I’ve never really played around with Google Maps. I mean, I’ve gone searching for driving directions from time-to-time, but as a programmatic interface for mapping, it must be pretty schweet.
Right now, Carrie and I are looking at how I might get from public transport (the T) to Olin College. And most everyone I’ve spoken to has said the Green Line is the way to go. Here’s two snaps of the Green line:
Station on the right, Olin on the left
Hybrid view of the same
Now, from Needham Heights station, I could (it seems) take West Road (aptly named) due west, and then jog down to Forest Road, which runs up north of the college. This may, or may not, be a good cycling route. Sadly, street-level views of Boston don’t exist on Google Maps (yet; I’m guessing they’ll do Boston at some point).
But playing with the transit site, Carrie thinks that the Purple Line might be better.
Approach from the West?
The approach from the west looks very residential. It seems to me that hopping off the T to the west of Olin, and biking/walking in from there makes much more sense. At least, from what we can tell from Google Maps, it seems that way. In the next screensnap, you can see that Abbot Road (which runs east from Wellesley Hills Station) has a number of large homes lining it as well as sidewalks.
Abbot Road has sidewalks
Unfortunately, Forest Road runs out of sidewalk as you go east. However, if you go west, Forest Road has a sidewalk (at least, it seems to).
A possible route
I’ll have to ask some people who live in the area whether or not our satellite reconnaissance has paid off, or if we’re missing some kind of critical, local knowledge.
Update: It turns out that 1. I am confusing the subway and rail, and therefore my use of colors for line names may be … confusing to Boston natives. But, as I am not a native, I am not confused. And, 2. from both sides of campus there are good walking routes from the light rail, so I think that either of those lines provide good access to work.
Green Line (subway) won’t help you. You’re looking at two different branches of the Commuter Rail (purple line). Needham Heights is on the Needham line. Wellesley Hills is on the Framingham/Worcester line.
Reverse commuting on the commuter rail is possible but hardly easy as there aren’t that many trains that run the “wrong” way.
Hey, the Purple Line is the Commuter Rail which is a little more expensive, runs only once an hour, but gets you in and out of the city a little faster. It’s about a 30+ minute walk from Needham Center to Olin.
The Green Line – D is what most people take to go in and out of the city, but you would need to be dropped off there as it is about a 3-4 mile drive from Olin. The station that we use most often is Eliot.
But for both, walking from either in the winter is not fun.
Kevin Tostado, Olin ’06
Welcome to Olin, Matt! Congrats on getting the position.
As a current Junior, I wanted to share a bit of advice on getting to campus:
The most often used system for students to travel off (or onto campus) is the Green D line due to the frequent subway-like departures. Unfortunately, the nearest station, Eliot, is a good 7 miles (15 minutes of driving) from campus. And bicycles are not allowed onboard. It would not be a good way to commute to campus. (There is supposedly a bus that goes between Needham center and Eliot, but I have only once seen it in my 2 years living there).
The Needham-Center line of commuter rail is your best bet for commuting, as as a commuter, you probably have a set schedule of arriving and departing. The station is just under 2 miles away from campus (it’s a direct shot east down 135-great plains.). The road has sidewalks and is easy to walk or bike on. The caveat is that the commuter rail only runs once an hour during rush hours, and once every two hours otherwise.
The Wellesley-Framingham line of commuter rail is seldom used by students as it is significantly farther to walk, and has more frequent disruptions/delays in service.
Both commuter rail lines originate from south station (red line connects there), and connect with the orange line at Back Bay.
If none of these arrangements suit you, I’m aware of a few professors that bike to campus from nearby towns and from as far as Cambridge.
Good luck finding housing and finding a way to get to work! I’m actually moving to London to study economics for the semester, so I’m afraid I won’t be meeting you until the spring, but Allen Downey is my advisor, so maybe I’ll hear how things are going
-Michael Ducker
miradu@miradu.com
Olin ’09