Navigating the MBTA
As someone from a suburban, car-centric town I was both excited and overwhelmed by Boston’s subway system, which is lovingly referred to as the T. The first time I went on the T by myself, I only rode one stop from Davis to Porter Square. By the end of my first semester at Tufts, I felt confident enough to change to a different subway line and move across the city completely alone. Now, I love using the T to explore different parts of Boston!
There are conveniently two different subway lines that are accessible from Tufts: the green line and the red line. The green line stop is located right on Tufts’ campus next to the Joyce Cummings Center. From Tufts, the train travels above-ground through Medford and Somerville and over the Charles River. After about twenty minutes, it arrives at North Station, where the train moves underground and continues further into Boston. The red line is a 10-15 minute walk or a quick Tufts shuttle ride away from campus, located in Davis Square. It crosses through Cambridge to get to Boston, and I love taking it to Cambridge to explore the shops and restaurants in the area.
The tricky thing about taking the T is that because each line has multiple branches, it is important to pay attention to what train you take. Each train has a digital display where it shows the end destination. Another common mistake? Using the wrong entrance to get to the T. At certain stations, such as Copley Square, each entrance corresponds to a different direction, and you’re not able to switch directions after you’ve already paid. These stations have signs on the outside that tell you which stops the train is going towards.
Figuring out how the bus works was less intuitive than the T for me. The easiest way to figure out which bus to take is by putting your destination into Google Maps and selecting the public transit option. When you get on the bus, you’re able to pay by using a Charlie card or tapping a credit card on the reader at the front of the bus. While the bus is moving, an announcement will come on telling you what the next stop is, and you have to press on the black or yellow strip along the wall to let the bus driver know that you want to get off at the next stop.
I love Tufts’ location because the entire city of Boston is easily accessible, and the area around campus is lively and fun, too! Although public transportation isn’t always the fastest way to get places, I’m always glad that it’s there.