that really depends on where you are ... but in general the Boston public transportation is excellent within the city (and Cambridge) itself. Outside the city in the suburbs it sucks ass.
It's also a really, really fun city if you like going out to bars.
I like living in Boston. People who live in New York never tire of telling me how lame and boring Boston is, but I don't want to go raves or get indian food delivered to my house at four in the morning. Whether you need a car depends on where in Boston you are. If you live in Allston and don't need to get out of the city, you probably don't need a car. Where are you going to be?
Cambridge is fun, not sure where this mid-cambridge is, but if it isn't on the red line it could be a pain to get around, the busses tend to be pretty good, I'm pretty out of the loop though as far as public transportation.
I like living in Boston. People who live in New York never tire of telling me how lame and boring Boston is, but I don't want to go raves or get indian food delivered to my house at four in the morning.
MBTA website
Go there to figure out how far you are from the T. Or you can just ride the bus everywhere, which a lot of young people do.
For reference, I'm 1 year out of college and I'm still the only 1 of my friends who has a car. Most of us live in Allston-Brighton on the green line, but others live up in Cambridge and ride the bus down to us (it's actually faster than riding the red line into the city and then the green line out). You certainly don't "need" a car to live in Boston at all, but it does make things more convenient.
If you do get a car, get ready to deal with the joy of finding parking in Boston.
You could probably get by without a car in cambridge, but having one will make your life easier. Parking can be a bitch though if you don't have a driveway, and traffic is pretty bad if you have to drive around rush hour. Learning your way around is a challenge, buy a good atlas. Are you going to work in cambridge?
You could probably get by without a car in cambridge, but having one will make your life easier. Parking can be a bitch though if you don't have a driveway, and traffic is pretty bad if you have to drive around rush hour. Learning your way around is a challenge, buy a good atlas. Are you going to work in cambridge?
no, it's divided into "zones". Honestly, the only times I use my car is for driving to work if I'm out of the city (I'm a consultant) or on the weekends for errands. It's not practical to drive around the city itself as parking is impossible to find, plus you need a permit to park anywhere.
Yeah, the resident parking is in zones, you have to find non resident or metered parking, it's not too bad usually, but I'm probably just used to it. I allways end up finding a spot, sometimes it just takes a little while.
This guy makes a good point. The north end is pretty cool, great food. Boston has a great little chinatown too. Go to King Fung Garden, sometimes the waiter is an eight year old.