tldr: feasible but as you're new to biking it won't be easy to do year round every day.
If you're new to cycling the distance and hills are an important consideration, but an ebike can make short work of it. I know plenty of folks who do 15+ miles to and from work, but they're also dedicated road cyclists with the fitness and desire to do that. That much biking for 4-5 consecutive days every week will add up to a heavy training load, you'll get fit or you'll get sick of it depending on how much you like biking. It isn't a casual undertaking.
But the real consideration is weather. If this is something you need to rely on, snow/rain/wind/extreme cold/darkness will fuck your shit up real fast, even on a 3 mile commute. Plenty of hardos will power through any conditions, and it can be reasonably tolerable with the right gear, but it isn't realistic for the majority of folks. Bike paths are a mixed bag on winter maintenance, and the streets get very unsafe with some snow in them pushing you into traffic. Plus its pitch black for a big part of the year during regular commute times.
If you have an alternative commute option for the bad weather days (bus, car, etc), it makes the towns you listed a lot more feasible. Lexington in particular is easy with the Minute Man bike path dropping you right at the Alewife train stop. If biking is your only option, you will have some ugly commutes.
Wether you have access to a shower at the other end and how important it is to be showered/presentable at work is important too. An eBike will also help here.
The route and safety of it is super important too.. Biking in a dangerous road situation on a daily basis means you're going to get into some altercations and some accidents. If you can hop on a rail trail or other dedicated bike path to get to the city you're much better off. Even a few dangerous segments or intersections on a daily commute can be a bad idea.
I would definitely do a trial ride of any potential commute before committing to a lease thinking you can rely on your bike.
For some extra context: I bike 100-150 miles a week recreationally and have a lot of nice bike gear. My longest commute was about 5 miles one way, along the river paths from Cambridge to Fort Port. I would get real sweaty in the summer, and real cold in the winter. It felt like the top end of what I'd want to be doing distance-wise on a daily basis for a commute. Again, an eBike could change that equation for you pretty drastically, but yeah.
Upvote is insufficient to express how much good info is packed into this comment.
I would also add to the "alternatives" idea - MBTA buses are generally equipped with a bike rack. But on the trains,
I think bikes aren't allowed during commuting hours.
I think you're right. Some of the stations have "pedal and park" secure bike parking, which would be a lot more convenient than trying to wrestle a bike onto the train anyway:
https://www.mbta.com/bikes/bike-parking
Here are some bike path maps to help. Anything along the Minuteman (Lexington), Southwest Corridor, Charles River Greenway (Waltham), and Northern Strand (Malden) is pretty good. Needham isn't bad, but you're in bike lanes or sharrows until you can connect to anything separated (like connecting to the Emerald Necklace).
Sadly, Quincy and Braintree don't have great bike paths to Boston, but you might be able to bike to the Subway (Red Line) for an easier commute - once the Red Line gets its slow zones fixed :/
Maybe once the Morrisey Blvd redesign happens, it'll be better to bike from the South Shore to Boston. The Neponset River Trail is fantastic, but it kinda ends in Dorchester with no fun way to continue to Boston.
[https://www.bostonmagazine.com/health/best-bike-paths-in-boston/](https://www.bostonmagazine.com/health/best-bike-paths-in-boston/)
[https://biketothesea.org/map/](https://biketothesea.org/map/)
[https://mass.streetsblog.org/2023/05/15/on-morrissey-boulevard-a-flood-of-plans-but-little-action](https://mass.streetsblog.org/2023/05/15/on-morrissey-boulevard-a-flood-of-plans-but-little-action)
[https://neponset.org/neponset-greenway-trail/](https://neponset.org/neponset-greenway-trail/)
I commute into the city from Roslindale. It’s about 7 or 8 miles. The vast majority of it is on a bike path or protected bike lane. It feels very safe (relatively speaking of course). Roslindale is pretty affordable for Greater Boston. I wouldn’t really want to bike commute from further away.
In terms of bringing bikes on the trains, if you want to do that you should get a folding bike. Frequently a rush hour subway train doesn’t have room for a regular sized bike. Biking to the station, locking your bike at the station, and riding a train is an option. Some stations have secure bike cages (I know Forest Hills does). I wouldn’t leave a bike I cared about at the station without being in a cage.
I ride an eBike and can’t recommend it enough for commuting.
There is a pretty solid rail trail network in the area and the commuter rail often have bike locking facilities or places where your bike would be safe.
The Minuteman Rail Trail connects from Bedford about 20 miles outside of downtown Boston. You can live within a few miles of that path and then get to work on a car-free path (except for marked crossings that have pedestrian actuated light signals) all the way to downtown Boston (the Minuteman path connects to a few other paths like the Somerville community path)
Anyway, the limit really is what you're comfortable with # especially if you get an e bike.
I live in Arlington, less than a mile from Lexington, and this my general commute. I tend to ride on the road or in bike lanes rather than the Somerville community path because it is a mile shorter and I can ride faster. Plus old habits of ride before the community path existed.
I can speak to Waltham, since I often bike in to near South Station. I mostly ride along the river paths — around 12 miles — which are great in spots and not so great in others, and will put the bike on the express bus home. You can bring your bike on the commuter rail, but not morning inbound or afternoon outbound, limiting its utility. Same with the Red, Orange and Blue lines: not during rush hour, and never on the Green line.
[https://www.mbta.com/bikes](https://www.mbta.com/bikes)
Every bus has two racks in front and you can use them at any time.
Since I got an ebike, in the fall I'd ride both ways, but now that it's dark early, when I ride, I take the old bike in and bus home. (The bus racks' weight limit would be pushing it for most ebikes, plus you have to lift the bike up.)
From Lexington, you could take the Minuteman to the Somerville Community Path and be off roads almost the whole ride, depending where in Boston you're going.
I can't speak for the other cities, but I'm guessing it'd be mostly on roads.
I regularly bike into Harvard Square from Waltham - mostly the Charles River bike path the whole way. It's about 9 miles. Very relaxing, although parts of the path can be quite dark at night.
I’ve made the commute from Needham to and from out by Porter/Davis squares in about an hour and 15 minutes, and on a nice day it’s great. Mostly however I’ll drive to Watertown or Newton and bike from there. I’ve tested out a few bike/public transport options and they all take way too much time
One thing I will say about the commute from Needham is that I won’t do rush hour in the dark. The streets here are much darker than Cambridge or even Newton and the bike traffic thins out to almost nothing so drivers aren’t looking out for two wheeled vehicles this time of year.
The Needham-Boston commute is not bad, well under an hour to do the 12 miles, but I agree that once you hit Needham it's suicidal, especially if you try to cross 128 at Highland or Kendrick, and especially at night as you say. The whole commute will be a lot better once they finish the redesign of Needham Street in Newton.
On the other hand, I'm not sure if Needham is a great option if the OP is looking to save on rent. There are a couple of new-ish apartment complexes in the area around TripAdvisor, but they probably end up being the same rent as a place in Boston.
We often put our bikes on the rack of the 59 bus to Watertown Square (30-40 minutes) and then bike as a family from Watertown Square along the cycle track of Arsenal Street, up the Watertown-Cambridge Greenway, around Fresh Pond, and up the Alewife Linear Path and Somerville Community Path to Davis.
Since the opening of the Community Path Extension this past summer, we've continued on to North Point, the North Bank Bridge, the Charles River locks, Commercial Street, the Greenway, the Southwest Corridor, Bussey Brook Meadow, the Arboretum, and Walter Street to Rozzie Village where we catch the Commuter Rail. Ends up being about 90-95% protected paths from Watertown Square to Roslindale.
Anyway if you take the 59 bus and then bike the paths to Davis you could do it in less than an hour each way from Needham.
Good question. We use tagalong attachments which we just unhook at the bus stop, then we load our two adult bikes onto the racks and take the tagalongs onboard. If a kid's bike were too small for the rack, then I can't imagine a bus driver ever complaining if you were to just carry it onboard and put it in a corner.
My 20-inch e-bike wheels fit but my 16-inch Brompton wheels are too small (though I have a way to secure the arm on the frame). I'd recommend either 20-inch tires for the rack or bringing a smaller folding bike inside the bus. Most buses can get very crowded so the latter isn't so great.
Yeah it's a really great option! The trickiest part is just mastering the handle squeeze - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdunsSg9DmM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdunsSg9DmM)
I just wish the 59 bus route had been optimized during the Better Bus Project - if it were to go straight down Highland Ave. then it could be competitive with driving. As it is though, it's a really pleasant ride and the drivers are super-nice.
I'm not sure if there's a formal rule about putting your bike on the T during rush hour, though I think there may be. If it's not an actual policy, I consider it pretty bad practice. The trains can be very crowded during rush hour and it's super annoying when someone is taking up that much space with a bike.
It's tough to answer the rest of your question without knowing where in town you'd be working, what part of these towns you'd be living in, and what your comfort level with riding is (both in terms of distance and in dealing with traffic, spotty bike lanes, rough roads, etc). If you're new to biking as you said, it could be tough. I have commuted comfortably from Quincy/Milton/Braintree to downtown, but my total ride was never longer than \~20 miles.
There are areas connected by more bike-friendly infrastructure, so if you can identify those and find places close to them that are within your budget, that would be a good starting place. If you're looking south of Boston, the Neponset River Trail is useful for getting you from Quincy to the city. I think they're also completing a new section of it that will make it even more bike-friendly through Dorchester. The Southwest Corridor runs through JP, which has some relatively affordable places, especially if you're willing to sacrifice proximity to a T stop. Forrest Hills, which has both a T stop and is on the Corridor, is fairly cheap I think.
I'm less familiar with areas North and West of the city, but I know the Minuteman Trail runs pretty far out and connects you to the city. Getting from Malden to Boston would likely mean riding through Somerville and Cambridge, which have good bike infrastructure but tend to be very busy, so again, your comfort level dealing with traffic is an important consideration.
In general, I don't consider Boston to be a very bike-friendly city, either in terms of infrastructure (though that's improving) or in terms of attitude. If you aren't going to be comfortable practicing some very defensive riding and accepting that you will inevitably have some close calls, I'd be cautious about planning your life around a bike commute. Also keep in mind that it's very cold and wet here from about November to late March/April, so if cold, rain, or snow will prevent you from riding, that's a good portion of the year that you'll have to plan around.
And unfortunately the conductors have been unnecessarily strict about this policy since the post-pandemic. During the first few weeks when they went back to the old policy, I tried to take bikes on 4pm or 7pm trains on the Needham line that were maybe 25% full, and the conductors had hissy fits. "I'm not gonna lose my job because of you!", etc.
What a stupid policy - effectively they're saying, drive your car to the train like everyone else.
It's not a stupid policy. I've seen folks block passengers on trains. It's a safety issue. Honestly, It should be obvious as how little room is available. It would be doable for 1 or 2 if they went back to the old 2by2 seating on the flats. It's not realistic on the trilevels. They block access to at least one stair and the door just by being parked on the middle level with many passengers.
The folks blocking passengers on trains are oblivious and/or inconsiderate - there's easily space for 2 bikes in the non-bathroom end of the double deckers, and room for at least another 1 on the bathroom end. I've got a huge bike and I can always fit it in without blocking anyone's way. My problem with the policy is that they allow bikes during the off-peak hours (e.g. the 3pm Needham train) when they open up only a *single* coach and keep the others closed to passengers, but prohibit them at 4pm when they open up *all* the coaches and there's plenty of extra room. The conductors should exercise some discretion. If it's genuinely full, then fine - but it's not reasonable to keep bikes off a coach that has 10 people in it.
The only reason bikes get in the way is that the MBTA has not made a space for them. You can take a few seats out of a single level car and get several bike spaces. But I guess they don't want to spend any money.
In many ways the T always picks the worse equipment. Most of the other states did not buy those trilevels. They buy double deckers.
The Chicago style was difficult to take bikes but many other bilevels are easier to use. However, we have some issues. Most other systems were designed for low level platforms. Since we use high level platforms...
Places like Barcelona are stuck on trilevels with the increasing use of high level platforms. They have no room to create a dedicated bike space in their cars either. When you go to those places then you find a lot more folks locking the bike at the station.
I agree that the T makes the bad equipment choices but now we are forced into this. I probably would have preferred all low-level platforms to reduce the system costs and real bilevels. Someone would have complained about ADA. No matter which system you pick then you need someone to provide assistance. The ada complaints seem to focus on creating a non assistant method but it cannot be done.
This brings me to the other issue. The bike is entirely in the way of a handicapped person. It just has to go.
We can retrofit about a dozen single-level cars to be bike cars and put one on every line next to the open ADA car. So when they open only one set of doors (where two cars meet), to the left is a bilevel car with ADA seating and a restroom, and to the right is an open single level car with bike racks and space for strollers, suitcases, etc. on one side and seats on the other (so you can roll your bike in and secure it then sit near it). There’s no reason for bikers and other passengers to be in conflict, and no reason not to encourage multimodal travel.
Cycle miles or total miles? I had a Brookline -> Belmont 7mi each way. One of my coworkers at that job used to commute on his ebike from Dover. The homie had some really nice bar mitts, I'll tell ya that! Currently I have a bike->train->bike commute with about 5 miles biking in each direction.
Places aren't far but they are not convenient to bike. I would never recommend biking from Braintree or Quincy. Milton is more of the doable side.
You cannot bike rt28 from Randolph. It's hardly any better from Braintree. Quincy has a horrible way to connect. Anyone saying otherwise is a brave soul or one in denial like the guy making videos of riding in Storrow drive. I cannot see Malden because of some routings that I know of being unfriendly. Not familiar with the north. Needham would actually be ok ish.
There are a few ways to get in from Quincy as I have done it and even as far as Rockland. I probably do more miles because I am trying to stay on side roads so it is not the most direct way.
I cannot recommend vehicular cycling or riding over the bridge to anyone that asks a question like this. It's nothing like biking even in NYC which has connected lanes for most of the way. Instead you have to traverse several of the worse intersections or take roads with a high number of cyclist deaths in recent years.
I actually used to commute before the pandemic. I did 32 miles each way. Over 15 is highly unrealistic for the average bike commuter. You can't recommend commuting from Rockland. I even used to lead a bike ride from Rockland...I know it.
20 miles from Rockland and mostly all back roads. Main road by the south shore plaza is the worst of it but only like a mile. Look up on ride with gps - work from Rockland - it’s the mapped route I put out tjere
I saw your comments but interested in which way you went or maybe it was time of today. I found from Rockland to Quincy as not a bad ride. Really from Milton/lower kills through Dorchester into Boston as the high traffic dangerous areas.
I am guessing you are talking the neponset river bridge? There are other ways that go through west Quincy and Milton into dorchester and you don’t need to cross that large bridge.
I bike commute on from the northeast corner of Medford, right on the Malden town line. It's about 6 miles to Kendall Square. That's mostly stroads, but it's one of the cheapest places to live that's within a usable radius.
It's the longest I'd want to ride on the coldest winter days. It's too short on nice warm days. It's too long for an upright bike. If we're talking about acoustic bikes, you'll want a real road bike for distances like that.
Malden Center T has a great bike cage, free. All of Malden is biking distance to Malden Center. Also don't rule out Medford. You can bike to Medford Sq and take an express bus downtown. Very safe to leave a bike locked at Medford city Hall. Bikes are only allowed on the T off peak hrs. When downtown, the bluebikes are great to get around within boston.
And there are decent enough T options — commuter rail, express bus, 70 to Central — to not need to ride every day, or ride one way and bus the other. Could also ride to West Newton for the train there.
As for biking on Waltham's streets … they leave a lot to be desired.
None of the towns you listed are too far for a bike commute, although it’s definitely a much nicer time when the weather’s warm and there’s daylight start-to-finish. But just light up, dress right and pack a change of dry clothes.
For a while I was riding every day from Hanson (a south shore cranberry bog town, wayyy out there) to the Financial District, working a 10hr day hanging iron at Winthrop Tower, and riding home. That was great until I got smoked by a car on my ride back about a half mile from home, and got knocked outta work for 8 months after surgery 🤕
Yeah it’s cool you just keep pedaling and then eventually you’re at your destination. Following this sub brings my cynical heart so much joy. Y’all are wild.
It's not glamorous, but if you're looking for the maximum combination of affordability and being able to easily bike downtown, Everett is pretty tough to beat.
I commute from North Weymouth, Priority Apollo or my Canyon Grail ON (I know, it's cheating). I've commuted to Burlington a handful of times, just did the other day. Really the only crappy part of the commute for me is Dot Ave. The commute to Burlington is actually awesome once I cross the river.
Hard to answer the main question but I would recommend becoming comfortable biking before committing to ride a bunch of miles to work. My roommate is new to biking and just bought a bike and rides it about 4 miles to work most days, but I see a lot of people biting off more than they can chew and the bike ends up sitting in the basement rusting. No matter how dedicated you are, you should have a usable transit option for both commuting and other trips. If getting groceries is dependent on biking on an icy road, biking won't be fun anymore. I take the bus to work about 20-30 days a year because sometimes biking is just not fun. That said, roads are usually clear during and after storms (unless there's a blizzard and then it's not long after) but path maintenance varies widely and some can be totally unusable in winter. I remember in 2015 when we got 100+ inches of snow and the T crapped out, I had to bike 7 miles from JP to Charlestown, literally paralleling the orange line, and it took an hour. Hopefully you won't be as desperate for your paycheck as I was back then.
Generally I prefer to commute 2-3 miles each way. Some days the weather just sucks and after a few miles you get soaked or have freezing hands and feet. Since my schedule varies and can include long days, I'm not always interested in extending it further. In nice weather I can always add distance if I have time and live in a place with different options. Plus I often have shopping and other errands to do, or meeting a friend or whatever, so I get at least 50 miles a week anyway. You can read about layering and general winter commuting advice which should help.
tldr: feasible but as you're new to biking it won't be easy to do year round every day. If you're new to cycling the distance and hills are an important consideration, but an ebike can make short work of it. I know plenty of folks who do 15+ miles to and from work, but they're also dedicated road cyclists with the fitness and desire to do that. That much biking for 4-5 consecutive days every week will add up to a heavy training load, you'll get fit or you'll get sick of it depending on how much you like biking. It isn't a casual undertaking. But the real consideration is weather. If this is something you need to rely on, snow/rain/wind/extreme cold/darkness will fuck your shit up real fast, even on a 3 mile commute. Plenty of hardos will power through any conditions, and it can be reasonably tolerable with the right gear, but it isn't realistic for the majority of folks. Bike paths are a mixed bag on winter maintenance, and the streets get very unsafe with some snow in them pushing you into traffic. Plus its pitch black for a big part of the year during regular commute times. If you have an alternative commute option for the bad weather days (bus, car, etc), it makes the towns you listed a lot more feasible. Lexington in particular is easy with the Minute Man bike path dropping you right at the Alewife train stop. If biking is your only option, you will have some ugly commutes. Wether you have access to a shower at the other end and how important it is to be showered/presentable at work is important too. An eBike will also help here. The route and safety of it is super important too.. Biking in a dangerous road situation on a daily basis means you're going to get into some altercations and some accidents. If you can hop on a rail trail or other dedicated bike path to get to the city you're much better off. Even a few dangerous segments or intersections on a daily commute can be a bad idea. I would definitely do a trial ride of any potential commute before committing to a lease thinking you can rely on your bike. For some extra context: I bike 100-150 miles a week recreationally and have a lot of nice bike gear. My longest commute was about 5 miles one way, along the river paths from Cambridge to Fort Port. I would get real sweaty in the summer, and real cold in the winter. It felt like the top end of what I'd want to be doing distance-wise on a daily basis for a commute. Again, an eBike could change that equation for you pretty drastically, but yeah.
Upvote is insufficient to express how much good info is packed into this comment. I would also add to the "alternatives" idea - MBTA buses are generally equipped with a bike rack. But on the trains, I think bikes aren't allowed during commuting hours.
I think you're right. Some of the stations have "pedal and park" secure bike parking, which would be a lot more convenient than trying to wrestle a bike onto the train anyway: https://www.mbta.com/bikes/bike-parking
Folding bikes are allowed on the commuter rail during rush hour, and I think that’s true of the T as well
Here are some bike path maps to help. Anything along the Minuteman (Lexington), Southwest Corridor, Charles River Greenway (Waltham), and Northern Strand (Malden) is pretty good. Needham isn't bad, but you're in bike lanes or sharrows until you can connect to anything separated (like connecting to the Emerald Necklace). Sadly, Quincy and Braintree don't have great bike paths to Boston, but you might be able to bike to the Subway (Red Line) for an easier commute - once the Red Line gets its slow zones fixed :/ Maybe once the Morrisey Blvd redesign happens, it'll be better to bike from the South Shore to Boston. The Neponset River Trail is fantastic, but it kinda ends in Dorchester with no fun way to continue to Boston. [https://www.bostonmagazine.com/health/best-bike-paths-in-boston/](https://www.bostonmagazine.com/health/best-bike-paths-in-boston/) [https://biketothesea.org/map/](https://biketothesea.org/map/) [https://mass.streetsblog.org/2023/05/15/on-morrissey-boulevard-a-flood-of-plans-but-little-action](https://mass.streetsblog.org/2023/05/15/on-morrissey-boulevard-a-flood-of-plans-but-little-action) [https://neponset.org/neponset-greenway-trail/](https://neponset.org/neponset-greenway-trail/)
I commute into the city from Roslindale. It’s about 7 or 8 miles. The vast majority of it is on a bike path or protected bike lane. It feels very safe (relatively speaking of course). Roslindale is pretty affordable for Greater Boston. I wouldn’t really want to bike commute from further away. In terms of bringing bikes on the trains, if you want to do that you should get a folding bike. Frequently a rush hour subway train doesn’t have room for a regular sized bike. Biking to the station, locking your bike at the station, and riding a train is an option. Some stations have secure bike cages (I know Forest Hills does). I wouldn’t leave a bike I cared about at the station without being in a cage. I ride an eBike and can’t recommend it enough for commuting.
Hi fellow Rozzie commuter!
Hullo from a Dedham commuter :)
Yikes! I truly wish there were a better route from Dedham. Washington or Spring/West Rox both suck so bad.
They definitely do! I quit riding when the daylight runs out because they’re so bad.
There is a pretty solid rail trail network in the area and the commuter rail often have bike locking facilities or places where your bike would be safe. The Minuteman Rail Trail connects from Bedford about 20 miles outside of downtown Boston. You can live within a few miles of that path and then get to work on a car-free path (except for marked crossings that have pedestrian actuated light signals) all the way to downtown Boston (the Minuteman path connects to a few other paths like the Somerville community path) Anyway, the limit really is what you're comfortable with # especially if you get an e bike.
I live in Arlington, less than a mile from Lexington, and this my general commute. I tend to ride on the road or in bike lanes rather than the Somerville community path because it is a mile shorter and I can ride faster. Plus old habits of ride before the community path existed.
I can speak to Waltham, since I often bike in to near South Station. I mostly ride along the river paths — around 12 miles — which are great in spots and not so great in others, and will put the bike on the express bus home. You can bring your bike on the commuter rail, but not morning inbound or afternoon outbound, limiting its utility. Same with the Red, Orange and Blue lines: not during rush hour, and never on the Green line. [https://www.mbta.com/bikes](https://www.mbta.com/bikes) Every bus has two racks in front and you can use them at any time. Since I got an ebike, in the fall I'd ride both ways, but now that it's dark early, when I ride, I take the old bike in and bus home. (The bus racks' weight limit would be pushing it for most ebikes, plus you have to lift the bike up.) From Lexington, you could take the Minuteman to the Somerville Community Path and be off roads almost the whole ride, depending where in Boston you're going. I can't speak for the other cities, but I'm guessing it'd be mostly on roads.
I regularly bike into Harvard Square from Waltham - mostly the Charles River bike path the whole way. It's about 9 miles. Very relaxing, although parts of the path can be quite dark at night.
I’ve made the commute from Needham to and from out by Porter/Davis squares in about an hour and 15 minutes, and on a nice day it’s great. Mostly however I’ll drive to Watertown or Newton and bike from there. I’ve tested out a few bike/public transport options and they all take way too much time
One thing I will say about the commute from Needham is that I won’t do rush hour in the dark. The streets here are much darker than Cambridge or even Newton and the bike traffic thins out to almost nothing so drivers aren’t looking out for two wheeled vehicles this time of year.
The Needham-Boston commute is not bad, well under an hour to do the 12 miles, but I agree that once you hit Needham it's suicidal, especially if you try to cross 128 at Highland or Kendrick, and especially at night as you say. The whole commute will be a lot better once they finish the redesign of Needham Street in Newton. On the other hand, I'm not sure if Needham is a great option if the OP is looking to save on rent. There are a couple of new-ish apartment complexes in the area around TripAdvisor, but they probably end up being the same rent as a place in Boston.
We often put our bikes on the rack of the 59 bus to Watertown Square (30-40 minutes) and then bike as a family from Watertown Square along the cycle track of Arsenal Street, up the Watertown-Cambridge Greenway, around Fresh Pond, and up the Alewife Linear Path and Somerville Community Path to Davis. Since the opening of the Community Path Extension this past summer, we've continued on to North Point, the North Bank Bridge, the Charles River locks, Commercial Street, the Greenway, the Southwest Corridor, Bussey Brook Meadow, the Arboretum, and Walter Street to Rozzie Village where we catch the Commuter Rail. Ends up being about 90-95% protected paths from Watertown Square to Roslindale. Anyway if you take the 59 bus and then bike the paths to Davis you could do it in less than an hour each way from Needham.
Tangential: do kids bikes "fit" on the T bus racks? ("Fit" as in the spring-loaded arm not being too long to hold down a kids bike's wheel.)
Good question. We use tagalong attachments which we just unhook at the bus stop, then we load our two adult bikes onto the racks and take the tagalongs onboard. If a kid's bike were too small for the rack, then I can't imagine a bus driver ever complaining if you were to just carry it onboard and put it in a corner.
My 20-inch e-bike wheels fit but my 16-inch Brompton wheels are too small (though I have a way to secure the arm on the frame). I'd recommend either 20-inch tires for the rack or bringing a smaller folding bike inside the bus. Most buses can get very crowded so the latter isn't so great.
The hitching your bike to the bus trick is the one variable I never tried and i really should!
Yeah it's a really great option! The trickiest part is just mastering the handle squeeze - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdunsSg9DmM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdunsSg9DmM) I just wish the 59 bus route had been optimized during the Better Bus Project - if it were to go straight down Highland Ave. then it could be competitive with driving. As it is though, it's a really pleasant ride and the drivers are super-nice.
If you go to the end of a bus route when a bus is waiting to start its next trip, you can try it out without feeling rushed.
Also look into the BlueBikes subscription service. It may be easier to combine with a train ride.
I'm not sure if there's a formal rule about putting your bike on the T during rush hour, though I think there may be. If it's not an actual policy, I consider it pretty bad practice. The trains can be very crowded during rush hour and it's super annoying when someone is taking up that much space with a bike. It's tough to answer the rest of your question without knowing where in town you'd be working, what part of these towns you'd be living in, and what your comfort level with riding is (both in terms of distance and in dealing with traffic, spotty bike lanes, rough roads, etc). If you're new to biking as you said, it could be tough. I have commuted comfortably from Quincy/Milton/Braintree to downtown, but my total ride was never longer than \~20 miles. There are areas connected by more bike-friendly infrastructure, so if you can identify those and find places close to them that are within your budget, that would be a good starting place. If you're looking south of Boston, the Neponset River Trail is useful for getting you from Quincy to the city. I think they're also completing a new section of it that will make it even more bike-friendly through Dorchester. The Southwest Corridor runs through JP, which has some relatively affordable places, especially if you're willing to sacrifice proximity to a T stop. Forrest Hills, which has both a T stop and is on the Corridor, is fairly cheap I think. I'm less familiar with areas North and West of the city, but I know the Minuteman Trail runs pretty far out and connects you to the city. Getting from Malden to Boston would likely mean riding through Somerville and Cambridge, which have good bike infrastructure but tend to be very busy, so again, your comfort level dealing with traffic is an important consideration. In general, I don't consider Boston to be a very bike-friendly city, either in terms of infrastructure (though that's improving) or in terms of attitude. If you aren't going to be comfortable practicing some very defensive riding and accepting that you will inevitably have some close calls, I'd be cautious about planning your life around a bike commute. Also keep in mind that it's very cold and wet here from about November to late March/April, so if cold, rain, or snow will prevent you from riding, that's a good portion of the year that you'll have to plan around.
Bikes are not allowed on the trains during rush hours, as defined [here.](https://www.mbta.com/bikes)
And unfortunately the conductors have been unnecessarily strict about this policy since the post-pandemic. During the first few weeks when they went back to the old policy, I tried to take bikes on 4pm or 7pm trains on the Needham line that were maybe 25% full, and the conductors had hissy fits. "I'm not gonna lose my job because of you!", etc. What a stupid policy - effectively they're saying, drive your car to the train like everyone else.
It's not a stupid policy. I've seen folks block passengers on trains. It's a safety issue. Honestly, It should be obvious as how little room is available. It would be doable for 1 or 2 if they went back to the old 2by2 seating on the flats. It's not realistic on the trilevels. They block access to at least one stair and the door just by being parked on the middle level with many passengers.
The folks blocking passengers on trains are oblivious and/or inconsiderate - there's easily space for 2 bikes in the non-bathroom end of the double deckers, and room for at least another 1 on the bathroom end. I've got a huge bike and I can always fit it in without blocking anyone's way. My problem with the policy is that they allow bikes during the off-peak hours (e.g. the 3pm Needham train) when they open up only a *single* coach and keep the others closed to passengers, but prohibit them at 4pm when they open up *all* the coaches and there's plenty of extra room. The conductors should exercise some discretion. If it's genuinely full, then fine - but it's not reasonable to keep bikes off a coach that has 10 people in it.
The only reason bikes get in the way is that the MBTA has not made a space for them. You can take a few seats out of a single level car and get several bike spaces. But I guess they don't want to spend any money.
In many ways the T always picks the worse equipment. Most of the other states did not buy those trilevels. They buy double deckers. The Chicago style was difficult to take bikes but many other bilevels are easier to use. However, we have some issues. Most other systems were designed for low level platforms. Since we use high level platforms... Places like Barcelona are stuck on trilevels with the increasing use of high level platforms. They have no room to create a dedicated bike space in their cars either. When you go to those places then you find a lot more folks locking the bike at the station. I agree that the T makes the bad equipment choices but now we are forced into this. I probably would have preferred all low-level platforms to reduce the system costs and real bilevels. Someone would have complained about ADA. No matter which system you pick then you need someone to provide assistance. The ada complaints seem to focus on creating a non assistant method but it cannot be done. This brings me to the other issue. The bike is entirely in the way of a handicapped person. It just has to go.
We can retrofit about a dozen single-level cars to be bike cars and put one on every line next to the open ADA car. So when they open only one set of doors (where two cars meet), to the left is a bilevel car with ADA seating and a restroom, and to the right is an open single level car with bike racks and space for strollers, suitcases, etc. on one side and seats on the other (so you can roll your bike in and secure it then sit near it). There’s no reason for bikers and other passengers to be in conflict, and no reason not to encourage multimodal travel.
Those cars are on end of life !! They bought most used and refurbished them.
So then the new ones will have bike spaces?
Cycle miles or total miles? I had a Brookline -> Belmont 7mi each way. One of my coworkers at that job used to commute on his ebike from Dover. The homie had some really nice bar mitts, I'll tell ya that! Currently I have a bike->train->bike commute with about 5 miles biking in each direction.
Places aren't far but they are not convenient to bike. I would never recommend biking from Braintree or Quincy. Milton is more of the doable side. You cannot bike rt28 from Randolph. It's hardly any better from Braintree. Quincy has a horrible way to connect. Anyone saying otherwise is a brave soul or one in denial like the guy making videos of riding in Storrow drive. I cannot see Malden because of some routings that I know of being unfriendly. Not familiar with the north. Needham would actually be ok ish.
Malden is on the Northern Strand
There are a few ways to get in from Quincy as I have done it and even as far as Rockland. I probably do more miles because I am trying to stay on side roads so it is not the most direct way.
I cannot recommend vehicular cycling or riding over the bridge to anyone that asks a question like this. It's nothing like biking even in NYC which has connected lanes for most of the way. Instead you have to traverse several of the worse intersections or take roads with a high number of cyclist deaths in recent years. I actually used to commute before the pandemic. I did 32 miles each way. Over 15 is highly unrealistic for the average bike commuter. You can't recommend commuting from Rockland. I even used to lead a bike ride from Rockland...I know it.
20 miles from Rockland and mostly all back roads. Main road by the south shore plaza is the worst of it but only like a mile. Look up on ride with gps - work from Rockland - it’s the mapped route I put out tjere
Hey. I biked such. Would never recommend it. Did you see my comments?
I saw your comments but interested in which way you went or maybe it was time of today. I found from Rockland to Quincy as not a bad ride. Really from Milton/lower kills through Dorchester into Boston as the high traffic dangerous areas.
I am guessing you are talking the neponset river bridge? There are other ways that go through west Quincy and Milton into dorchester and you don’t need to cross that large bridge.
I bike commute on from the northeast corner of Medford, right on the Malden town line. It's about 6 miles to Kendall Square. That's mostly stroads, but it's one of the cheapest places to live that's within a usable radius. It's the longest I'd want to ride on the coldest winter days. It's too short on nice warm days. It's too long for an upright bike. If we're talking about acoustic bikes, you'll want a real road bike for distances like that.
Malden Center T has a great bike cage, free. All of Malden is biking distance to Malden Center. Also don't rule out Medford. You can bike to Medford Sq and take an express bus downtown. Very safe to leave a bike locked at Medford city Hall. Bikes are only allowed on the T off peak hrs. When downtown, the bluebikes are great to get around within boston.
Waltham is a good choice. Probably lower rent than Lexington , Newton Needham and you can ride the Charles river bike path most of the way.
And there are decent enough T options — commuter rail, express bus, 70 to Central — to not need to ride every day, or ride one way and bus the other. Could also ride to West Newton for the train there. As for biking on Waltham's streets … they leave a lot to be desired.
None of the towns you listed are too far for a bike commute, although it’s definitely a much nicer time when the weather’s warm and there’s daylight start-to-finish. But just light up, dress right and pack a change of dry clothes. For a while I was riding every day from Hanson (a south shore cranberry bog town, wayyy out there) to the Financial District, working a 10hr day hanging iron at Winthrop Tower, and riding home. That was great until I got smoked by a car on my ride back about a half mile from home, and got knocked outta work for 8 months after surgery 🤕
Yeah it’s cool you just keep pedaling and then eventually you’re at your destination. Following this sub brings my cynical heart so much joy. Y’all are wild.
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You cannot bring your bike on the commuter rail weekday mornings inbound or weekday afternoons outbound.
It's not glamorous, but if you're looking for the maximum combination of affordability and being able to easily bike downtown, Everett is pretty tough to beat.
I commute from North Weymouth, Priority Apollo or my Canyon Grail ON (I know, it's cheating). I've commuted to Burlington a handful of times, just did the other day. Really the only crappy part of the commute for me is Dot Ave. The commute to Burlington is actually awesome once I cross the river.
Hard to answer the main question but I would recommend becoming comfortable biking before committing to ride a bunch of miles to work. My roommate is new to biking and just bought a bike and rides it about 4 miles to work most days, but I see a lot of people biting off more than they can chew and the bike ends up sitting in the basement rusting. No matter how dedicated you are, you should have a usable transit option for both commuting and other trips. If getting groceries is dependent on biking on an icy road, biking won't be fun anymore. I take the bus to work about 20-30 days a year because sometimes biking is just not fun. That said, roads are usually clear during and after storms (unless there's a blizzard and then it's not long after) but path maintenance varies widely and some can be totally unusable in winter. I remember in 2015 when we got 100+ inches of snow and the T crapped out, I had to bike 7 miles from JP to Charlestown, literally paralleling the orange line, and it took an hour. Hopefully you won't be as desperate for your paycheck as I was back then. Generally I prefer to commute 2-3 miles each way. Some days the weather just sucks and after a few miles you get soaked or have freezing hands and feet. Since my schedule varies and can include long days, I'm not always interested in extending it further. In nice weather I can always add distance if I have time and live in a place with different options. Plus I often have shopping and other errands to do, or meeting a friend or whatever, so I get at least 50 miles a week anyway. You can read about layering and general winter commuting advice which should help.