Tired of playing everyone's favorite game, Bitch about the MBTA (aka my line sucks the most)

February 7, 2011 7:35 PM

Is there any empirical evidence out there about which MBTA subways/buses are actually most reliable?

I'm trying to decide where to live next year and am not sure whether to base my commute around the C, D, or E line. I work at the end of the E line but can walk from the Brookline Village area. Significant other has a car and drives to Cambridge. It seems the E line has been quite unreliable given the recent snowstorms. I've considered commuting from the D line in Newton but am concerned that if there are problems, there is no other way I'd be able to get to work. Info about buses also welcome (I currently take the 66). I'm curious if there's any actual empirical evidence out there about which lines are most reliable given possible delays, breakdowns, alternative means of transportation, etc.

posted by leedly to Travel & Transportation around Boston, MA (4 answers total)

Well.
The only real issues I've had with the green line itself is when it's Red Sox season. Specifially the D line - since it has the Fenway stop. But a lot of people will get off at Kenmore anyway. Sometimes I had to wait for 3 or 4 trains until there was one with enough room to get on board.

I mostly had issues with the buses being late. Sometimes 45 minutes late.

After dealing with that mess, I decided to take one of the express buses instead (I lived in Brighton Center - so it was much easier anyway). I never had any major issues with the express buses. Is there an express bus that you would be able to take?
I'm kind of confused about where you would be commuting from.

I'm not sure about actual statistics and reports for individual lines, but here's MBTA's monthly scorecards which makes for an interesting read.
posted by KogeLiz at 8:09 PM on February 7, 2011

I've lived on both the B and the C, and I work on the C. During good weather, and very early in the morning, the 66 is actually the fastest way to get around that quadrant of the city. The C train is always much more comfortable than the B because it makes way fewer stops and its not packed with college students, but you know that already. How does the C line even play into this though? If anything, you might want to consider living in JP and taking the orange line to roxbury crossing and taking the 66 from there.
posted by modernserf at 8:39 PM on February 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

Yes. The MBTA collects that data for service improvement.

This PDF of one Jared Fijalkowsky's undergrad thesis, "Using Automatically Collected Data To Improve the Bus Service Planning Process," contains some MBTA reliability figures. I would expect there to be more of this sort of thing lurking around MIT's urban planning department and the like; perhaps you could call over there and inquire?
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 10:48 PM on February 7, 2011

I would say from Brookline Village, hop the 66 over to the end of the E line for work.

Mondernserf is dead on with that.
posted by zizzle at 6:45 AM on February 8, 2011