Meet halfway in Boston
For a group meeting in Boston, the fairest points are usually Park Street, Downtown Crossing or State - each links two subway lines, so most of the city reaches them with at most one change. Which is fairest depends on where everyone starts: togather compares real door-to-door times for each person and returns the spots that keep the trip even.
- The T (Red, Orange, Blue, Green lines)
- Commuter Rail
- Buses
- Cycling
- Walking
Where groups actually meet in Boston
Interchanges that work as a fair midpoint for most groups. togather will not always land on one of these - it answers for your actual starting points - but they are the ones that come up again and again.
Park Street
Red and Green lines
The crossing of the Red and Green lines on the Common, and about as central as the network gets, so a group split between the southern Red line and the western Green branches reaches it with one change at most.
Downtown Crossing
Red and Orange lines
Where the Red and Orange lines meet in the middle of downtown, which makes it the fair answer for a group spread along the north-south spine of the city rather than out to the west or the harbor.
State
Orange and Blue lines
The interchange that puts the Blue line into the mix, so it is the fair pick whenever part of the group is coming from East Boston or the airport side rather than only from the south and west.
Government Center
Green and Blue lines
Where the Green and Blue lines cross by City Hall, keeping a group weighted between the western suburbs and the harbor side even without dragging anyone through Downtown Crossing.
North Station
Green and Orange lines and Commuter Rail
The northern hub that joins the subway to the Commuter Rail, so it is the fair choice whenever someone is coming in by train from the north or the group is weighted towards Charlestown and beyond.
South Station
Red line, Silver Line and Commuter Rail
The southern gateway where the Red line meets the Commuter Rail and the Silver Line to the Seaport, so it is the fair answer for a group arriving by train or weighted towards the south and the waterfront.
Haymarket
Green and Orange lines
A second Green and Orange crossing just north of the center, useful as the fair middle for a group strung between the North End and the Orange line corridor.
How to pick a fair meeting point in Boston
Boston feels small enough that people assume anywhere downtown is fair. It often is not. The T is four lines that radiate from the center, so distance on a map tells you little: someone on the Red line in Quincy and someone on the Green line in Brighton are on opposite spokes and well over half an hour apart, while two people on the same line several stops apart are much closer in time than they look.
So the useful question is which lines a station actually joins. Park Street, Downtown Crossing and State are the core interchanges where two lines cross, which is why they answer so many group questions on their own - most of the city reaches one of them with a single change at most.
Let the group’s centre of gravity decide
The center is not automatically neutral. A group weighted towards the harbor or the airport is better served by State or Government Center, which carry the Blue line, and one arriving by train by North Station or South Station, than by a stop that adds a leg in each direction. The Green line branches matter here too: a spot two stops closer is not fairer if it sits on a branch half the group has to backtrack to reach.
togather times each person on the mode they actually use, the Commuter Rail and the walk at each end included, and returns the spots that keep the trip even across the whole group.
Add everyone’s starting point, set how each person travels, and send the result to the group chat.
Meeting halfway in Boston - questions
- Where is a fair place to meet halfway in Boston?
- Usually a subway interchange rather than a geographic midpoint - Park Street, Downtown Crossing and State each link two lines, so most of the city reaches them with one change at most. Which is fairest depends on where the group starts, and togather works it out.
- Isn't downtown always the fair answer in a small city like Boston?
- Not quite. The T is a set of lines that radiate from the center, so someone on the Red line in Quincy and someone on a Green branch in Newton can be close on a map and forty-five minutes apart in time. Central on the map is not the same as fair.
- Can it handle a group where someone drives or takes the Commuter Rail?
- Yes. Travel mode is set per person, so a Commuter Rail trip from the suburbs is timed on the train and the walk each end, while someone driving in is timed on the road. Each journey is measured on its own terms and compared in minutes.
Other cities
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