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Porter Square T Station - Red Line
Rating Details »
Category: Public Transportation [Edit]
Neighborhood: Porter Square868 Somervilie Ave
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 222-3200
- Nearest Transit:
-
Porter (Red)
18 reviews for Porter Square T Station - Red Line
Judging this station by its cover.
A lot of the reviews of Porter T focus on the extent of the descent/ ascension. However, I think the outside of this station can be remarkable also. No, not for the giant spinny red thingy.
The MBTA is Lord and Master of a long stretch of Somerville Ave. that runs down from the Porter T along the Commuter rail. And, my, but was I surprised at how dilligently their serfs cleaned it up after our last double-header of snowstorms! There was pure, honest-to-God pavement, and it was three feet wide if it was an inch. It was beautiful. The cleanest piece of sidewalk my hulking snow boots had contact with for days.
Most stairs and biggest escalator I've EVER seen! Win!
The elevator has the condensed smell of urine from a hundred homeless people. Take the escalator.
Gotta love the stairway!
But Red LIne trains could be updated
I
Ran
The
Entire
Porter
Square
Stairs
With
Pictures
And
Video
to
Prove
It! (peep the pix)
1 Previous Review: Show all »
-
4/3/2008
Get a refund on your Abs & Buns of Steel and Billy Blanks Tae Bo DVDs if you walk these… Read more »
5 stars for being bad ass.
Escalators are for pussies! Take the stairs. Better yet, carry your 50 pound cruiser bicycle up the stairs with you! Scare your fellow commuter! Make huffing sounds while you lug your steel framed beater up that beast! Repeat!
BUNS OF FUCKING STEEL!!!
Fine print: Buns of soft, pliable dough... Sure, I carried my bike up those stairs once, but could barely walk the next day. But in my head, I'm all kinds of hardcore.
This T stop is like climbing up & down the side of an Aztec temple with some serious stair action! And watching people shoot down the escalator during the morning commute is great! Until of course you get pushed aside by that asshole who has a backpack the size of texas and no manners or concerns for other people as he/she barricades down the way.
Great station, Great workout for those that are up to it!
So THIS is where Kenny's profile picture comes from.
Automatic 5 stars.
WHOA STAIRS.
The T could probably make some money filming riders trying to run down those steps after "TRAIN APPROACHING" announcements are made. It takes like 20 minutes to walk down those things--fat chance you'll make it.
A cool station, even if it feels like you're marching yourself down to hell. I believe I spotted Satan. Or a hobo. Either or.
I have buns of steel - thank you Porter Square T station and your constantly out of order escalators.
Rock.
Now let me start off by saying that this should not be a destination for a date, but would be a fantastic place to start one off (if you ignore the pee smell that it sometimes has. Urine is the only thing holding this golden nugget back from a perfect score.)
At my last count the Porter Sq. T station had 4 commissioned art installations, one funky fake Asian paraphernalia vendor, and often a live musician or two. If you can't find something to talk about amidst all of this stimuli, you should part ways amiably and save yourself what is sure to be a painfully awkward night filled with strained and stunted conversation.
And you will have time to talk. The Porter T station has an unusually deep set of escalators spanning almost half the length of a football field (143 feet) and descending three levels. Riding the escalator alone may take you 4 to 5 minutes. (note: you may want to take a cab home because after a few drinks a vertigo induced misstep may be lethal for you and your date.)
If you do run into a lull in the small talk my suggestion would be to point out the casts of the knit hippopotamus and horse mittens, then when you reach the tracks, scream into the strange red periscope like sound tubes and startle the outbound passengers.
Since moving to Porter Square last June, I am happy to say I have only taken the escalator up two times. I walk this every evening (117 stairs). I also see no buns of steel on myself, but at least it makes me feel better when I don't go to the gym.
Down is another story. I almost had vertigo the first time I looked down those stairs. I've gotten past that now, and to give that stop credit, if you can make it in the gates as they say the next train is approaching (Braintree or Ashmont - not Alewife), you can totally get all the way down before it gets there.
They've also turned the escalator off on me as I'm going down. Doesn't that seem a bit dangerous? People definitely lurched, and if I hadn't had a hand hovering over the handrail, I could have seen myself tumbling down those neverending stairs.... Think about safety MBTA. Way to go.
Thank goodness they have more than one escalator going up in this station, since I'm pretty sure that if they had no operational upwards escalators, there would be a bloody rampage downstairs. I don't have asthma and I often feel like borrowing a friend's inhaler when I walk up these things, but maybe that's just cos I'm not fit enough. These stairs are exactly the type that would give you those buns of hard rock steel to wear the tighest of tight pants.
Train-wise, it's fine, but it can get pretty cold waiting for the commuter rail out there. Thankfully I've never really done that often, although I'd like to say how irritating it was once when the construction they had going on out there blew black tar-like stuff onto my gorgeous new (at the time) blue-grey trousers, ruined forever. Growl.
The stairs give me a really bad case of vertigo. It drive me nuts how the handrail moves at a slower pace than the stairs part of the escalator, so I constantly have to keep swooping my arm up again. So, considering the whole scary stairs situation, you can understand why they've put the little metal molds of gloves and whatnot all along the metally bits between the handrails of the escalator. At first I thought it was just a cute 'unique' touch, but then I realized: nope, these things are here to discourage people from sliding down the escalators' smoother parts, and could whack the beejeezus out of peoples' sensitive bits. Big Ouch. Don't try it, no matter how "Jackass" it might make you feel. I certainly won't anyway.
This is the area's best secret cheap gym. I mean, what stair master could ever be as effective as the epic walk up the Porter steps? It's an intense climb that can be both daunting and challenging, as well as crazy. And going down is an adventure in and of itself, with the descent down into the wonder that is the Red Line.
The bronzed gloves are a nice and interesting touch as well, as I would assume that they are a representation of the work that went into the station, or someone's love of bronzing stuff. And the train paintings are cool too.
Furthermore, this is a combination Red Line/Commuter Rail station, so it does have one of those convenience store-type places all the kids like.
(I should point out that I almost accidentally posted this review on the Watch Shop at Porter Square page... I was trying to figure out why an article on the T station would talk about watches, and then was like, wait a minute?! I've got the wrong page... I just thought I'd mention that).
I refuse to look up or down while going up or down the stairs/escalator. I'm afraid of heights, and I have a mild case of vertigo and the last thing I need is to fall
all
the
way
down
those
stairs.
I also grip the handrail like a fat kid holding on to his candy. I don't care the homeless guy just puked all over it...
But it's still better than the Green Line ::sigh::
Boasting the most gargantuous escalator on the planet, Porter Square is the ultimate climacophobe's nightmare. If you can overcome the descent to the center of the earth, you'll understand why you've gone so far down... You've entered Super Mario Brother's underground hidden pipe world. Giant pipes, straight out of the the 80's classic NES game, transcend the two levels of this station. I regret to report, though, that these pipes are no longer operational, and won't warp you from on floor to the next. I hear they eliminated that option back when Mario and Luigi discovered the Racoon Suit. Oh well, I'd rather fly anyway.
Umm...why would you rate a subway station? Yet here I am. Chiming in, because Porter Square is unique in that it has what I call the "descent into the 18 levels of hell". The escalators feel THAT steep. Yep. Amusing. That's all I have to say, because otherwise it's just a plain ol' smelly T station (admittedly less smelly and dilapidated compared to others, if that's you're thing...).
The only time I've had to walk up the stairs was when I was chasing after my friend. Of course it was her first time there and it didn't occur to her that taking the escalator would have been more convenient and quicker.
But even when I'm on the escalators, I imagine myself falling down. And by the time my body reaches the bottom, I would've already died.
It's that scary to me. And it's a shame that it's the only subway station near Porter Exchange. Gives me a fright before I head over there to eat.
