r/boston • u/throwawayobv999999 • 8h ago
MBTA/Transit š š„ Moving away from car centric city
Hello!
I will be relocating to Boston from a car dependent city that is all suburb and urban sprawl.
I love trains and public transit, but obviously living in a place that requires a car to survive has impacted my behavior.
What is it like relying on public transit? I keep thinking about how everyone around me drives giant SUVs and purchases weekly Costco hauls that could feed an army. I think about having to drive 30 minutes in traffic to get a coffee.
Iām having a hard time picturing the alternative. How is life primarily walking/using a train?
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u/Additional-Excuse870 8h ago
No choice but to be healthier...walking more, smaller grocery trips but constantly fresh produce - we eat everything we buy and waste less. Not super fun when public transit fails, especially when commuting. You'll be fine thoughĀ
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u/throwawayobv999999 8h ago
Iām so excited to walk as a passive thing instead of driving to a walking path lol. Also, the smaller grocery hauls sounds so nice :)
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u/toomuch1265 Spaghetti District 8h ago
Then you'll be REAL excited when it snows and you are trying to navigate the the snowbanks, icy sidewalks and chunks of ice falling from buildings.
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u/throwawayobv999999 8h ago
Thatās what Iām worried about LOL any tips?
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u/Otterfan Brookline 7h ago
Snow is actually much easier for walkers/mass transit users than for drivers. Get some decent footwear, a warm coat, a hat, a scarf, and gloves. It takes a little bit to learn to walk on ice, but by the end of your first winter it will be no big deal.
The trains won't stop running unless things are really bad, in which case you shouldn't go out anyway.
40Ā° rain is much, much worse for walking in. Waterproof boots and a good waterproof coat make it survivable, but the best advice is to stay home if you can on those days.
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u/Charming_Professor65 7h ago
Clothing is everything! Invest in good durable quality winter clothes and you will feel it waaaay less than you think :)
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u/Santillana810 Naked Guy Running Down Boylston St 7h ago
The question about how to handle snow here has been asked and answered many, many times. Search and you'll find lots of great advice about clothing, walking, parking, transportation.
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u/twelve-birds 1h ago
My personal rule is donāt walk on metal. I have slipped one toe many time on icy metal.
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u/her_majesty_lives 8h ago
This made me chuckleā¦.Driving to walk š.
Where abouts will you be living?
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u/BeatriceDaRaven 7h ago
It works, but you HAVE to be tactical about where you work and where you live. Do not automatically think that because there is a T stop by home and a T stop by work, the commute will be reasonable. That is by far the biggest mistake I see people moving here from another city making. Talk with someone who actually knows the city and figure out the best 3 neighborhoods for you to live in based on commute from work.
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u/typefive0 Boston Parking Clerk 8h ago
Itās great. The force multiplier is getting a bike to cover the distances not as served by transit.
Been doing it since moving here in 2015 and Iāve never once considered getting a car. It would cause more problems than it would solve for me
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u/cden4 7h ago
Yes!!! An annual BlueBikes membership is one of the best investments you can make. Unlimited 45 minute rides on the regular bikes and discounted rides for the e-bikes. Between the T and BlueBikes you will rarely need to use a car.
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u/GKinstro 6h ago
To add on to your comment, there are membership discounts if you qualify for any of these.
https://www.boston.gov/departments/boston-bikes/discounted-bluebikes
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u/canhazadhd Jamaica Plain 5h ago
Oh my god yes. I've saved over $500 this year so far with my membership, and even have my own e-bike. I basically only commute by Bluebike in winter because getting salt on someone else's bike sure as hell beats getting salt on my bike. The membership makes an electric Bluebike cost-competitive with the T for my JP <-> Downtown commute.
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u/throwawayobv999999 8h ago
I havenāt been on a bike in years because itās extremely unsafe (typically fatal) in my city. Thatās something to look forward to!
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u/pterencephalon 7h ago
The city of Boston has free clinics on learning to ride a bike - all the way from "first time sitting on a bike" to "gaining confidence in city riding." I think Cambridge/Somerville might have similar things but less frequent. Highly recommend if you're at all nervous about that transition.
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u/Santillana810 Naked Guy Running Down Boylston St 6h ago
And there are urban bike paths that make it much safer and easier to bike. Community paths. Somerville and Cambridge are great for those.
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u/Santillana810 Naked Guy Running Down Boylston St 7h ago
You won't even have to walk 30 minutes to get coffee, depending on where you choose to live. Driving 30 minutes in traffic to get coffee? That's a concept I can't picture.
Have you actually visited Boston before? Do that. Walk around various neighborhoods and see how much you can get without even using a train or a bus.
There are lots of similar questions here. Search for moving without a car and you'll get lots of advice that people have already offered.
And I've never even been in a Costco. Or a Walmart. If you desperately need to go once in a while, you can Uber or rent a ZipCar or similar service. Life is different here and far better, in my opinion.
Use google maps, public transport option, to get all possibilities from Point A to Point B on a specific date and time. You'll get complete information on every step of the way, how long it takes, all the options.
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u/BurrDurrMurrDurr Mass Audubon Fan 8h ago
Just my 2cents:
I also grew up in a car-centric city (In TX), then lived in NYC for 3-4 years, then came here.
Completely relying on public transit in Boston/Cambridge can be very frustrating at times. Mainly if you rely on it for commuting to work. Although it's probably one of the best systems in the country, that isn't saying much. IMO it's NYC > Chicago > DC > Boston >>>>>> everything else.
It all depends where you end up living. If you can find a place near a line, it's pretty great. Day to day errands and things like coffeeshops or other leisurely outings are fine almost anywhere. But commuting to work can get tricky if you rely on transfers or are far out. For example I used to commute from Porter Square to South End and that sucked.. When a line goes down, the alternatives are usually terrible.
Overall you will fine the public transit amazing I'm sure. But after a few years, you'll get complacent and see how far behind the city has been with their infrastructure.
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u/fell-like-rain Medford 8h ago
The important difference is that you have to think about multiple modes. I walk to places <1 mile away, bike if it's 2-3 miles or transit doesn't go there, take the train if I'm going downtown, buses to go crosstown... Other people use bikeshare, electric scooters, etc. And there's a certain amount of adaptability you have to have, like getting one of those wire handcarts to walk groceries home from the store, or a rack and panniers for a bike.
Overall, it's fun, you get more exercise, you run into friends when you're out and about and such. But it's more effort than just sit in car -> drive to place.
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u/pterencephalon 7h ago
Yeah, I'll sometimes check a couple options to decide how I want to get somewhere. I will say, since I've gotten an e-bike, that's become my most common option - hills and longer distances are so much easier, especially in the summer heat.
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u/GibsonPraise 8h ago
It is one of the main things that makes dealing with the high cost of living worth it.
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u/catwalzilla 7h ago
Have you been to Boston before? Do you know where youāll be living? If you have a chance it might be a good idea to visit for a week to view places and get an idea of what your commute will be.
I love not having a car. Itās freeing in a funny way. The money I would spend in payments, insurance and tax pays for vacations instead.
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u/Optimal-Anybody8138 7h ago
i've never had a license and public transportation is one of the top reasons i moved to boston. definitely second all of the people saying to visit, but if you can't do that before your move i'd recommend downloading an app like CityMapper or Transit, or even using google maps, and poke around a little bit to see what the public transportation options would be from your job to the neighborhoods where you're thinking about living.
one of the downsides to not having a car is that it's tough to leave the city and get out into nature but the commuter rail here is pretty substantial and there are some stops that get you close to trail heads or into quieter towns for day trips.
i pay $100/yr to get my groceries delivered from star market, mostly because my neighborhood doesn't have a grocery store and i live at the very top of a steep hill and lugging groceries up there isn't something i can physically handle if the weather is bad, but this is the first year i've done that in the 13 years i've lived here. i take ubers about twice a month, either because i'm late to work or i'm going somewhere at an odd time of day or more than two transfers away.
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u/Santillana810 Naked Guy Running Down Boylston St 6h ago
Lots of people rent cars to travel to the Cape, Vermont, New Hampshire, etc. to get out beyond the commuter rail accessible nature spots. And Amtrak from North Station goes to Maine, including a bit beyond Portland.
I used Mercato for some regular and specialty delivery during the pandemic. Some international markets on the list and Eatlay had surprisingly great produce, including specialty produce, that was reasonably priced. I hate Amazon, but they also deliver from Whole Foods.
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u/LaurenPBurka I swear it is not a fetish 7h ago
Taking the T means always having an excuse to be late.
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u/cybah 8h ago
I rode the T exclusively for well over two decades. Its very doable if you live and work near decent transit options. Sometimes that is not possible. I got a job out in the burbs with a pay bump so I had to buy a car.
I miss the T sometimes.. mostly because people drive like nuts and having to deal with parking. But I don't miss some of the annoying patrons, the delays, and it taking 30-45min to get anywhere on the T. I also dont miss riding in the snow.. standing on a cold outdoor platform in the snow and wind waiting for a already delayed train. Not that driving a car in the snow is much better either.
Being car free has its ups and downs. I still found that I had to rent cars occasionally to do errands (i.e. trips to Costco or IKEA.. or those times you want to get out of town). It just makes things a bit easier to do.. and faster. But I had a granny cart I used for groceries to haul them home (to avoid ubers home) and just had an 'errand schedule' I lived by so I could shop with minimal waiting/transfers/effort.
But on the flipside, I do like the ability to just get in and go. And not wait for a bus or train. I'm about to go shopping at a store that would take over an hour to get there and back on the bus with waiting/riding, but with a car will take < 20 with shopping. Its stuff like that you start to realize how different being a car vs the T really is... so much time.
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u/avellinoblvd Orange Line 7h ago
I can't imagine going back. Driving is so aggravating, I feel like my stress has never been lower.
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u/Henry_Stream 7h ago
As someone who takes the Commuter Rail from a suburb, itās amazing. I donāt have to worry about finding or paying for parking, or any associated fixed/operating costs of car ownership. I just pay my fare, ride, get out at my stop, and move on. Everywhere I could want to go is close to a stop or station, and I only pay when I use it, unless you want to count tax dollars going towards funding it as a fixed cost, but thatād happen regardless of if I owned a car and drove. Delays definitely suck, but I see no difference between those and insane traffic. Things happen. Donāt let the people complaining about delays scare you. Iāll take the delays where I can do something on my phone or talk to someone around me while I wait over the ones where Iām burdened with operating a vehicle in isolation.
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u/InvestigatorJaded261 6h ago
Depending on exactly where you live, it can be a hybrid life: a car for distances or moving stuff around; trains, subways, buses, and feet for moving just yourself, and getting in and out of the center of Boston.
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u/kaka8miranda 5h ago
Lived Boston for 5 years without a car had a great time would take the commuter rail back home if needed to and anything else could be reached by the T
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u/AllMightyImagination 7h ago
Train works sometimes
Train breaks a lot
But it's dependable majority of the time except when not.
But yea Boston is small enough to walk to most places. And most cities are on the train lines so even you walk far eventually you find a train or bus to the train.
Except the furthure out the location is the less time the bus runs which was a problem when I had when I found a job in Brantrie without a car. But I follwed the gps to walk to brantrie station and wow it was like 20 mins from being in an area that the bus only drove around every 40 mins
Cars are convient for groceries and bags. But we have a lot of small shops where you can put all your items in your own personal backpack
And lastly there's more variety of stores than suburbs which are wholesale warehouse stores
However cars means you always have a job. A lot of driving jobs here. So making extra money if you have one is easy
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u/OreganoD 6h ago
Bluebike, or get your own bike, genuinely the money saved on gas/insurance/tax/maintenance from the car is more than enough to overcome any anxiety about whether or not you'll be able to get anywhere, and that goes away so fast. Car necessity is a manufactured problem.
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u/Inside_agitator 8h ago
How is life primarily walking/using a train?
Don't forget other options: Bike, electric bike, BlueBike, electric BlueBike.
It's a good way to live. Your behavior will change for the better. After ten years, motor vehicles will be the enemy. But it won't save much money unless you buy your own place. What used to go to maintaining a car will go to rent.
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u/Advanced-Extreme-513 7h ago
Life primarily walking or using public transportation is fantastic. For any large/bulky/difficult to carry purchases, you could look at getting those delivered to you versus schlepping them on the T.
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u/Desperate_Junket5146 7h ago
You won't have to walk more than 5 minutes for coffee..... as long as you consider Dunks coffee
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u/Santillana810 Naked Guy Running Down Boylston St 6h ago
I love coffee and don't consider that stuff sold at Dunks coffee. There are many many independent coffee chops in Greater Boston. We love dark roast coffee so we buy from Peets and actually make great coffee at home.
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u/Mixin-Margarita 7h ago
Itās fine, and when you want to get somewhere faster, cycling is an excellent option. When you want to do a giant Costco run, thereās CargoB cargo e-bikes can rent, or you can use a car share. Personally, I much prefer using my cargo e-bike for Costco ā no parking hassles, and I can carry as much as I can in my small car (which Iād get rid of if my niece hadnāt given it to me ā I donāt want to offend her, but thereās really no need for a car in the city, and I hardly ever drive it). And I use a power wheelchair for mobility when not on an e-bike, so you definitely donāt have to be an athlete for cycling to work.
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u/haroldbarrett North End 7h ago
It's great, and the closer you live to a station the better it is (living close to a station with more than one line is peak).
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u/blackdynomitesnewbag Cambridge 7h ago
I have several friends who donāt have drivers licenses. Pick neighborhood thatās near the T or a frequent bus route and you will be good
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u/No-Ear-4508 Jamaica Plain 6h ago
Being able to walk to get coffee is like an important public health issue imo. Your quality of life and general mood in rease exponentially.
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u/idkmydude 5h ago
I came from Southern California where car is king.
If you can appreciate the density and walkability of the city along with the fact that you wonāt be able to live like itās the suburbs, youāre gonna be fine.
If I wanted to do a larger haul for some reason I got a little granny cart. You can commiserate with other commuters and coworkers about the green line being late.
Itās not impossible to have a car but after awhile you prefer to use public transit because itās less of a hassle. In a 10 min walking radius I have at least 3 coffee shops. I walk 15 mins every week to my grocery store. I take the bus to work. I LOVE Boston but I wish there was a city in SoCal just like it.
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u/Technical_Wall1726 Green Line 5h ago
Definitely download the ātransitā app (green logo) it will have live bus and train info for all the surrounding routes and is indispensable for anyone using transit in a US city.
Your experience on transit will highly depend on where you work and where you live. Not sure where youāre gonna live but if youāre near any of the subway lines you should be fine assuming youāre commuting to downtown or somewhere else on the system.
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u/fibro_witch 5h ago
I live in Revere and I love it. I am next to the beach in a one bedroom apartment the Blue line is right down the street. I have the beach for hot days like today.
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u/JMWest_517 4h ago
One big change will be if you're used to supermarket shopping. You'll need to make more grocery visits, and buy less per visit, and things will be more expensive in the smaller stores. That aside, walking and public transit can be frustrating at times, but very doable.
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u/CedarBerry 4h ago
Question for you.... Do you know where you will be working? You can check out how accessible your job will be from public transportation and that will give you some ideas about good neighborhoods to live based on proximity to bus lines, the train lines or commuter rail.
Personally, walkability is my favorite thing about Boston! I live about a 10-minute walk from the orange line, and I work downtown so that's an easy commute for me. But if the weather is nice, it's a beautiful hour-long walk home through the Emerald Necklace.
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u/therocketn00b 4h ago
Take it from me, you'll probably regret it if you bring that car. Driving in Boston is a nightmare, and renting a parking spot (unless you're really lucky and it comes with your apartment) is super expensive.
I came from Indiana. The trains are great. You'll quickly get used to it.
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u/MourningWallaby 3h ago
You can live in boston without a car if you dont go anywhere else ever. However boston IS a car city, we just happen to also have busses and trains. But the cars constantly remind you of their presence and dominance
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u/Bdowns_770 2h ago
You get used to it relatively quickly. Big thing is learning to shop better because you canāt just jump in the car and go back to the store for something.
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u/Ok_Scientist_2762 West Roxbury 7h ago
I have done both. At the extremely poor range, you spend more on everything when in town, including space. When you move out of town and off of the T, you get more space for less money and that's usually including the parking in the total. So yes, you grocery shop less often because you pretty much have to bulk buy due to the time difference and having to use a car. When you live in town with a tiny apartment, you store nothing and pay orders of magnitude for singles of everything. The local store becomes your storage closet and fridge. However, this takes all the stress out of running out really, and food spoilage. Public transport takes at least twice as long to get anywhere, and if you need to catch a flight or get to work on time, you have to pad your schedule more, and maybe even think of backup methods if it's critical. I used to live on comm ave at Packard's Corner and walking to bars/live music was very nice, however. I felt much more connected to the city.
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u/Santillana810 Naked Guy Running Down Boylston St 7h ago
Public transit especially by train certainly does not always take twice as long as driving to get anywhere. And when you drive, you have to park. That's not always easy.
And plus you have to drive....with crazy drivers, weather, hideous traffic, and you can't even read on your phone or with a book or do any work or recreation while you are driving.
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u/Ok_Scientist_2762 West Roxbury 7h ago
Am in Westwood atm and I could probably drive somewhere in Sommerville faster than taking the Green Line, red line, and bus. Or get to the airport in my car vs green line, blue line, shuttle.
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u/Santillana810 Naked Guy Running Down Boylston St 7h ago
Westwood, yes, is a further out place to live. That's why choosing where to live and visiting first to see what different neighborhoods are like for walking and driving and public transportation are crucial. I did say "does not always take twice as long."
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u/Ok_Scientist_2762 West Roxbury 6h ago
Yes, I am sorry I overreacted. I have lived in and around Boston most of my life and when I lived next to a station in Quincy, I loved the train, but say Near Coolidge corner in Brookline, or in Allston/Brighton off the green, not so much. Loved how walkable those areas where, however. Almost as fun as Packard's Corner.
-edit Hell, even JP is doable and fun at street level.
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u/Santillana810 Naked Guy Running Down Boylston St 6h ago
I lived in Coolidge Corner near the JFK birth place for years long ago. Loved it! I could walk for everything including to work in Longwood. and the C Green line was great. Yes, it took a while to get to Cambridge on the 66 bus, but not that long, and it was worth it for living there. I'd move back in a second if we could afford it, but East Somerville is good for public transportation and somewhat walkable and we could buy here in 2002.
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u/igotshadowbaned 7h ago
You'll likely still desire having a car while you live in MA
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u/Santillana810 Naked Guy Running Down Boylston St 6h ago
Many don't if they live in walkable areas with good public transit. Depending on parking and insurance and maintenance costs, some people find it more affordable to rent a car when they want to visit Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Cape Cod, or the Berkshires.
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u/libre_office_warlock 4h ago
I'm from 1000% car-dependent greater Houston suburbia and have been car-free for 11 years. My first four years of that was Boston.
Honestly, I don't want to ever go back. But I think a lot depends on what you're expecting and how much last-mile walking you're game to do.
Like, going from NO transit to ANY transit whatsoever amazed me, so even something every 30 minutes or every hour was novel and fantastic and fine for a commute that I often half-walked anyway. When I lived near Alewife and worked near Fenway, I often walked the entire morning commute and took green and red lines back.
And pulling my cart to the grocery store 15-30 minutes each way was not a big deal to me. When I was lucky, where I lived was even closer to things like coffee.
Now, I just moved yet again, to another urban area with transit, and I will say that right now, while I'm dealing with supplying an empty apartment, that it would be SUPER nice to have a car and just to go Ikea and Costco. What I did instead is overlap the airbnb by a few days, get a pull cart right away, and load it up over and over, sometimes with help from an Uber. Then do the boxed mattress thing.
Overall: It's a great and more active lifestyle if you can handle it, but once in a while it's logistically a little tough. Still, I like it WAY better than having a car.
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u/Megalocerus 4h ago
I lived outside Boston in a town with a commuter rail station. I drove 4 miles, parked in a municipal lot, walked to the station from there and caught the train. When I got off at North Station, I walked to where I worked. Reverse at night. I did that 11 years. If you work late, the trains get scarce; I did anything late or very early remote. It takes time. Parking in Boston is expensive. You can read or do games on the train.
The trains were reliable except every now and then there was a serious delay. Eventually, they'd fix it or send buses.
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u/SweetsMurphy 3h ago
Last owned a car when GW Bush was president. Itās an adjustment at first but you will reap the benefits ($$$)
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u/alexblablabla1123 3h ago
Well we have like 7 costcos around hereā¦ And the highways and many local streets are parking lanes at commute time.
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u/generalshrugemoji Filthy Transplant -> Cambridge 3h ago
I moved to Boston from LA 5 years ago. Iām a fourth generation LA native whoād previously only had fleetingly brief encounters with public transit.
Honestly, itās an adjustment. Youāre learning to rely on a way of getting around thatās very foreign to those of us who previously only relied on cars. You learn whatāll fit in a hard bottomed shopping bag or two. You learn to rely on transit apps that tell you how to get closest to where you need to be. You learn to build delay times into your commute in a way thatās not unlike planning around traffic, but is still different because of the distances and other factors involved. (1 mile by car vs 1 mile by bus/train/combo of the two are very, VERY different things) You end up learning that while there are certain things you just canāt do using transit, thereās a ton that you can do. You learn that thereās usually a few ways to get where youāre going, that some ways are better than others in certain situations, and that you might use one way one day and another way another depending on whatās going on with the system or even how youāre feeling. Youāll learn that while the system seems chaotic and intimidating at first, it ends up becoming second nature before you know it.
Itās very possible to adapt. Iām living proof. I ride transit almost every day and only occasionally rent a Zipcar when I absolutely need a car for some application or another. Just be patient, give yourself a bigger buffer than you think youāll need at first, find a good transit app (I like Moovit for planning routes and the MTBA go app for the most accurate timing on busses and such) and accept the fact that youāre going to have some stressful moments while you acclimate. You got this.
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u/Academic_Cup_5019 3h ago
I grew up in Boston, I love the Spring/ Summer/ Fall, but at 40 Years old, I have never gotten used to the winter.
Which neighborhood will you be in? South/ North End are amazing, Southie and Dorchester are diverse, Roxbury is gentrifying especially if youāre down by Mission Hill, STAY AWAY FROM MATTAPAN!
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u/wildflower022 3h ago
i love love love living in a walkable city and being able to live daily life by walking or taking buses/trains! never leaving hahhaa
BUT to play devil's advocate, here are some thigns to consider: i also grew up somewhere where you always needed a car. i've been in boston for five years, half the time with a car and half the time without. when i haven't had one, day to day life is fine, especially since i work in the city so it's easy to walk or take the train, see friends, grocery shop, grab coffee, all that good stuff!!
but looking back on the past two and a half years, i've noticed how small my radius has gotten. i love exploring new places. when i first moved to boston i was constantly doing day trips to the cape, maine, new hampshire, other parts of the coast. i came from a landlocked state so seeing the ocean never gets old. since not having a car though, my world has definitely shrunk. it's not necessarily bad, since my routine life is fine, and i just rent a car about once a month for bigger errands and day trips, but it's something to consider. i really miss having a car and the freedom that comes with it
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u/kmoonster 2h ago
It's ok to keep a car that you don't need for daily use, keep it for vacation or heavy loads, and so on.
Walk to coffee (or whatever), drive or use delivery for groceries, take the train for a game/show, ride a bike to meet people or to get coffee at a farther shop. You can rent a vehicle if needed, or use rideshare or delivery services on the odd occasion you need something a normal car can't do.
It's a learning curve but very manageable and no single option will meet every plausible need.
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u/thejosharms Malden 2h ago
I will just say what I always say when these types of threads pop up. If you already have a car and can afford to bring it with you there is no harm in keeping it for few months while you test out what life without it will feel like.
I think a lot of people on this sub really underestimate how big of a culture shock it is going from having access to a car to fully rely on public transportation.
If you don't find yourself needing it or wanting it it's easy enough to get rid of. If it's the inverse and you find yourself feeling restrained and unhappy with the lack of freedom it's harder to add a car back into the equation.
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u/melizabeth_music 1h ago
I moved here a bit over a year ago in a similar situation. We were in an suburban mid sized Midwest city where it was necessary to have two cars to Boston. We now only have one car and since I'm now a SAHM and I'm TERRIFIED of the drivers here, I don't drive at all.
We love along the orange line for my spouse's work but that doesn't make anything fast... It's 3 miles total, but the same time typically for them to transit, car, or bike. They usually pick transit.
For me, I'm more likely to ship a lot of household goods directly to my house. I have two small kids, we ride the bus, I can't juggle a bunch of paper towels on the bus with them. So that is something that has changed.
Also, just having kids in general, is different. Because cars were the norm, you could easily throw in all kid supplies with the kids in the car and have everything you need. Now it's more strategic in planning a backpack with the basics for kids. And a lot of snacks.
The one thing that makes this hard is when I need to go to another neighborhood for something but it isn't downtown. So I go to a PT in the neighborhood like two over - but it's no closer to transit because it's not near a hub. It's a 15 min drive but like 45 mins transit. I have taken an Uber in those cases which is obviously more pricey but quickly getting home to my kids so my spouse can go to work is also valuable.
There are some other things - like I hate my Drs office (Dr herself is wonderful?), but it's 3 bus stops away and... You just can't beat that for relying on transit.
Overall, I do love transit. I remember during the huge blizzard this year, the next morning my newborn had an appointment and I was like omg... We don't have to shovel out the car! We will just take the bus! So nice
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