Hey, there! Log in / Register
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Our long national nightmare
Our long national nightmare is our over! No longer will anyone need to endure the two-minute walk from Government Center.
I never got Bowdoin station,
I never got Bowdoin station, it seemed like a waste of time. Plus they didn't make the stops on weekends which were the only times I ever had a use for it. There is literally nothing between Government Center and Bowdoin. It might as well be the same station.
Bowdoin Is Great If You're Headed To MGH, The West End, And More
Massachusetts General Hospital is just a short walk down Cambridge Street from Bowdoin Station. If you're coming in on the Blue Line, most regular riders would not choose to take the Orange Line or Green Line, just to get there a few steps closer via the Red Line.
In addition to MGH, there are many other services and attractions in the West End and Beacon Hill neighborhoods, within a pleasant walking distance of Bowdoin Station.
( in case you don't know, it's not pleasant to go there by car )
Also, Some of us headed to Cambridge prefer to avoid the crowded, awkward, and unpredictable Orange/Green—State-DTX/GC-Park transfer entirely, by simply walking the few blocks from Bowdoin to Charles to catch the Red Line.
Happily, nowadays Bowdoin Station is open whenever the Blue Line is in operation. If they ever try go back to restricted hours again — well, I'll certainly complain about it!
The end of the line is always closest for someone
In this case, if you're coming/going someplace east of Somerset St/Sudbury St, Bowdoin is closer. Pretty straightforward, really. Plenty of government, medical, and hospitality jobs in that direction, housing too.
The anti-Bowdoin argument is the same one that could be used to eliminate just about any Green Line stop. Yes, we could have fewer stops, with a different quality of service. Maybe better for some, definitely worse for others.
I continue to hope that someday Bowdoin won't be the last stop -- that it will be Charles/MGH. The red-blue connector would be so nice for folks who want the lower cost housing available on the blue line but the academic, financial, biotech, or other jobs available on the red line. Yes, State-DTX or Gov't Ctr-Park gets you there, but the extra hop is hassle and another 15 minutes each day, and that many more boardings and alightings in the busiest stations -- which could be reduced with a Blue Line Charles/MGH station.
Well...
Bowdoin was in the midst of the then densely-settled West End when it opened in 1916. The station functioned primarily, but not exclusively, as a terminal for the local East Boston and Chelsea streetcar lines. (These lines were so busy that after ten years of streetcar operation it was decided to convert to subway trains.) Various through-routes running betwixt Cambridge and East Boston also used the station. This was all in addition to the local routes serving Bowdoin Square on the surface. An important bus route (one of the first generation of bus routes) was established shortly after the conversion of the East Boston Tunnel to rapid transit. This route ran from Bowdoin to Beacon Hill, Copley Square and to "Mass Upper" (Hynes Station). The station was a major transfer point for decades.
Of course, after the wholesale annihilation of the neighborhood it was built to serve; changing demographics and ridership patterns; and the unloved stepchild treatment by the T you are left with this odd, forlorn vestige.
But, hey! That Blue Line extension to Charles/MGH will be opening any day now!