I'm looking to move to Boston....

You'll be set. I haven't had a car in awhile. It'll take some time getting used to, but there's so much to do in the city that you won't miss your car (or paying for parking, insurance, or gas!). I say go for it! I take the T everyday to work, and out to the city on weekends, nights. No problems!

If you're lucky, yes, you can sell your car and use the T. But it depends where your job is and where your home is.

bostons great for walking, unless you wanna go outside 128. also, the boston drivers are horrible.

Don't forget, you can always rent a car from ZipCar or other places (We use Enterprise due to the central location and cheap rates).

I've been fine for about a year and a half now, and I had *never* lived anywhere with reliable public transportation before moving to Boston. Zipcars and the occasional friend-with-car should solve most of your problems, as long as work/home/whatever are accessible by T and bus. Ah, and don't worry about grocery shopping, because the delightful gents at www.peapod.com will be happy to deal with that for you :)

Having lived in Boston my whole life I can highly endore the T whether it's commuter rail (more expensive but fewer stops) or the buses and trains. As a previous poster mentioned it depends upon the neighborhood. I understand that taking a trolley from Brighton on the dreaded B line can take an hour but I can go from my door in Readville (a neighborhood even further away) to my work place in Back Bay in less than 1/2 hour. My car is over 2 years old and it has less than 10 thousand miles on it.

Another fact to keep in mind is that Boston has some of the highest car insurance rates in the US.

Hope this helps.

Don't forget the parking situation here is ridiculous.

I agree, it depends where you live and work - taking just the subway is ideal, in my opinion; transferring from subway to bus was always a pain. But I'd still prefer it to the money and time spent having a car.

It depends on your tolerance for pain (the T is chronically late, out of service, or doesn't run very regularly to a lot of places). Here's my opinion:

If you live in the following neighborhoods, you'd be crazy to have a car. (On-street parking is virtually impossible and off-street parking is very expensive)
Beacon Hill
The North End
Back Bay
The West End
Chinatown
The Leather District

If you live in one these neighborhoods, parking is tight but doable. Get a small car, a resident permit and expect a parking ticket from time to time:
Fenway / Kenmore
Bay Village
South End
South Boston

A car is reasonable in (get a parking permit and some patience):
Allston (near the B line)
Brighton (near the B line)

A car is necessary in:
Lower Allston (anything north of Cambridge Street)
Brighton (everyplace not within walking distance of BC)

Note: I left out Cambridge, Brookline, and a few Boston neighborhoods because either I don't live there or I don't go there often.

It depends on where you chose to live. If you live and work near a T line then you will be able to get by without a car. If you don't then a car is a must. I lived and worked in Cambridge for 12 years. Although I had a car, it wasn't necessary. I took the Redline from Porter Square to Kendall everyday. It was fast, clean, and efficient. I don't remember being late because the Redline wasn't running.

I now live in Brighton on the Greenline. Anytime we have a major rainstorm the Greenline trollies stop running and are supplemented by buses. Bus service here sucks. The drivers are often inconsiderate and complete assholes and frequently pass by stops. If you have to rely on bus service then I suggest you get a car. In addition, Boston does not maintain their traffic light system. Crosswalks often do not have working lights or painted markings. Drivers ignore these crosswalk traffic lights anyways. I feel like I take my life into my hands everytime I cross Beacon Street to catch a Greenline train.

Boston is a great place if you live outside the city. Boston proper itself has terrible infrastructure and an uncaring and unresponsive city government. The parking problem is atrocious because the parking sticker program sucks. Here in Brighton, only half the available parking is reserved for residents. The remaining parking spaces are taken over commuters and visitors. In winter, parking is impossible

The only gem I have found here is our councilman Jerry McDermott. He is a good guy who is trying to make Brighton/Allston a great place to live. Hats off to him. I hope he succeeds.

I currently live in Boston because my girlfriend's son attends Boston Latin School. We are stuck here for another two and a half years. After that we will move back to Cambridge which is one of the finer places to live in this area.

Gregg

Having lived there before I can tell you really don't need a car. The T is good enough imho. That was a few years ago though.