One of the drawbacks of cruising is the high prices of the excursion trip offered by Cruise Line. It certainly is easier to take one booking through them but you can do very well if you make some of your own arrangements. One case in point was our “excursion” to the Boston Commons. The ship was offering a shuttle bus to the Commons from the pier at $16 a person round trip. However, 2 blocks from the pier is the Boston MTA which takes you to downtown Boston (and I guess just about anywhere in Boston) for we think is $4 round trip. And as it turns out, you can get it even cheaper. More on that later.
So, the six of us leave the ship and head the 2 blocks towards the MTA stop. This line to the pier is relatively new and they use buses but at some point they go underground and ride in tunnels only accessed by the same buses with no other traffic.
Initially, we had no idea how much the fare was or whether we needed “exact change”. So, when the bus stopped, we asked about the fare. The MTA Bus Driver, fresh from her breakfast of nasty pills, said “Two Dollars!”
I asked nicely, “Is it exact change?”
She replied, “Two Dollars!”
Thinking that maybe she would be more comfortable with the soothing voice of a woman, Sue asked, “Exact Change?”
She replied, “Two Dollars!”
A third time she was asked about exact change but now she was growing increasingly hostile. “TWO DOLLARS!!”, she sneered.
The MTA Bus Driver had lost what little cool she had and took a different tactic, “I’m late, either get on or wait for the next bus!”
We got on. Amazingly, I put 2 fives and 2 ones in the slot for the fare. Unbelievable. Who could have guessed? The fare was two dollars. Luckily, I had exact change.
When we finally reached Park Street which is our exit for the Boston Common, we bought a return ticket and as it turns out it was only $10.20 for 6 rides. This time we were helped by an MTA employee who was very nice. I guess we can conclude that half the MTA workers are nice. I think.
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