Why the T? 5 reasons

It's the convenience of it all. I'm a father of two with a wife at home taking care of the kids. She needs the car in case of an emergency and it's MUCH cheaper to buy a Charlie Card than it is to fill up every week or so. Sure, my commute is about 10-15 minutes longer, but as you mentioned, I can catch up on email, draft blog posts, brainstorm for work assignments, read the paper, watch Mad Men on my iPod Touch, etc. I actually find the experience comforting as it allows me to prep for my day. On the flip side, it allows me to unwind and gear up for Daddy-time when I get home.

Of course, those thoughts go right out the window when there are delays, the AC isn't working, it's crowded, etc.

I take the T for all the reasons you mentioned above, and for these reasons:

- It actually gives me MORE mobility during the day. I work downtown, and if I want to go somewhere else in or around the city after work (which I often do) I just hop the T and go there.
- It gives me a reason to walk each day.
- I enjoy being around and seeing other people. Cars are so isolating, whereas people are so interesting.
- I don't have to deal with Boston traffic, unless I decide to bike that day, but even then I'd rather deal with traffic on a bike where I don't have to get stuck in it.
- I don't have to deal with parking anywhere (both the cost and the hastle!).

The trains are filthy. It is worth paying for parking and gas so I don't have to be crammed up against someone after a long hot work-day.

I would take the T, but if you are not at the parking lot at Oak Grove before 7AM there is no parking left. Why don't the add more parking over there somehow?

I would love to - but I live in Gloucester. To get to work at 10 AM, I would have to take a 7:33 train to work. I leave work at 7, I'd have to wait until 8 PM for a return train. My schedule used to be different, and I would take the train every day, but it ate up 4 hours of my day instead of 45 minutes each way driving - and it is more expensive to pay $14 for a round trip than it is for gas in my tiny car (I spend about $8 per day in gas driving at $4 a gallon).

My husband commutes via train or carpools with me when he can, he works later hours as well. I'd love to take the train and ditch my car, but the commuter service to Gloucester is so sparse it's impossible unless you work a true 9-5. I can't afford to spend 5 hours when I'm 4 months pregnant and also in school part time.

At least in a car, you only have to worry about how you smell and no one else. Yesterday on my way to the gym, a guy sat down next to me who smelled so horrifyingly sour, I couldn't block the stench out by holding my nose and had to move to a different car. Fortunately, it was mid-day and the T was empty. But if it had been a crowded T with nowhere else to move, I probably would have had to get off before my stop just to find relief. I guess its great to interact with people and all, but some of them smell so foul, you long for the sweet isolation of an automobile!

i don't take the T because the last time i did, it took me two hours to travel the 7 miles to my job. gas may be expensive, but so is my time.

Let's look at the recent troubles of the Red Line. Several co-workers of mine rely on the subway to get them to South Station and as a result of Red Line delays, they have missed their connection. That kind of headache really gets old quickly.

I took the T for about 5 years when I moved back. 3 trains to get where I needed to get and it took twice as long. I would often have to try and leave work early to catch a train and hope I got home at a decent hour. You can not get from Kenmore square to south station in 30 min or less. 4 out of 5 days a week I travel to and from my job faster in my car, than taking 3 trains. There is always one day that the traffic gods are in an uproad. Once I am in the city, i am at work. I don't drive around the city and if we go out after work it is usually in walking distance. I just can 't do the T anymore. It is slow, dirty, unpredictable and full of rude smelly people. My sanity is worth more to me than anything.

$59 a month and i can go pretty much anywhere I need to go in the city compared to filling up the 30 gallon tank of my Ford F-150...i live on the south shore...despite what they tell you about the big dig, the se xpressway is still a parking lot...they just put it underground...on the t, i can read, listen to music, daydream...

I have been taking the T for the past 4 years. I live in Salem, MA and it doesn't take any longer to drive vs. the T. But it costs me 89.00 for an Inner Express bus pass and that would be gas for two weeks, not included parking in Boston (12.00 per day) - so the T is the cheaper alternative. I am the "boss" so I do have some leeway in arriving and departing. The schedules are not the best but during the "rush hours" the buses depart every 30 minutes. The biggest problem I have is that there is only one bus route and until recently it was NOT the most reliable - but after 4 years of emailing the T. We got a group of us to write letters to D. Patrick and we actually got new buses and timely service. It has improved for us. We have a group of people who take the same bus daily and we are all friends & sit together - works for us!

I am in Oak Grove area and agree that they should really provide more parking at that station. It's ridiculous that I have to drive to Wellington Sta to grab the Orange Line because there are no spaces available there after 7 a.m.

I've no interest in a car at all that'll cost me $6 in insurance a day just sitting in the driveway. The T takes me anywhere I need to go, bar the rare cab ride, I don't have to pay for gas, I don't have to fork over $15+/day for parking in town, and sure as heck if I was still doing the Artery commute, I'd either get killed or bang up someone else. Who needs it when you have alternatives? So you can't eat off of a Red Line train's floor. Who does anyway, and let's not pretend the footwell of anyone's car'll pass a white glove test.

I echo Bob's statement (#8 above) about the Red Line. I commute from N. Quincy to Harvard and the issues w/ the Longfellow Bridge have added considerable time onto my commute. However, I would still rather take the T than deal with the headaches associated with driving from the South Shore into Cambridge.

I've lived in Boston for 16 years now and have never owned a car. I've always worked in Boston or Cambridge, and have lived in Boston, Brookline, Quincy and Somerville during that time, so a car has never been a necessity for me. I use Zipcar whenever I need a car (a couple of times/month) and it works out great.

How about...5 Ways The MBTA Could Make People Want To Take The T

1.) Figure out why there are major delays and why buses and trains never show up, etc. Then fix those things and make it a high priority that everything runs on schedule. Also you may want to create a realistic schedule as well.

2.) Clean the stations more than once a century especially the mold hanging down in clumps everywhere.

3.) Start construction on the urban ring so that it doesn't take half a day to get places that you could walk to faster sometimes. Kenmore to Central shouldn't take an hour on the T but since we all have to go all the way to get somewhere else we're stuck with that.

4.) Empower employees that come into contact with the public to be helpful and friendly by paying them enough and if can't then hire new ones. I understand everyone has a bad day but some people have a bad streak.

5.) Maintain the stations so that instead of having to replace them entirely in the future they'll just need minor upkeep over time.

Besides these things the MBTA needs to think about the future. Things like creating lines that run without squeaking and creaking loudly, express tunnels, trains that are comfortable and reliable, moving all lines to use the same equipment to save on maintenance and parts and extending the T to reach the other 3/4 of the city.

I used to be on the redline and, in general, it was pretty good, but I always thought a lot of the frustration could have been prevented with better communication. Nothing more frustrating than leaving the station and having the train stop for 5, 10 or 15 minutes and you're told nothing. Especially on a hot summer day. Ick.

So the author has a Toyota Corolla and spends $6 a day in gas.. if my simple math is correct, this is about 1.5 gallons... I don't know about his Corolla, but my 1999 averages 33 mpg.. Yes.. I've been tracking it for over 2 yrs now.. every fillup goes into massachusettsgasprices.com. so.. 1.5 gallons is roughly 50 miles round trip, or 25 miles each way... I think that's a fairly long ride up route 2.

I now go 16 miles each way in my Corolla every day.. fill up with about 10 gallons every two weeks, at anywhere between 310 and 350 miles on the trip odometer.

I took the T from Attleboro to Kendall daily for 3 yrs.

Even though it's no Lexus... I'd rather my little beater Corolla than the T any day.

I have been taking the T for five months now....works out pretty well for Natick to Boston, South End to Dorchester...It does often take the same amount of time to get from Boston to Natick (18miles) that it takes to get from the South End to Dorchester (5 miles) which is very interesting? I will say that after 7pm there is a major drop off in the number of buses that run and wait times go up significantly....the express trains from Natick to Boston are usually so crowded that no seats are available and people are forced to stand in the aisles that seems like a safety hazard!

The T in its current iteration is a fiscal time bomb. Not to mention that it can't police itself nor do basic maintenance in a reliable way. That said, if you live within a decent bus ride to a station, it's fairly convenient for the more "urban" of the suburbs. But the T, policy makers and other impractical greenheads out there who think the T will solve most people's commuting needs are living in a fantasy world. And BTW, "saving carbon" makes the author sound like such a liberal left leaning weanie. The Corolla is already so much more fuel efficient than most vehicles out there.

Interesting that so many of the rosy comments here revolve around the red line! For those of us on the above-ground portions of the green line, it's not hard to think of lists of reasons *not* to like the T (small trains on windy shrill tracks, packed in like sardines to be buffeted between students smacking you with their bulging backpacks and the hordes of red sox nation, dark hot stations with drips and peeling walls, stops twice as close together as they should be and stopping at every red light in between, drivers who unpredictably sometimes refuse the open the back doors to let you off, and waiting forever for your train to come, only to have it fill up with baseball fans). I do take the T most days, but in addition to the insane commute time, it also means leaving before 7:30 in the morning if you want to be sure to get on a train, and staying at work until after 7:05pm if the sox are in town. In fact, when the weather is nice, my best argument for the T is health-related: it often inspires me to walk instead, since I can make the 3 miles from Brookline to Cambridge about as fast on foot anyway...

On answer number 4. Save my carbon for my son to drive the week before college.
Are you serious? Are you getting sucked in by Al Gore? Get a life and don't believe everything you read about carbon. It is just a way for Al Gore to make money for himself. THINK !!!!!!

Those are poor reasons. Carbon? But there are other advantages to the T. Such as the fact that yes, you do save gas and you are contributing to the environment. However, if I could drive to work, I would. The train is always crowded and unfriendly. Rarely gets me to work on time. Although I did live in London for a while and the Tube is much worse in the morning, but at least it came on time.

I have been a t rider my whole life. I don't drive, am scared to death to drive and am very happy to take the t whenever I get the chance to.

I rode the T daily for many years, primarily the green line, and I nearly laughed out loud upon reading the writer's blog. I wonder what system he has been taking and where I can get on those trains. For comparison, by the way, I also lived in New York City and spent significant time in France.

1) We pay nearly as much for a ride on the T as we would on the New York City subway. The difference is that the subway system is huge and, while it can be inefficient, there is a greater chance of your getting from Point A to Point B without needing to change trains 15 times.

2) There is almost no communcation between the MBTA and its customers. In France and San Diego, and to a lesser extent in New York, there are electronic displays that tell riders where the next train is and when it is likely to reach the station. This helps relieve frustration and plan routes. Currently, the few MBTA stops that do have electronic displays let me know that a train is arriving...as if I couldn't tell by the noise.

3) The Green Line is in shambles. My sister likes to say "Any train that gets stuck in traffic isn't a train." With the exception of the D line, the Green Line relies heavily on the capriciousness of street traffic and pedestrians (which explains why so many idiotic BU students like to get hit by the trains). Many "stations" are little more than a two foot wide strip of concrete on the side of the road with no protection from the elements, labeling, or ticket machines. (Blanford Street, for example). Not to mention that it is slow, has too many stops, and has extremely small, space-inefficient cars that are regularly packed beyond safety.

which brings me to

4) Apparently the MBTA has never heard of a calendar. The Red Sox are nice enough to post their game dates IN ADVANCE. So, why not run more trains before and after those games so we're not crammed into the cars? Hell, why not ask the Red Sox organization to chip in some money. God knows they make enough. Same scheduling thing goes for graduations and first day of school.

5) I don't care if I can't eat off the red line floor, but...the aggressive, drunken homeless at Central Square bus stop, for example, or the constant disrepair of most underground stations. Remember when the T made a big deal of "cleaning between the lines"? Guess that went out the window, but it didn't make any difference anyway.

But then there is your bit...you take a bus that comes every half hour? On what planet, Saturn? The bus schedules are meaningless, especially if you're riding on Mass. Ave. I've waited for 45 minutes for a bus that never came. I've missed two buses in a row (30 seconds apart or less) and didn't see one for another 20 when the schedule said 7 minutes apart. And there's no communication. In many cases, I just walk.

And finally, who wants to support a subway that shuts down at about midnight. No wonder Boston is such a snoozefest. At 10PM, most of the city is closing up shop, whereas in any useful city, it's still going.

I live in the suburbs and ride by bike to work (downtown). It's obviously great exercise. I dislike the T b/c the environment is depressing. Everyone looks so miserable. And it's filthy. Many people leave their newspapers and empty drink containers. I'm sick of picking up trash that others leave behind. C'mon people...take your newspapers and trash with you!

I work downtown, 8-5, I leave home 6:45am, return 5:45pm. I ride the bus to the boat from the south shore, 3 different options, Hull, Hingham, Quincy, also have travelled the Greenbush, almost same timetables. I use the redline less now, but still do. I have used my Boat/Charlie card on Kingston train line to Weymouth, Hanson and also the Worcester line to Southboro/Hopkinton. Most parking is only $1.....I have lost 15lbs from alittle walking to/from and also ride my bicycle to the boat 3/4x a month. I still enjoy the boat rides the most and I only put less than 3000 miles on my truck all last yr..

Whatever your opinions about the T, commuting by car should be evaluated by the same standards. I never hear someone say they're never going to drive again after being stuck in gridlocked traffic for hours and missing a meeting, or after being tailgated by an aggressive driver, or after being stuck next to a car with music pounding so loud you can't breathe, or after blowing a tire in a pothole, or after being in a fender-bender or being stuck because the car broke down or didn't start in the morning or the roads were icy or snowed in. All of these things happen when you drive, because you are relying on a machine that may break down and a system of roads that are used by other people, too, and may not be maintained as well as it should be. So -- riding the T depends on a machine that may break down, is used by other people, too, and relies on a system of tracks that may not be maintained as well as it should be. The ride isn't always perfect, but commuting by car certainly isn't either, if we apply the same standards to both.

I'd still rather take my chances on the T, where I can read the paper or my work, leave the driving to someone else, and share the experience with my fellow commuters, rather than only seeing them through my car window as antagonists in some never-ending contest or race to get to work and a get a parking place.

I just spent 2 years commuting to boston on the Redline. Yes, I was lucky. I live a 5 minute drive from Alewife. I parked in the surface lot for $5/day. I always had an "end" seat in the train. Nevertheless, the constant pigeon crap in Alewife (a simple ceiling fix would fix that), the random un airconditioned cars, the filthy, sour, disgusting people who don't bathe...one drunk, homeless, insane person can add 10 years to your life when you're trapped in a metal tube with 100 people, the misery and dread on everyone's faces, the high pitched screech of iPods everywhere, the filthy seats, the constant breakdowns, the fact that the Feds had to tell the state to slow the F down on the Longfellow...

I'm now driving to Marlboro. My car gets about 28mpg on the higway, so my commuting costs haven't changed much. I'm so much happier.

The MBTA has a habit of trying to please everyone and ending up pleasing nobody. Today's subway trains are air-conditioned, but the heat they extract from the cars has to go into the tunnels and stations. People complain about noise, so the MBTA loads stations with sound absorbing material. The material absorbs dust and light so the stations become dingy. Add the tinted glass on the cars to the mix, and it can become impossible to see where you are. Andrew is a good example. There is a need to make the system as bright and open as possible. This deters crime, eases transfers, and makes it safer for all customers. Clean bright surfaces, like those at Shawmut, tend to stay clean, and defacements are easy to remove.

If the MBTA's goal is cleanliness and safety, it should forget about sound absorption - it doesn't work anyway!

I have taken the T for years and will say that it is a cheaper alternative. Unfortunately the amount of time it takes to get to work has become intolerable. I live in Fitchburg and it takes me over 2 hours in the morning and almost 3 hours at night to get to and from work on the T.
I now drive and leave my house at the same time in the morning as I did when I took the train. I save an hour every morning and almost 2 hours at night. I work in Prudential Center and there is no easy way to get here by T. I had to take a commuter rail that take 1 and 1/2 hours to get to North Station and then either the green or orange line to get to Prudential Center.
The commuter rail trains do not run enough to Fitchburg to make it convenient. I work until 5:30pm every day and the first train back to Fitchburg I can realistically catch is at 6:20pm since I have to take the green or orange line to North Station. This takes approximately 30 minutes to get to North Station. My time was worth more.

I've been taking public transit for over 30 years. First the blue line for 20 and now the commuter train out of Canton. Every morning I read my paper going in and maybe take a nap going home. The only time I drive into Boston is if it's absolutely necessary but other than that I'm perfectly content taking the commuter train. Yes, there are times when I get very frustrated because of delays, no communication and hot cars on a hotter day but I would rather deal with those issues than sitting in a car for an hour using expensive gas, getting frustrated with traffic, idiots who don't know how to drive and throwing money at a parking lot. Thanks, but no thanks. I'm keeping my T-pass!

I stopped taking the T about 5 years ago. I was able to justify driving in because I could always find free or $5/day parking away from downtown and walk, gas was not as expensive, and because I took the train from the South Shore the train was actually more expensive. In addition, it would take me 45 minutes to take the train in (and that is with no delays) and almost an hour and half to get home.

I must have a flourescent sign flashing about my head that says "talk to me" because no matter what I did - listen to headphones, read a book, close my eyes to sleep - someone would tap me and want to spark up a conversation. The grossness of some of the people on the train, plus the train itself, was also enough to get me off the T. In addition, I used to constantly have colds, but since I stopped riding the T, I have only had 2 colds - in 5 years!!!! Unfortunately, I have been accousted a few times on the train as well. I have been groped, grabbed, I've had men stick their crotches in my face when I am in a seat and have had them unnecessarily press themselves up against me even when there is plenty of room on the train. I have been sweated on, spit on, dripped on by umbrellas, sat in gross stuff on the seats, or stepped in someone's pee puddle when standing. I got sick of listening to people scream their private business into a cell phone when surrunded by others, and I cannot stand how rude people are - from not offering a seat to an elderly or pregnant person, to rude teenagers swearing in front of children, and witnessing gang fights where innocent bystanders have been hurt.

I hate that gas is so expensive, but I will give up other things in my life before I start taking the red line on a daily basis again.

I'm thin because of the T and because I can't afford a car. From parts of Central Somerville to Boston takes from 40 minutes to an hour. Walking takes about an hour and 15 minutes. Eventually you get used to the idea of walking instead of planning your day around a bus that sometimes doesn't even come, especially on Sundays. The whole concept of a Sunday schedule is infuriating. For a young person a Sunday is as social a day as a Saturday but the ability to commute is greatly reduce. It doesn't make much sense to me except that the T may not want to pay time and a half to hourly employees.

I don't know why still in this day an age they T has not lengthened it's hours at night. I have had to walk from Back Bay to Winter Hill at 2 o'clock in the morning because the T doesn't run. Fine, I could take a cab at the cost of about $30. Fine, I could leave the bars earlier but why should I have to? Is the T my nanny? No! They should serve the public. And if that logic isn't enough, they should be marketing to people who would utilize their services. Screw the taxi lobby and screw the grandma state who tells you how you should socialize.

Four reasons NOT to take the T:
1) It doesn't save me time - I work 2.5 miles from my house, and between walking, bus, and subway, it takes over 45 minutes most days on public transit.
2) Most cars do not have AC, and apparently half the riders don't wear deodorant.
3) It is not safe - I cannot count the number of times I have been harassed, sexually and otherwise, plus the stations are often not well-lit or staffed.
4) There are NEVER seats - I have no idea how the author of this article can read a book or check his Blackberry - I spend most mornings crammed in with 100 other pissed off riders, and I can barely hold on to the rail, let alone read something.
5)

I've been a happy T' commuter for over 12 years and would hate to drive regularly. Living in Roslindale, I have a five minute walk, then take the Needham line downtown (12 minutes), and another short walk to my office. All told, my commute is about 20 minutes in length. On the days I have to drive, it probably takes 35 minutes. But that's not really the issue. I like to read, relax, stare out the window, de-compress. My commute is the epitome of stress free. That it costs less and is faster is just a bonus.