefer to bike, as I've done it in the winter in Maine before. Unless it is really a safety concern, in addition to just temperature. I'll have to try a few things out I guess to find the right course. Hopefully we'll eventually rent our house out here and move down there for the duration of the job (a two year, grant funded position to coordinate a re-write the city's zoning code based on the current comp plan revisions and update). I would really like this job, as it would deal directly with coding for livability, transit-oriented development, and urban design. Obviously, these are things we're all interested in here, but as a Maine planner the level of excitement is much, much lower, given the lack of urbanity here. Somerville would be an awesome place to work, with tremendously interesting issues as the blue collar-yuppie dichotomy continues to present itself in an age of sustainability and a return to traditional urban design. Lots of neat possibilities going on....Also, Davis Square, what a neat place.
 
The bus ride isn't long, maybe 10 minutes? But I'd worry a lot about making connections on the way back from Somerville to an infrequent Amtrak inter-city train.
 
Thanks Ron. Yeah, I am concerned about the connections. If this is to work smoothly, those need to be on time. I really wouldn't mind biking a bit, might do me some good, too. I'll have to look into the train schedule more, but from the sounds of it the consensus is that this can be done, if only in a complicated manner. Complicated I'm fine with, when it's worth it (and this position would be). Thanks everyone.
 
You might be better off driving to Newburyport and taking the commuter rail from there. It's about an hour to newburyport and you'd have some level of flexibility in case you missed the Amtrak train.
 
Or, depending on the schedule, crossing the platform to a Fitchburg train to Porter. That's relatively close to Somerville City Hall (about a 15-20 minute walk).
 
Thank you all very much. How close does the commuter train from Newburyport get to City Hall? And how long of a trip is it from there (from Newburyport to Somerville)? I think that sounds like the best approach so far, because it is flexible, you're right.
 
Both Amtrak and the commuter rail will drop you at North Station.
 
You can also take the Orange Line from North Station to Sullivan Station. From there you can take the 90 bus to City Hall or bike or walk there. It's about a 10 minute bike ride or a 30 minute walk.
 
However, you can't take a regular (non-folding) bike on a rush-hour MBTA commuter train. You can take it on the Amtrak Downeaster at any time of day.
 
Good luck with the hiring process, Patrick! I think a lot of cities in Maine would benefit from someone with your enthusiasm as their city planner, but I understand the benefits of working somewhere that is (for lack of a better term) "a little farther along" than Maine in regards to urban planning and design. Commuting daily from Portland would get old pretty fast, but as the suggestions above show, it's certainly doable.
 
If the GLX wasn't half a century+ in the making and was actually running, you could be taking the Green Line straight to city hall from North Station to Gilman Square.
 
Patrick said:
Hello all transit folks, a quick question.

I just interviewed for the position of City Planner in Somerville. My wife and I own a house in Portland (ME) and will in all likelihood be renting it out if I am offered this position. Until we find suitable tenants, I would be commuting to Boston via train (Amtrak) if offered the job. My question, as someone who has never taken the downeaster to Boston, is this: Is there any convenient way to get from wherever Amtrak lets off in Boston to Somerville City hall via the T? Are the two systems interconnected in any meaningful way (in other words, can I step off the Amtrak and hop on the right T line (or bus) to Somerville? If so, what might the expected travel time be? Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, connections between the outter-spokes of the MBTA/MBCR north of Boston are bad.
 
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