MBTA Bus Route 1

Nothing either way between harvard and central squares for more than 30 minutes at 2 o’clock on a Friday afternoon?

Don’t worry. You don’t get lurching junkies and lockdowns for police arrests every day on this bus. Only occasionally. It’s more likely that you’ll get stuck in traffic on Mass Ave between, say, Comm Ave and Huntington and have to wait, wait, and wait.
Get on at one of the end points (Harvard and Dudley) if you want a seat.
Tends to bunch. A lot.
But there are a lot of them.

The bus shows up randomly. It says every ten minutes. But then you wait half an hour and 3 show up at the same time… that is NOT the same thing as every ten minutes MBTA! That is every 30 minutes and now I’m late to work.

I hate the 1 bus.
I hate the 1 bus.
I hate the 1 bus.
I hate the 1 bus.
The 1 bus sounds too good to be true, and that’s because it is. A bus route that will take you where the Red Line woefully misses — Harvard Square to Back Bay? Is this my chance to get out of the Cambridge bubble to finally explore the city? Do some shopping? Check out the cool restaurants and architecture in Back Bay?
No.
This IS, however, your chance to wait 30 minutes in the cold and snow as two, three, four packed 1 busses whizz past by you, not even bothering to stop, even when you’re the only single one person at the bus stop.
It is also your chance to listen to ten different people scream over each other on their phones, while someone’s grocery bag spills all over the bus and wacks you on the feet, all the while having the bus stop literally every 100 feet. On the weekend, human capacity is halved because everyone tries to get one with massive piles of shopping bags from Newbury and Copley.
I had such high hopes for you, 1 bus. You could have been #1 in my heart, but instead you’re #1 in my misery.

This bus is insane. There’s really no other way to put it. Insane good, and insane bad.
But it’s also wicked convenient, it runs really, REALLY often, especially during rush hour, and is a great and faster alternative to taking the T. Sometimes. Depending on the time of day. I take it pretty frequently during the evening rush hour from Hynes to Harvard Square and the traffic isn’t too terrible most of the time. But it’s almost always packed, and there’s the occasional oddball who’s talking to himself, but hey, that’s public transportation for ya.
I highly recommend downloading the CatchTheBus app, if you take this or any of the other MBTA buses. You’ll never be stuck waiting for the bus outside in the cold again, because it’s exceptionally accurate. Wait inside until a minute or two before it’s supposed to arrive, and you’ll be fine.
Oh, one more thing — take a good look at your seat before you sit down (that is, if there is even a seat available). Chances are high that you will find some spilled water, coffee, or some other unknown substance awaiting you. Or chewed gum. Or all of the above. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

This is/​was my primary mode of transportation when I first moved to Cambridge. It conveniently got me between work school and home while I had all 3. Now I have a different job, and I’m not in school anymore so I’m not as fortunate to take the bus as often as I used to. However, compared to the trains, I’m looking at you RED LINE, this bus isn’t so bad.
The service has gotten a bit better in the past year which is a great improvement, especially for weekend service when I used to be able to walk from Boylston street to Central Square in an hour and still make it before any bus ever got to the stop. That happened oh so frequently last year. Don’t get my wrong though, the trip along Mass Ave. is beautiful at the right time of the year. During the blistering cold of the winter months, not so much.
But this weekend #1 was old reliable. I checked my phone for the schedule and each bus came right on time. Even better the buses were only about 11 minutes apart when I missed one and had to wait for the next. Now if they could only transfer that improved efficiency to their trains the MBTA might actually deserve that fair hike we’re all paying more for the same crap service. Good for you Route #1, may you be a shining example of improvement to the rest of your oh so shitty fleet.

Every single negative review of this bus is true. It’s dirty, crowded, stops too often, and is generally packed with people I do not like (I’m looking at you, dude with his backpack on a seat during rush hour, and you, lady fighting with the bus driver about how close to the line you can stand). Also, it would be great if they could run the buses close enough to schedule to avoid two of them coming literally right behind each other.
HOWEVER. The #1 bus is the cheapest, most convenient way for my car-​free self to get from home in the Back Bay to Central and Harvard Squares and the South End. Moreover, it’s an easy walk from the #1’s stops to Kendall Square. When I have to get to that area and time is of the essence, there’s no better solution than the #1.
If you have a smart phone, I highly, highly recommend you download the CatchTheBus app to track the #1. It’s pretty accurate and will help you minimize your time hanging at bus stops.

Is there ever any schedule?
Did a train of 3 just pass?
Did you have to wait an hour?
Now you’re late to work or class
You say…
1 bus
One ride
When I’m stuck in Boston
On the Roxbury side
1 bus, give them dirty stares
When they pay with nickels
Pay with nickels
Did it blow right past you?
Leave you jumping in the air?
As you tried to hail the driver
Well, she clearly didn’t care
Now it’s…
Too late
Tonight
We missed the last one
Watched it drive out of sight
The 1, well it screwed us again
We’ll have to
Carry each other
Carry each other
Home…
There’s a crazy woman screaming
At the homeless man in back
And it smelled a lot like methane
But the windows wouldn’t crack
Do you need 3 seats?
Hey, you’re on my thigh
Half of the people here
Are drunk or high
A quarter mile took 80
Minutes to drive
I should be grateful
That we made it alive
Nextbus says it’s coming
Says it’s on its way
Nextbus says it’s coming
Says it’s on its way
But the sign read «Out of Service»
And I began to weep
’Cause I can’t keep holding out
When it’s 12 degrees
I’m getting hypothermia
1 bus
One ride
I wait near Harvard
At the roadside
1 bus
My daily dose of pure cheer
I’d sell my left arm
For a ride on Paul Revere
1 bus
Why we live in pain
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other

Erratic and questionable — sums up the 1 line pretty well. It’s vital to check NextBus and be ready to adjust accordingly b/​c the bus often comes way ahead of schedule. As for the ride itself, it can be a complete sh*t show during peak hours with tons of people coming on/​off at nearly every stop and oftentimes being (for the lack of a better word) dicks about moving in and making room for others. As for the questionable part, shady characters get on here pretty regularly so just be aware.

Often late, often crowded, frequently full of drama and sketchiness… still, it’s a necessary evil to get from Cambridge to the South End, and parts in between, without having to ride in town then out again.

In addition to my ‘open letter’ review, I want to say this about the #1:
Whyyy does it have SO MANY STOPS? Central Square, Sydney St, Landsdowne St, Albany Street… REALLY? (and it does this from Harvard to DUDLEY?)
FYI– traffic on Mass Ave SUCKS BALLS at evening rush hour, so if you really just want to get to Hynes (from Central or EVEN Harvard… probably even the opposite way from the Mass Ave station area on the orange line)– WALK.
As for unreliability, i’ve learned
(unless you can download the mbta app on your phone– I can’t!) IS YOUR BEST BEST BEST BEST BEST BEST BEST FRIEND EVER.

Hell on wheels and I’m not talking about the roller derby/​sons of anarchy/​railroad boys/​tour de France fun kind of hell on wheels. No, I imagine that the deepest and darkest level of hell might be akin to riding the number 1 bus all the time. It’s always crowded, loud, and obnoxious. Baby carriages fly everywhere and you need to listen to that annoying dude proclaim «Route 1-​Dudley Station» over and over again.
The worst part? The bus stops every single block. Every. single. block. Boston is a city facing a very serious obesity epidemic and I do not understand why the good folk of Boston can’t walk just one more block. Ridiculous. Stop and go. Stop and go. There goes my lunch.
My bus ride is always full of loud drunks hollering about complete nonsense-​it sort of reminds me the after party to a Unilocal elite event only it’s 8:10am. Speaking of Unilocal elite events, I take it back. The deepest and darkest level of hell is not riding the 1. It’s riding the 1 with a hangover. I do give props to the drivers of the good ol’ proletariat chariot-​they may be in purgatory but they are handling it with a smile.
I dare you to search my reviews and find one review with toilet humor. I am way too high brow for that sort of thing, but I assure you the number 1 bus is appropriately named-​it is downright pissy. (and smells like it too)

The person responsible for scheduling the #1 bus appears to have mental capacities equivalent to an infected pustule resected from Sarah Palin’s anus.
There is no other explanation for the fact that one can walk along Mass Ave, during peak hours, from Harrison Ave in the South End clear across the Charles River (over 1.5 miles) without being passed by one single measly bus. But you’ll probably see over a dozen buses passing in the opposite direction. In fact, it’s not uncommon to see caravans of 3 – 4 buses at a time. They must be going to some bus drivers rally.

It may be kind of a moot point to review a bus line, but I think it’s funny. People say– then walk, or get a limo, or pay to drive, etc. Sometimes, you don’t have an option.
Then again, I have found myself searching for other options after taking this bus fairly regularly. I thought the T was bad until I took the bus. I thought the 66 was bad, until I took the 1. From Harvard square, I have started taking the Red, to the Orange, and walking. There are far fewer crackheads this way.
It’s a very slow bus route with a lot of stops. Because it’s travelling down Mass. Ave, it is constantly subject to traffic. The worst thing about the bus is that you still sit in traffic.
The only plus side is that there are entertaining people on the 1 route. Scary, entertaining people.

I don’t understand the diatribes against this bus line. Yes, it was late when I took it from Columbus and Mass all the way back to Harvard after an evening with old friends in the South End. But it went fast, the bus driver was courteous, and the trip was totally uneventful.
As to the clientele, it was a mix. College kids, graduate students, adults, and a few bums. Hey, it’s a bus. If you want a private limo, hire one. I can’t complain at all about this trip. And yes, I sanitize my hands every time I leap off a bus. Whether the 1, the 3, or the sterile DC Metro, riding in public transportation is taking a trip inside a Petri Dish. Still more responsible than driving, though.

The #1 Bus has a purpose: if you are at Berklee and you need to get up to Harvard, it’s probably more convenient than taking the Green to the Red. Beyond that…
One of the major problems of the #1 bus is that it’s on a high traffic road. Massachusetts Avenue doesn’t lend itself well to traffic. It’s small and it’s a major roadway. The Mass Ave bridge, while nice to walk across, is terrible when it comes to traffic. Hence, major delays on the #1, overcrowded buses of people trying to get from Hynes to Harvard or Central (or vice versa), and just utter chaos. Buses immediately follow other buses, and it becomes harder and harder to get on.
Then, there’s the colorful people. My personal favorite was a gentleman who continued to inform me of his interest in John Grisham simply because I was reading a book. And he’s just one of the many colorful characters you may encounter.
So if you’re looking for an interesting experience, the #1 is fascinating. If you’re looking to get somewhere, well, um, yeah.

A fine system for testing the efficacy of a bus: If you can walk the distance of your commute without even seeing a bus traveling along that route, that bus line is not efficient.
That said, I have made the walk down Mass Ave a few times without seeing a bus. A couple times, I’ve managed to get really lucky and have the bus magically appear right when I got to my stop.
However there is one remaining problem with the #1 Bus. It seems to make EVERY DESIGNATED STOP AT EVERY INTERSECTION, and pretty much is about as fast as walking…

There are some things about this town I’ve never figured out. One is that «Live Chickens Fresh Killed» sign on Cambridge Street. One is the signs at Foodmaster on Beacon Street (see Foodmaster review). And one is the #1 bus.
It’s the NUMBER ONE bus, for God’s sake. This bus is THE bus. It should run regularly and efficiently. But more often than not, I stand on Mass Ave on a cold and/​or rainy day and I wait — 10 minutes, 15 minutes — and when the #1 comes, it comes with another #1 (are they travelling in packs these days?!) and one is totally full with angry, disgruntled riders, and the other is completely empty (because it cruises two minutes behind the full one).
With the exception of the much-​loathed #83 bus, which until I got a car was my sole transportation from Inman to Porter and made me want to cry, I think the busses in this town are pretty good. But this #1 situation, it’s gotta be fixed.

This is a very central and important bus line, I just cant figure out why oh why MBTA cant it come on time, or at least every 10 min or so? Why MBTA, why??? Why do they come in threes and then you got to wait for at least 20 min.
Sometimes there are seats, sometimes none. Air conditioning usually works, and so does the street announcing thing. Some bus drivers are a bit rude, but not too rude.
Service needs to be a consistent and on time.

Welcome to where time stands still
No-​one leaves and no-​one will
Moon is full, never seems to change
Just labelled metally deranged
Dream the same thing every night
I see my freedom in my sight
No locked doors, no windows barred
No things to make my brain seem scarred
Sleep my friend and you will see
That dream is my reality
They keep me locked up in this cage
Can’t they see that why my brain says rage
Sanatarium
Leave me be
Sanatarium
Just leave me alone