Need Boston-local transit fu

[drwex]

This ought not to be as ridiculously time-consuming as it seems. I'm hoping someone has a clever answer.

I want to go from where I work (more or less near Bentley College in Waltham) to downtown to meet a friend for lunch. (Assume the target destination is 1 international place, which is near enough for mapping purposes.)

Parking down there is, I'm told, impossible. It's not a bad walk from South Station, but to get to SS from where I am would be a drive+T (assuming I could find a place to park near a T stop) or drive to a bus to Harvard. Which is not only ridiculous but makes the transit time something like an hour. Each way.

There has to be a better way. Anyone got ideas?

Comments

Paging Doctor Obvious!

[meadmaker.livejournal.com]

My first thought is that you could drive in to Alewife, and then park at the Alewife station itself - it has a garage with over 2700 parking spaces, so it may well have room during the middle of the day (I've never tested this, though). That puts you on the red line, which goes directly to South Station. The T website guesses that it'll be 20 minutes on the train itself.

Another option would be to have your friend get on the red line and meet you somewhere closer to you. I'm sure there are some good places to eat around Alewife, or you could meet her at, say, Harvard Square.

A third option might be to drive downtown, and park under the common. It fits 1300 cars, so it may have some space available. (I've never tried this out, either.) Once there, you could take the red line for two stops to South Station, or you could decide simply to walk it.

Finally, a cab may be a good option. It'll drop you off exactly where you want to be.

Here's hoping that someone who knows your actual area better than I do can help better.

Re: Paging Doctor Obvious!

[drwex]

Alewife parking mid-day is SUCKTASTIC, unfortunately. The Commons garage is not a stupid idea. I wonder what their rates are...

Re: Paging Doctor Obvious!

[meadmaker.livejournal.com]

http://www.mccahome.com/bcg_rat.html

$8 or so.

Re: Paging Doctor Obvious!

[ceo]

The Boston Common garage is surprisingly inexpensive (as downtown parking garages go) and surprisingly un-full the times I've had to park there... none of which have been midday during the week, however.

An alternative might be to drive into Davis Square, park in the lot behind the Harvard Pilgrim building (or any other meter space) and take the Red Line from there. Meters are only good for 2 hours, though.