MBTA Bus Route 9

I’ve been taking the T forever… like for-​e-​ver. Sandlot style forever.
This bus is awesome. I take it whenever I’m in Copley and want to head to the red line and vice versa. It’s easy, runs quite frequently, and it’s a popular route if you live in the Southie and work in the Back Bay. I use it as a red line connection because it seems faster than the green line to park street.
If you need a quick ride across town to Copley, definitely take this bus.

By far the easiest way to get between Back Bay and Southie, IF you time your trip correctly to the bus schedule. This is much quicker than switching between the Red and Green lines, and gives you more flexibility about where to get on and off.
This bus tends to be very, very crowded between 5 – 6 pm, so plan accordingly. It runs very frequently during rush hours, but peters down to just 2 – 3 buses per hour at off times. Fortunately the Catch The Bus app has reliable information on the next #9 so you can make the right call about subway vs. bus.
Finally, the people watching on this bus is usually fantastic. My favorite so far was watching an 8 year old boy use his mouth to eat food from a bowl like a dog. I have no idea why this was happening, but it sure helped the time pass.

Seemingly long ignored, the MBTA bus system is having a bit of a renaissance. People no longer seem scared or sketched out by the buses and instead seem to be embracing the ability to take public transportation to exactly where they’re going and in a more timely manner. The advent of live tracking apps for the bus system seems to help too.
And here, we have Southie’s top bus line (as rated by me). Running from City Point to Copley (and back) via Broadway, this is a fantastic bus for anyone living on or off of Broadway. Avoid taking the Red line to the Green line to get to Copley, the Pru, Newbury St, or anywhere in the Back Bay. Or, coming from that direction, this line is perfect for getting to the new restaurants and bars that seemingly pop up in Southie on a daily basis. Typically on time and clean, there’s no apparent reason to avoid this line.
However, I do wish the part of the South End this bus runs through didn’t feel so desolate. Rolling over the West 4^th bridge, the bus seems to cut by a forgotten part of the South End (its even more exaggerated on the way back to Southie, along the Pike). Granted, there’s probably not much the MBTA can do about that, but still. That’s probably my only gripe about this line, end to end.