Downtown Boston

Downtown Boston is a walking city.

That can make drivers mad. But it’s a joy for walkers, who have time to see and experience evidence of the city’s historic past and modern present. Downtown distances are not far; it’s a compact city.

There are other reasons why Boston is made for walking. Parking can be difficult and expensive. The old, maze-like streets can be a puzzle. And a lot of Boston drivers are crazy, or drive that way.

The fascinating old streets weren’t planned; they meander. There’s no city-wide grid system, as in newer places like Chicago. Historians say Boston’s footpaths were worn into colonial dirt by livestock. Roadways were built on the paths that cattle and sheep walked.

Car-bound visitors can fight history and suffer or they can get out and enjoy Boston’s heritage up close. Cars work in the suburbs, where they’re almost an essential, and in Boston’s outer neighborhoods. But a car can be a burden in downtown Boston, which is where most visitors want to go.

And many visitors already want to walk the red-brick Freedom Trail, the winding, free trail from Boston Common to the Bunker Hill monument in Charlestown.

“Boston is absolutely a walking city,” said Mary Fichtner, director of the non-profit Boston By Foot historical and architectural tours.

“It’s a small city.  And there’s an interesting mix of historic architecture and eclectic places that you’ll experience better on foot.”
 
“And it’s often faster to walk in Boston than to drive. That’s just the way the small streets are laid out. They’re antiquated, curving cow paths, especially around Faneuil Hall, that don’t go where you need to go.”

An exception is the Back Bay neighborhood, which was created by filling in Charles River land in the 1800s and where streets have a grid pattern, she said.

There’s less need for a car in Boston because the T – the subway, bus and suburban-commuter train system – is largely reliable, relatively inexpensive and available. The subway fare is $2, or $1.70 with a Charley Card. Cambridge locations like Harvard Square and MIT are on the Red Line subway. And there are speedy water taxies, from places like Long Wharf by the New England Aquarium.

Metered on-street parking -- when you can find a space – costs a quarter for 15 minutes [free on Sundays]. Non-metered parking is scarce, especially where resident-only permit parking is in play.

Restrictions, congestion and resident-only parking permits are in force in much of the Back Bay, Beacon Hill, the North End, Symphony, Chinatown, Fenway, Longwood, Charlestown and the South End. the Waterfront, chic Newbury Street and Faneuil Hall market. And anything touching the Rose Kennedy Greenway is usually a parking/driving headache.

If you’re driving to Boston anyway, consider stashing the car at a close-in hotel in Brookline, Cambridge, East Boston or Somerville. And if there’s a T station nearby, you’re in luck.

HelloBoston Tip: You can get a free discount-coupon book from the MBTA web site. It includes offers from restaurants, Faneuil Hall market stores, New England Aquarium, Boston By Foot walking tours, Boston Duck Tours, Cityview Trolley Tours and Boston Harbor Cruises’ catamaran, whale watch or Codzilla thrill-boat ride.

- by Dan Sheridan, Boston Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)

Dan Sheridan

Dan Sheridan is an editor, reporter and media specialist with a background in newspapers, magazines and publishing. He has reported from Tokyo, Singapore and Bangkok and wrote Access Boston, the popular guidebook, from 2002 to 2008.