or....         NOT. REALLY.

Maybe a slightly misleading title since I love most things about Boston and could not think of a better place to live.  However, there are a few things I hate, all from the transportation arena.

I was walking out of a meeting today at City Hall and thought "Hey, why don't I just take the MBTA instead of a cab?".  You know - trying to do my part for the environment, etc. I had sworn off "the T" a few years ago after some bad experiences but figured why not give it another shot today.  Bad move. 

I walked down to the Green Line at Haymarket to ride the 5 stops to my office in the Back Bay and after taking 8-9 minutes to decifer if I was going "inbound" or "outbound" (from downtown isn't everything "outbound"?), I hopped on the next train.  We get to the next stop and the conducter says, "This train is being help up, please be patient."  Ok.  So we wait 5 minutes for no apparent reason then finally proceed to the next stop.  Same thing happens.  This time we are waiting for an eternity (waiting on a hot, crowded train, eternity comes fast...) and then the conducter says, "We are going to be held up a bit longer so if you would like to get off and board the next train on the other tracks, please do so."  Now we have a stampede.  Every passenger jumps off, the elderly and children are trampled I'm sure, and we all go running over to the other train.   Not enough room of course.  As that train screaches away without me, I am getting really &*$#ing mad.  My trip was a total of FIVE stops on the green line (should be eight minutes).  So far two stops took nearly 30 minutes!

No way I was waiting for my original train (again), so I decide to leave the subway and just walk the rest of the way.  I got some (much needed) execise, got to walk through the Public Garden (one of the things I LOVE about Boston), and got to experience a nice, sunny afternoon outside.  Waste of time?  Possibly.  But a relaxing experience nonetheless.

So in no particular order, the things I hate about Boston:

1. Logan Airport - worst airport in America

2. The MBTA - enough said above

3. Boston taxis - never A/C when you want it, drivers on the cell phone (EVERY time), old cars, and reckless driving over the most indirect routes possible

I cringe every time I have a relocating customer flying in or hear visitors talking about their transportation choices.  I'm used to it by now, but having one of the most expensive subway systems and one of the most expensive taxi fleets, without good service to show for it, I don't think Boston could make a worse first impression for people just arriving in the city.

Basically - if you are relocating to Boston - don't say I didn't warn you!