MBTA Bus Route 86

God help me, I got on this line to go home from Kirkland after being verbally abused by an 83 driver at Beacon and Park and being too mortified to get on the 83 again in case he showed up to scream at me again! And I still had to catch the 70 anyway, so… six of one, half dozen of the other.
Not too bad – it was on time-​ish, and at 6:00 pm there were plenty of places to sit. I grew up in Pittsburgh, the capital city of absurd nonsensical bus schedules, so the utter weirdness of it all doesn’t bother me too much, I guess? I was happy about my narrow escape from the 83… until I stopped paying attention to my surroundings and ended up having to walk all the way down the Birmingham Parkway to Western, kicking myself for trying to mix my commute up.

Want to take this bus? Here’s my advice: Go to
, pull up the schedule, print it out, and then flush it down the toilet since it’s completely useless. Next, go to the nearest stop and start walking toward your destination. Along the way, you can pass the time by counting all the «out of service» busses that pass by. On some days, you might even catch a glimpse of the elusive 86 before you’ve reached your destination on foot. If you are so lucky by all means board it, and make sure not to take it for granted, like Hally’s comet it just might be a once-​in-​a-​lifetime event. Seriously, this bus isn’t even trying. The T should be ashamed of it.

I lived off of this bus line for about six months, and seriously, there was neither rhyme nor reason to its schedule. I only used it to get to the red line at Harvard Square, and luckily there was also an 83 at the same intersection (goes to Central Square). You could get there five minutes early and see it pulling away. Or you could run out five minutes late and wait another ten or fifteen before giving up and getting on the 83 instead.
That said, if you actually do catch the bus, it – like all other rush hour lines – is packed, and they use the old buses for a lot of the inbound routes. Less seats.
For the outbound routes to Sullivan, they use newer buses, but it’s not any faster.

The MBTA 86 Bus is decent. Usually a fair number of seats, mixture of different odors, but all-​in-​all this bus travels fast between the orange, red, and green lines. The only reason I wish I could give it 3.5 stars because you will wait a while for this thing to drive down Chestnut Hill Ave and Market Street — in winter I have loss feeling in my feet. However, I can’t give it less than 3 stars because there is no way this bus is as bad as the 57 bus which is like being groped for 40 minutes while stopping at every block!

Holy shit. 10 minute bus ride from my new place in Union Sq to my office in Harvard Sq.
Thankyouverymuch86bus. com
The bus was also only about half full when I got on @ 8:30AM with plenty of sitting room. Not like the 66 bus I took once (and only once) from Brookline Village to Harvard Sq that was packed to the gills and I had to stand the entire time in terrible stop-​and-​go traffic all the way down Harvard St and Cambridge St. Yuck.

When I am waiting for a bus at a bus stop I expect it to STOP.
September 13^th is not my lucky day. The bus driver just decided I am not good enough for her bus. Well what can I say… I am bloody upset! And what makes me more upset is that I can not really complain to anybody, because MBTA does not have a customer support hot line.
So next time you are on 0643 bus route 86 at around 11:10 am going towards Sullivan station, please tell the driver she is a naughty … !!!

This bus has ruined my day on several occasions. I even missed out on a job opportunity once due to its tardiness. Unfortunately, I have to rely on it on a daily basis and am sure that others do as well. This is why I’d like to get a group of people together to do something about it! I’ve created a Facebook «page» (the link is below) and I hope to get enough people together to petition the MBTA to improve this bus line’s miserable service! JOIN MY CAUSE AND LET’S GET WHERE WE’RE GOING!
Regards,
Madeleine

When I lived between Harvard Square and Union Square I would fairly often take the 86 Bus to Sullivan Square to go to phys therapy appointments at Assembly Square Mall. My experiences then with the 86 Bus lasted almost a year and it was pretty much always the same. Didn’t matter what time of day the bus would always run late (and the schedule is less often after 10am so I’d have to get to appointments 40 min early if they were at lunch time.) The 8−10am time range the bus would be 10 – 15 minutes late or not show up at all.
I was waiting for a bus around 8:40 in the morning two winters ago and it never came, afraid I’d miss the bus if it was running late I did not go home and it was February and freezing out. The bus never came, and the next bus at 9:10ish had «Out of Service» which half the buses seem to have posted when they are headed towards Sullivan Square. I would stand an hour and a half and the bus wouldn’t show or an out of service one would drive by. In the nice weather I have walked Sullivan Square to my apartment right outside Union Square in 25 – 30 min but in the snow when a knee that you are getting phys therapy on? Not a chance.
As far as taking the 86 from Sullivan Station back to Harvard? Many times the bus would leave early even 4 – 6 minutes earlier than it was supposed to and I’d miss the bus home and have to take another to Union Square or walk.
The MBTA never returned my emails or phone calls regarding this bus route and the MIA buses (I used my cell phone to check the schedule while waiting for the bus at the stop.)

Satan himself drives this bus. PEOPLE OF BOSTON THERE IS JUST NO OTHER EXPLANATION.

Hey there, 86
I know we don’t hang out together too often, but it’s mostly because you’re really difficult to find. The map alleges you depart Harvard Square for Cleveland Circle quite regularly, but I’ve never witnessed this. Today in the soaking horizontal downpour I searched diligently in the Pit, along Brattle and even to the hotel where — impressed — I even found a sign, but to no avail. I caught the dreaded 66, instead.
Please don’t be upset. Maybe we’ll chill one day.

Good lord.
What is up with the suspension (or complete lack thereof) on this bus?
Nice to know I need a friggen sports bra in order to ride this bus from now on.
Ladies beware lest you end up looking like Saggy McSaggerson within a few weeks of regular patronage.

This is an important line which travels faster then green line. On a good day.
But this bus mostly has bad days, and it is:
–late
–doesn’t show up at all
–crowded
But then there are those magic times when everything goes according to plan, and GASP, you arrive at your destination on time. Im torn.

Ah, MBTA 86. You rarely come on time, and the first time I took you we went the wrong way, because you never seem to have signs up. Waiting nearly 50 minutes for you to show up when I had to go less than 4 blocks was heartbreaking (I had heavy furniture, k?).
But today! Today you get a gold star. Specifically operator 1470, who waited patiently for me to load my bike onto the rack, which I had never done before, and was even kind enough to suggest I turn it around as I had put it on backwards. When I got to my destination, she again patiently waited for me to get it off and put it back up, all with a smile on her face. Not to mention, you were delightfully on time and pulled up mere minutes after I got to the stop.
Many thanks to you, dear lady, and to the 86 line!

This bus takes me to Cambridge faster than the green line ever could. I work in Kendall Square and live near Cleveland Circle so it’s a difficult commute. The green line B + redline takes 45 – 50 minutes and the 86 + red line to kendall takes about 35 minutes. To go to Harvard Square takes 15 minutes. However, I never take this home. After the few times I tried it in late summer ’08 I realized that it never comes on time. Also, the frequency drops to 2 per hour after 6:30pm. So if you’re okay with waiting half an hour, then that’s fine. But Boston is cold and I’m happy going through Back Bay and Allston at night on the Green Line.
The mornings are great, very punctual. I just wish the frequency was more than 2 – 3 per hour in the 9am to 11am range. The crowd is students, immigrants, and professionals, with not many sketchy characters. The drive to Harvard is actually pretty relaxing and quick. The other good thing about taking it into Harvard is that it goes into the terminal with the redline, so it’s a quick transfer without having to face the weather. Coming home you gotta wait outside across from Chahlie’s Kitchen.

This bus has been on time every day the past 3 weeks, regardless of time of day. I am shocked and amazed — and pissed that I totally just jinxed it, didn’t I?
DAMN

Gets me from point A to point B quickly. That’s what it’s there for, right?
Nice drivers, again; speedy. Usually on time, which is huge to me.
I love Boston’s T setup. At first I was petrified, but then it took no longer than a day to figure out the system.
Coming from a place with no more than one taxi for the 30 mile area surrounding, this is huge.
So thanks public trans once again!
*WINK!*

I used to live on this bus line.
It sucked.
I’m about to live on this bus line again.
I’m about to cry.
Luckily, there are two other busses that stop in front of my [hopefully] new place that are apparently dependable, which is good because the 86 shows up when it damn well feels like it, if it feels like it at all. The drivers are rude, the fellow passengers are pissed (probably because they had to wait the same two hours i did for this POS to show up), and if you don’t get stuck in traffic it’s a miracle.
Seriously, walk before you take the 86, you’ll get there faster and you might even burn off a few of the donuts you’ve already eaten waiting for this pathetic excuse for mass transit to show up.
hey 86– YOU SUCK

I like you better than the 66 even though, you let me out one stop before my 66 does… I just like you a lil better.

The 86 gets to me Harvard Square in half the time it takes the green/​red lines. However, it negates this by running sporadically. The drivers are usually really friendly, however!
I love it, but I don’t. Also, it kinda smells!

As far as exercises in pure undiluted exasperation go, waiting for the eternally tardy 86 is a nearly zenlike experience. It’s frustration frustrated, and then raised to the frustrated-​th degree. Godot is more punctual than you, Bus Route 86.
And yet, I cannot give you a withering 1 star review, if only because you do spare me the horrorshow that is the claustrophobic crawl of the 70. Going up one stop to Harvard and waiting 45 minutes for a bus which may or may not ever come is totally worth the extra time, compared to hellride that awaits in Central.
Plus, it has helped me immeasurably hone my patience to something approaching godly.
And plus, it affords me a good number of LOLz doing some observational work on Hipsters waiting for the 66 at the same bus stop, without having to actually get on the 66 with them.
Bus Route 86: you do not fail at life, but only barely…