Ode to the train

One of the things I love about living near Boston is that I get to ride the train as my commute. Since I've lived here, I've taken everything except a boat to work:

1. Car - When I lived in Somerville and Allston (only a couple miles outside Boston), I drove in. Parking was about 10 bucks a day and the walk from the lot was about 15 minutes. The actual door-to-door time was betwixt 30 and 40 minutes.

2. Bike - I gave the bike a try in Somerville. It was about 15-20 minutes in, mostly downhill, but 30 minutes back, mostly uphill. The problem with this was the shower schedule. I arrived sweaty and puddly (you know, from being splashed or doing the splashing of puddles), so I had to shower in the "shower room", which was on the 10th floor of my building. It was this tiny closet of a room, across the hall from an audit room, so walking from my desk on the 6th floor to the 10th in dirty shorts and a stinky shirt got a little too embarrassing for me. Also, the uphill ride after a tiring day at work was not ideal so I gave that up after a couple of months.

3. T train - I rode this for a year after we got married when we lived in Melrose. This took about 35 minutes door to door usually, but in some cases it took 90 minutes. There are 2 types of T trains in Boston:

a. T train (regular) - These are subway trains, but really old. These are always packed with commuters, but there are enough weirdos and hippies and other smelly people from Cambridge to ruin the ride. You only need a couple of the riffraff to spoil an otherwise mediocre ride. Also, if you get a seat, the ride is 10 times better, but of course, you can't get a seat without mowing down some old people first, ala George Constanza running from a fire. Another problem with the T is that the tracks and trains are so old and inefficient that almost every day there's a "disabled" train, which means that every train in the city has to sit in place for about an hour, which turns passengers as claustrophobic as Elaine Benes (continuing with our Seinfeld theme). There is nothing worse than this. Once, to avoid standing indefinitely on the train, I ended up walking 5 miles home. Even though it took much longer than waiting for the train, I didn't regret it.

b. T train (Green Line) - They pretend this is a train, but it's really just a tram that goes underground. This insufferable line only goes underground in downtown, but then it goes above ground and that's when it gets bad. Stops are about every block, and it has to wait for traffic lights, and really isn't much better than a bus. These get unbearably packed during rush hour and it pretty much takes 45 minutes to go about 5 miles. I've never had to ride this on a daily basis, but I've ridden it enough to despise its very existence.

4. Bus - The all-time worst form of public transportation. They seem to have stops every 100 feet, I always get sick on them, and the smelly-to-normal ratio is dangerously high. They are never on time, unless of course you're late by a couple of minutes. I only did this for a little while in Somerville, taking the bus to catch the Red Line in, but I hated it. It added 30 minutes to my commute and only cost 4 dollars less than parking.

5. Commuter Rail - The topic of the post! I've been riding this for almost 3 years, and I didn't like it as much at first, but I've really grown to love it.

a. It's much better than driving because you can read, write blog posts, sleep, or do work on the train. Also, the door-to-door is around 55 minutes, and driving alone is about 70-90 minutes, and carpooling it's 60-70 minutes. It costs 6.25 each way, so 12.50 a day, which is about what gas and parking cost. The only plus to driving is the flexibility of leaving whenever you want, but if you have to deal with rush hour traffic, it's no comparison.

b. It's also much better than the T, which isn't an option anyway where we live, but I would gladly give up the 20 minutes each way for the comfort of the commuter rail. Not only do I always get a seat, sometimes I get my own BENCH. On the commuter train, there's a 3-seat bench on one side, and 2 seaters on the other.
Depending on the train I take, I have a strategy for each day. See, you can't sit in the 2-seaters on a busy day because there's a high chance that someone will scootch on in and you'll be touching rumps for the better part of an hour. But sitting in a 2-seater by yourself is better than sharing one end of a 3-seater (aisle or window), because you have more privacy, and you don't have to worry about accidentally putting your foot on their bag or something. Of course, the most desirable spot is getting a 3-seater all to yourself because then you can lie down and take a nap much easier. The absolute worst is when the train is so crowded you have 3 people on a 3-seater, and then it just feels like a clown car.
On the Monday morning train, I sit on one end of the 3-seater, preferably the window seat, because sitting in a 2-seater is too risky, I'll probably have to share it when more people get on. Tuesday through Thursday I get a 2-seater, and then on Friday I take a 3-seater in the middle of the train because the chances of getting it to myself are high. Coming home on the 5:38 is always a tough choice: Do I risk sharing a 2-seater and go with the guaranteed space of one side of a 3-seater, or do I go for the glory and get my own 2-seater? Usually, I go for the 3-seater, because sharing a 2-seater is just too risky. Coming home on the 6:20 and later is usually a pretty good chance I'll get my own 3-seater, so that's always nice. Except today, we got the oldest train available, I'm pretty sure I saw the conductor come by with a wheel full of coal. Usually we have double-decker trains, but not this train. Single deckers are the worst! Loud, uncomfortable, and crowded. There is no redeeming quality about single decker cars.

c. The train is obviously much better than the bus, if for the sole reason that it's so smooth. You can read books without getting sick and there's rarely a smelly person on. Sometimes, however, someone gets on with a meal they bought at South Station, and the whole train smells like fatty food. This is torture for a hungry person coming home on the 7:30 train. I'd almost rather sit next to Mr. Urine, the guy who rides the bus all day while mumbling to himself.

d. One of my favorite things about the train is that we don't have to buy a 2nd car. Sure, sometimes it's inconvenient that we only have 1 car, but, more often than not it works to our advantage: "I'd love to go to that superfluous church meeting on a Saturday, but Melanie needs the car then." Brilliant!

All things considered, I'd much rather have a 10 minute commute to work like my dad does (or a 0 minute commute like my mom), but this is where my job is and so I figure I'll make the best of it. Since most of you don't ride a train every day, I wanted you to get a taste of the train commuter.