I had to go into Boston today from Wellesley.  I had to be at 1 Kneeland Street at 3:30 pm.  I used the MBTA site to plan the trip and was given two options, one involving a transfer, the other not.

To avoid a transfer, I had to leave at Wellesley Square 12:33, take the Framingham/Worcester Line to South Station, and walk for what the MBTA estimates would have been 15 minutes to my appointment. If that’s correct, the train would get it at 1:15 pm, with a 15 minute walk, that’s 1:30.  Then I suppose I could have lunch or something to kill the 2 hours before my appointment.  The cost of this option, $5.25 and time in transit, 66 minutes.

The faster route, but 6 minutes, involved less walking and allowed me to leave later, but cost more.  I would have once again taken the Framingham/Worcester line, but this time to Back Bay, were I would have transfered to the Orange Line, getting to my stop at 3:10 for the brief walk.  This route cost $7.25.

In the end, I took neither.

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But did you notice that the choice of departures I had on the commuter rail?  Either I had to get there 2 hours before my appointment or I had to cut it precariously close.  The schedule of commuter rail service west of Boston is terribly inconvenient, and large breaks like that are common. Often when I have to take the train into Boston for an appointment, a 1/2 hour appointment can take 3-5 hours out of my day.

Now, consider the map below.  According to it, my driving route, door to door, is roughly 16 miles and takes around 25 minutes (admittedly more in traffic).  I drive a Toyota Yaris. EPA estimates it gets 34 mpg in the city, 39 mpg on the highway. Put another way, I drove to my appointment and back on just about a gallon of gas. Gas in this area costs somewhere between $2.50 and 2.80 a gallon, so less than half of the ONE WAY MBTA fare! I did have to pay for parking at a meter, $1.50, still less than the one way fare.

I believe in mass transit and I would have liked to have taken it today. But like so many, I also have to watch my finances very carefully. So balance a $10.50 round trip fare and an hour en route at inconvenient times, against driving door to door in my fuel efficient Yaris. It’s not a hard choice!

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