Kenmore MBTA Station – Green Line

This place is nice for a green line stop. We came here for a week this summer and used the T to get everywhere. Never had to take a taxi! We were coming back from our tour of Fenway and this seemed to be the closest stop.
No other green line stop I’ve seen actually tells you the arrival times! This feature is so great when you’re standing at the platform. I mean, I know the train’s eventually going to come, but the difference between that and actually knowing is huge and helpful. All other green line stops should have arrival time displays.
In any case our train came quickly. We were going inbound to Park St, so it didn’t matter which one. A great stop.
lPeople who complain about not being able to use the machines or figure out fares should stop complaining. If you’ve ever been to New York (went there over the summer) or San Francisco (I live in SF) you will know how the machines work. It’s like every other system really. Some people don’t even research the fares online and then they get confused at the stop. These people should read up online and then they would not struggle in this aspect.

There’s no signage to clearly explain the subway card fees or process. Horrible, horrible. We were at for different stations and saw one employee the entire time. Pathetic! Due to lack of clear signage, we ended up with three round trip tickets on their commuter rail line. Really! Thank goodness for a tour guide at the old state house who explained the whole process. … since you are woefully understaffed.

The Kenmore station is fairly new with several entrances and is overall a decent T station. It’s nice having a jumping off point for a lot of bus routes in one place. Still, there’s one reason why I can’t give it more than two stars, and it’s the way they handle the two inbound tracks.
Kenmore is the meeting point for the inbound B, C and D trains and has tracks on both sides. Unfortunately, they do nothing to indicate which train passengers should board.
For example, last week I got down to the platform and was happy to see that there was a train waiting. Superb! Sadly, the train just sat there for 5 minutes. Another train pulled up on the other track. Ok, clearly my train is waiting for that train to pass. I get off and walk across to get on the other train. The doors close on my original train and it leaves the station. I sit there another 5 minutes on the new train before finally leaving.
Next time, I get down to the platform and a train pulls up after a few minutes. I get on, and once again, it sits there in the station with the doors open. Another train pulls up 5 minutes later. Ah ha, I’m not falling for this again. I stay put. The other train, of course, goes on its merry way. Well, that sucks, but at least I should be leaving now. Lo and behold, another train pulls up on the other track. Really? Ok, well there’s now way that one’s skipping ahead too. Except yeah, that train gets on its way before my original train that I’ve been sitting on for 10 minutes.
These are just two examples of the fun that can happen going inbound at Kenmore. Also fun is the game where you get down to the platform and two trains are waiting. Guess which one will leave? It’s so much fun! Is it possible to miss 3 trains in a row? There’s only one place in Boston to find out!
As far as I can tell, there’s no way to know which train is leaving the station. I’ve tried looking down the tracks for a green light or something that would act as an indicator but it’s seems like it’s just dumb luck for travelers.

Kenmore Station is the closest T stop to Fenway Park, where the Boston Red Sox gets their game on. So if you’re headed to a game at Fenway, exit here and follow the mass of Sox garbed folk out of the train, up the escalator, through the gate, left down the hall, up the stairs, and exit left onto the sidewalk, and keep following the crowd the rest of the way to Fenway.
After the game, however, if you’re headed outbound on the Green line, forget about Kenmore Station. Take a walk instead to the first stop above ground. For instance, if you want to catch the D line, head down Brookline Avenue to the Fenway stop behind the Landmark Center, and wait among the crowd there.
Kenmore is the first underground T stop on the Green Lines, with the exception of the E line.

Red Sox fans: Get out of the way of residents. Stop being so drunk all the time. BU students: Stop chattering in the entry ways and talking about how awesome your college life is and just get to class already.
Kenmore MBTA, you serve your purpose but you would do well to figure a more efficient way at dealing with the endless amounts of traffic and the minimal amount of exits to help people along to get to where they are going. Oh how you frustrate me so… and thus… I walk.

The T comes here. Its green. It drops me off at work, and is usually crowded, because its a city train. I’m not sure why I’m reviewing the Kenmore T stop…
Oh, if you’re coming from Fenway Stadium you don’t have to cross commonwealth to get on. It can be a bit hard to find, but turn right and you’ll find it after the Eastern Standard, before you cross Kenmore Street.
And yes, the T closes a bit after midnight, so plan accordingly.

Ooooh it gets me to heaven on earth… Fenway.
So maybe it’s kinda small and very congested because maybe you shouldn’t try and get on after a game, HAH no you definitely shouldn’t.
I usually after games if were not at a bar, walk down to Back Bay, orange line. A lot easier and it’s only like a mile away. Getting on after a game is a bad joke. Don’t follow me to BB though, my secret dammit.
Now you know.

I was very dissappointed with the T in Boston. It seems like there are not enough trains and the trains that do show up are filled to capacity because they are too small.
And what kind of subway system stops running at midnight? That seems really early!
I got on at Washington Street and the stop was above ground and had to stop and every light along with the cars. It seems terribly ineffecient.

In the time it’s taken the MBTA to near completion of this silly T stop, I’ve gone from being a first-​semester sophomore to a second-​year alumni of Boston University. That’s right, my BA was both faster AND cheaper than this renovation!
The renovations are a definite improvement, and the station’s much more aesthetically pleasing than the old one inside and out. Plus, the «improved pedestrian pathways» by the bus terminal mean that crossing Kenmore Square is no longer like playing Frogger.
I really like Kenmore because you can take 3 of the 4 Green Line trains to it (B, C, D) and the 57 for backup if the B-line’s misbehaving. Plus, you can take the 65 to Shaw’s and Landmark Center if you’re too lazy to walk from the Fenway T stop, or Beth Israel if you’re sick. That being said, you have to put up with swarms of drunk and annoying Red Sox fans who try to insert old tokens into the fare gates and can’t tell inbound from outbound. The crowding is a big problem because the platforms are designed so one car of the train is loading/​unloading in a spot that’s all of three feet wide, so there is always pushing and shoving and general moshing, which is multiplied 100x right before or after a game.
For some reason, they didn’t bother to fix the excessive puddling or flooding in the entrance to the station, so definitely be prepared to be doing some tiptoe puddle-​jumping through nasty T mud puddles if it’s been raining. Oh, and that cute little garden by the bus terminal elevator is infested with rats, so watch out.

Last night I was headed to the Museum of Science via T, we were running late and ran into the station only to realize we were not sure exactly which Green line stop was closest! Science Park, right?
WELL, we went to look for a MAP of the Train stops to double check. But can you believe there was NOT ONE in the entire station! ??? Okay fine, I live here, I should probably know this, and I could check once I get on the train, no big deal, but what about the MILLIONS of tourists that come through this stop EVERY DAY! They are rebuilding this stop to be a major transportation hub with the Bus that meets the T and they can’t post a freaking MAP!
BUT they can plaster Powerade ads etc. all over the walls?
We did find a map of the outbound stops, but none of the inbound!
Le sigh… I wish the MBTA read their Unilocal reviews!

Kenmore Square T Station serves the green B, C, and D lines as well as the 8, 19, 57, 60 and 65 buses.
It has been under construction since 2005… and it’s been getting leakier and leakier. There are constant puddles… and when it rains it seems that they assign someone to try to sweep the water into drains… because the drainage doesn’t work.
I have hope, however, that it will get better. The new glass and metal bus covering is pretty hot looking and the green glass mosaics that are spreading throughout the station are really pretty.
I saw an MBTA employee chasing a gate crasher across the platform at a fast-​walk the other day. It was kind of hilarious
After a Sox game there will be hundreds of (drunk) people who don’t normally take the T swearing and trying to figure out how to operate the Chariie Card machines. The signs that say «Save Time — buy your return fare before the game.» Really mean, «In a few hours you or a hundred people standing in your way will be too drunk to manage this without step-​by-​step repeated instructions, so don’t be dumb.» No one reads those signs, though.