davis_square | Is Google Maps trying to lure me to my death?

siderea posting in

I live in the Greater Davis Square Area, and I have jury duty in a few weeks at the Somerville District Court, on Fellsway. I am trying to figure out how best to get there on the T, and mbta.com and maps.google.com are giving me radically different information.

According to the MBTA Trip Planner, this trip is going to take me about an hour. I walk to Davis Square and catch any a variety of buses (depending on how early I want to arrive) which by way of Sullivan Station and sometimes a transfer, will drop me off on the same side of RT 93 as the courthouse.

According to Google Maps, I can make the trip in under forty minutes, by taking the 89 bus to Foss Park, and then walking along McGrath Highway, and crossing RT 93. This route involves crossing two highway ramps on foot and using the McGrath Highway underpass. I zoomed in with with satellite view, and, yeah, there are white pedestrian-crossing lines on the pavement. Street view doesn't go under the highway.

I have no personal familiarity with the area. Does anybody who has made this pilgrimage before know if the Google Maps route is actually safe for pedestrians?

P.S. The court's own web page just says "Take the #92", which is apparently completely unhelpful.

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From:

thespian.livejournal.com

take the 90 from Davis Square, through Sullivan but not all the way to Wellington. it'll drop you off in front of the Bed Bath and Beyond in Assembly Square. The courtyard is basically directly behind it; turn to either direction (left to the K-Mart is slightly shorter), and walk around the building. Takes about 5 minutes.

(to clarify: the bus takes about 20 minutes. the walking about 5. Unless you do it by way of AC Moore and the Christmas Tree Shops).

Edited Date: 2010-09-08 09:36 pm (UTC)

From:

thespian.livejournal.com

google maps, I should note, has some weird things where I have frequently had to pin the route differently to get the most efficient route (especially while walking). MBTA is more irritating because they *always* seem to believe that a 4 minute walk trumps a 6 minute walk, even when the slightly longer walk is 40 minutes less travel time, or fewer transfers, or whatever. there *are* bus stops closer to the courtyard (I had a hearing there 3 weeks ago), but they're all much fussier trips.

(btw, when you get there, they will tell you to put your cell phone in the car, and they'll get very pissy with you if you say you don't have one. They *do* have envelopes that security will hold onto if you ask them to, but they don't like doing it and they will never volunteer the envelopes. So when you initially ask, they will hem and haw. Make sure you insist and they'll bring it out. )

From:

siderea

(btw, when you get there, they will tell you to put your cell phone in the car, and they'll get very pissy with you if you say you don't have one. They *do* have envelopes that security will hold onto if you ask them to, but they don't like doing it and they will never volunteer the envelopes. So when you initially ask, they will hem and haw. Make sure you insist and they'll bring it out. )

Very useful to know, thank you! I was actually going to ask that next. Also: do they let laptops in? Is there wifi?

Is Google Maps trying to lure me to my death?

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