MBTA Bus Route 39

For the love of god would someone PLEASE use the air conditioning?

Our driver today (midday 10÷8÷15) explained how to get from «The Avenue of the Arts» (Huntington Ave) to Faneuil Hall by going to Backbay Station (the end of the route) and taking the Orange Line. Then, when we couldn’t make the MBTA turnstile work with our Charliecards, the driver magically appeared and showed us the way through. Then, topping his already stellar service, he leaned through the barrier and reminded us to get on the train on the right-​hand platform. Outstanding!

Out of control. Great route, entertaining people, and if you’re single, this is a great place to get asked out. I’m serious. I’ve been asked out five separate times on the 39 by randos.

The busses seem to always be running on time most importantly. The bus drivers also seem extremely considerate and aware of bikers and pedestrians around them.

I love this bus route. I ride it everyday. Most bus drivers are nice but one. But we got into a consensus: he’s not mean to me and I don’t complain to the MBTA. But I understand he’s not a people person and some days he smiles at me and some days he ignores me as I pay my fare and say hi.
The buses are well kept, clean and comfortable.
My only constant complain is that they are late a whole lot. And when they’re late, you’re late to wherever your going. Doctors, bosses and people with cars don’t understand that when you try to explain it to them. They say «well, get out of your house earlier.» They say «get a schedule.» and I’m like «you’re so naïve. Those are suggestions!» But I see the light and hear angels singing whenever I hear/​see the bus coming. and every wrongdoing is forgotten.
The # 39 is my life saver!

My morning savior. I normally consider myself someone who is NOT lazy… unless it is before 9am and then all bets are off. The 39 saves me every time I don’t feel like walking up the hill to the VA hospital from the Jamaicaway. Okay, I know you’re judging me right now since I can see the VA from the bus stop but I mean, cut a girl a break. It’s the morning, I’m holding a coffee, I’ve got a lunch bag so walking up that slight incline of about .25 miles is asking for a little too much. On days when Nextbus does not say the 39 minutes is coming in 4 minutes or less I feel so disappointed. The 39 is now a part of my M-​F routine.
Now the 39 doesn’t have as many characters as the 66 (or I have not witnessed them in action) but that doesn’t mean you aren’t going to see something weird every once in awhile. For example, Friday morning I get on the bus and see a packaged snack left behind. I sit in the seat behind it and am pretty oblivious to my surroundings since my caffeine hasn’t kicked in and then I witness one of the nastiest things yet. If my eyes are correct, the man in front of me opened it, ate part of it and then handed it to another guy on the bus (I think he was homeless, so it was a kind gesture) and the guy took it and ate it in .5 seconds. Now, I was happy to see this generosity towards another person BUT I mean, where did that thing come from?! It was left behind! Yes, it appeared to be wrapped but I just couldn’t believe it – strangers are sharing food on the bus that was left behind by another stranger. Okay, maybe this isn’t as bad as I think but it seemed bad in the moment.
The 39 is empty in the AM going towards Forest Hills. However, it is PACKED after 5 pm. I also take it sometimes from the VA to downtown because it seems quicker than the Green Line but the traffic is sometimes bad. So, it can take 30 min to get from VA to Copley.
The bus drivers love to give me heart attacks in fear of my life. They speed up S. Huntinginton and then SLAM on their breaks to let you out. Really? Can’t we slow down a little?! I thought I’d go flying to my death on the bus before. Ladies & gentleman, hold on because it’s going to be a bumpy ride. Anyone over the age of 65 or can’t walk well, beware.

I’d like to know the EXACT point where the #39 STOPS being Jamaica Plain on the NORTH and on the SOUTH

Basically, I love this bus. It’s better than the E line for many reasons, most especially because it doesn’t stop inbound at the MFA and pick up 400 tourists who are paying in dollar bills that won’t go into the machine.
Have you met Wallace, one of the drivers? He’s the one with all of the Boston sports logos on the pay machine. He’s seriously the best EMPLOYEE IN THE WORLD, and it SHOCKS me he works for the state. Wallace is smart and friendly and so upbeat, it’s so nice to have someone say, «Have yourself a great day!» to you when you get on the bus, and MEAN IT.
I love this bus. If I had a car, I’d still take this bus for fun. If I had a personal driver and a Towne Car, I’d still take this bus for fun.
I also like when it makes the fast left turn from Huntington Ave onto South Huntington, and I always feel like the bus is going to tip over. What a thrill. Especially since I’d need a car to get to Six Flags for some thrills, but I don’t, because the bus is where it’s at.
And I don’t want to rip off Ally’s term, but she’s got it right about the «cool accordiny middle.»

I never thought i would be Unilocaling a bus route. I try to avoid public transportation unless it’s really bad outside — otherwise I’m on my bike. I think the MBTA knows this and makes sure I have the worst luck ever when I do end up taking the bus.
Why do I always end up waiting half an hour for this damn bus? I know it’s supposed to come every 6 – 10 minutes, sometimes it does, but too many times I’ve been either stranded somewhere along the route, or trying to get to work, and I’m forced to wait 20 – 30 minutes in the snow or rain. RUDE.

Pros:
Gets me to Forest Hills relatively quickly
Runs very frequently
Cons:
Tends to bunch up rather badly
Lots of idiots who, despite taking this bus every day, cannot seem to grasp the CharlieCard system.
A good bus with a rather annoying ridership group.

My favorite bus.
Arrives often.
Air conditioned.
Nice fabricy seats in abundance.
Cool accordiony middle.
Takes me from Mission Hill to Boylston or the other way into JP, almost always in a timely manner.
Better than the E.

The jig is up, y’all. Homegirl takes the bus.
In fact, homegirl takes the bus a lot. Like everyday. Like despite what really would be a 15 minute walk to work, I still take my 3 minute walk to the corner of Gainsborough and Huntington and wait patiently (although never long unless there’s some FREAK traffic) and sure enough my knight in shining armor (except in this case the shining armor is white and yellow) comes for me. I welcome it with open arms.
This is, hands down, the best bus around in Boston. Absolutely ideal for Northeastern students. Absolutely ideal for me. AND NOW THAT I HAVE AN IPHONE IT’S THE ONLY TWO DIGIT BUS THAT WORKS ON THE CATCH THE BUS APP.
Caps lock was needed on that. Fully worth the 99 cents I spent on that bad boy.
There is only one issue I have with the 39 so listen up… bus. Going outbound, the robot that announces the stop calls it Mass Ave/​Symphony hall… and yet every other website/​map calls it Gainsborough and Huntington. Get your shit together man. That could be confusing for some who don’t know Symphony like I do. Few do.
I can’t wait to get on it tomorrow morning. That’s how serious this relationship is. In fact I’ll go update Facebook right now.

A short History lesson
The E line use to go all the way to Forrest Hills and the Bus 39 is the MBTA’s solution for taking away the only train that ran through downtown JP.
I will admit it is a very decent Bus, but it is a poor replacement for an actual train!

Where can’t you get on the 39? Probably somewhere lame. Probably you could find a similar but cooler place in JP or Back Bay.
The 39 is the conveyance of my dreams. It gets me out of Mission Hill, it gets me walking distance to pretty much everywhere if not right at the door, there is always ample seating available because of that crazy accordion-​double-​bus thing, and best of all — I NEVER have to wait for it! It is always there, waiting to take me home, or waiting to take me on a fantastic voyage.
I hope the E line feels ashamed of itself. 39 is always picking up the slack. Despite setting a fine example right alongside it, that nogoodnick 66 bus is still incorrigible.
1−4−3, 39. 1−4−3 4R.

I am a fan of you because you run all.the.time. You are so roomy and long, and you also have two seats that face backwards. Awesome. I often leave my spot waiting for the E Line and I cross the street because wow, here you are! Coming to get me to take me to Copley!
The only negative is I sometimes feel sick on this bus. I think it’s because the air doesn’t circulate?

I’ve written three negative reviews in a row… Time for a positive one.
Bus 39 is the best bus in Boston. It’s probably the best bus I’ve ever taken in the United States. Here are a few reasons why…
It runs the course of the often crowded E-​Line on Huntington from the Pru to Heath street and then onto Jamaica Plain. Everyone takes the E, no body takes the 39.
The buses are also big, double size buses to deal with traffic going to Jamaica Plain from the E, I presume.
They run just as frequently (and later and earlier) than the E.
They go just as fast as the E on the surface.
Aaaaannd…
And you can always get a seat

A bus line that tries really, really hard to be a train. (Because the MBTA was sued for unilaterally deciding the E line would be truncated to Heath St.)
Buses often come in bunches after long stretches of nothing. This way you end up squeezing into one bus for the ride downtown while two empty buses pass you. Woohoo!
There are a ridiculous number of closely-​spaced stops. The communities already served by the E-​Line being the worst offenders. This often leads me to think to myself «You’ve got the f-​ing train, let us go downtown in peace!» as we slowly crawl through Mission Hill and Northeastern. This is exemplified by going between that little stop before the VA hospital, the VA hospital, Heath Street and then Back Of The Hill. Four stops that equal somewhere around a dozen bus lengths.
Articulated buses are nice, but the MBTA withdraws them from service at the worst possible times. 40′ buses replace the 60′ ones at around 9 PM. Trouble is, there are still a huge number of people trying to travel on the #39 at 9 PM. There are weekends when the T will just keep the artics home and expect everyone to squeeze on board the smaller buses.
One articulated bus already holds fewer people than one Green Line car, and we’ve seen the T apologize for sending out a solitary Green Line cars because they rarely get the job done. The #39 claims to be «equal or better» to the Green Line but the T has no problem sending out 40′ buses which are the equivalent of half a single Green Line car.
Send a GL car down Huntington Ave with a partition at the midpoint and people would flip, the T would be forced to apologize and correct the mistake. Bus customers aren’t held to the same standard as train riders, and the #39 shows that.

Dear MBTA,
1 Bus every 10 minutes is not the same as 3 buses back to back once every half hour. The 39 takes forever and you can forget it on weekends. Trust me on the crap quality of the 39. I am not an MBTA hater in general. I take the Orange line every day and have no complaints other that extreme crowded-​ness during rush hour, but the 39 is terrible.

Well, what can I say — this bus stops more or less directly in front of my house and conveniently drops me of at Copley, Back Bay, or Huntington (good for a trip to Wally’s). Also good when I’m too lazy to walk back from the B&B…
It runs pretty regularly (which it should, since it was introduced as a replacement for the green line that originally went all the way to Centre St), although it can be late sometimes, which is annoying.
But it’s usually pretty reliable and has saved me from freezing to death (or having to pay for a cab ride) many times, so I love it!

Best bus route in Boston, hands down. How can you complain about a bus that runs every 5 minutes? Well, it *is* the bus, it is too hot in the summer and somehow also too hot in the winter, gets grossly crowded and can contain interesting smells, like baloneyfeet. That said, for a mode of public transportation, the 39 is tops. Having lived in a city with a bad public transit system (PDX), I appreciate the fact that you can just go catch the 39, without having to know its schedule. You’ll catch a bus in less than 10 minutes, even during off-​peak times. Well, usually. Anyway, the 39 has a convenient and useful route, running from Forest Hills to Back Bay, passing through JP, Longwood Medical, Northeastern and Copley. If you live/​go to JP, you know how awesome the 39 is. The only reason it doesn’t get 5 stars is the occasional tardiness and, of course, baloneyfeet smell.