Easiest commute to Cambridge from southern NH (Nashua, Salem, etc.)

[vanguardist]

I would like to get the opinion of Cambridge/Boston commuters.

Of course, we want to be in NH so I'd appreciate some real life reports on what commuting is actually like. For example, Google Maps says it will take about 45m to get from the middle of Nashua to west Cambridge (think Wyeth, right next to Alewife station). Yet what about traffic? Will it always be about an hour? Then there is also the various bus companies. The disadvantage there is that they end up costing about $4000 a year in bus tickets and instead of being 45-60 minutes (from Nashua, again), it's more than an hour.

Another idea would be to take the Lowell train. So that would involve driving from Nashua to the Lowell line, then the Green line to Red and then on to Alewife. Pretty bad. That means leaving home at 7am or something like that. Driving would be pretty long too. Same with buses, not to mention the thousands of dollars in bus fees.

A similar situation seems to apply if we lived in, say, Salem. The nearest train would be the one leaving Methuen (or maybe even Haverhill). That involves driving to the station and then two more rides after getting into the Boston area.

Any tips on what would be the fastest (or easiest) way to get to the (west) Cambridge area from NH?

[Humorrhoid]

By car is route 2, Alewife.

By public transport is Boston Xpress to South end & take the T.

[djbridgeland]

Any comments on commuting to Burlington, MA?  Have an interview their next week and just curious how commutable it is from Manchester?  I notice that the closest train station is Woburn / Andersonville because I'm not to crazy about driving in Mass. Is there a bus route from their that will take me to Burlington close to Fourth Ave - assuming that is a downtown area?   

[Nat F]

I commuted from Merrimack to Burlington (Network Dr, very near 4th ave) for almost 3 years.  I can't tell you an current exact time because I was doing the commute while Rt 3 was being widened from there to the border.  At the time rush hour was brutal, but it was only two lanes.  I stopped working there slightly before work completed on Rt 3.  These days I'd expect the commute to take about 40 minutes for me, with the worst of it being right at Exit 26 in Burlington if the cars merging onto 128 backed up that far.

I believe SmarTraveler's usual estimate is 21 minutes from the Rt 3/128 interchange to the NH border, changing to about 28 minutes in traffic.  Best bet is to check out this web site for a few days during your commute hours.
http://www.smartraveler.com/scripts/bostraffic.asp?index=5&city=bos&cityname=Boston

It's not worth it to take a train, the closest station to Manchester is Lowell.  In the time it takes to get to the train station in Lowell, park and get to the track you could be at 4th Ave in Burlington.  Add on the time to get from Lowell to Woburn by train (20 min) and then Woburn to 4th Ave by bus and it's a huge waste of time.  I believe the Lowell RTA also has a bus route to Burlington directly from Lowell, but again it won't be a time saver and you'll still need to get to Lowell.  The furthest north the LRTA's routes go is the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua.

-Nat

[Ragnar76]

It depends on the job, the company, and your boss but I've been able to negotiate coming in very early and heading home at around 3:30 or 4. This takes the traffic out of the equation and probably shaves off 15-20 minutes from each trip.

Burlington is a very short, simple commute from Nashua. If you get the job, I'd think the extra 20 miles from Manchester would get old.