easy to access car rental near but not in Logan Airport
 

I am fine driving in areas where split second decisions re turns and lane changes etc. are not needed. My last rental from Logan (2006) was, for me, hair raising so I would prefer not to navigate the airport area again. I’m looking for a reasonably close to Logan (but much calmer in traffic) car rental place that I can get to via transit or bus from the airport. Will be arriving early am. Possible? Any suggestions appreciated.

Where are you going outside the city? How early AM and is it a weekday?
You probably won't find any car rentals open before 9AM other than the airport.

In the city, but not difficult at all, look at several rental car pick up locations on Atlantic Avenue, south of Aquarium.

Arrival will likely be 7 am or so, but I am happy to drink coffee till 9 :). Thanks for the Atlantic Ave tip, I will google.

Ah sorry, as to destination, will be driving to Northampton, but may stop by New Bedford first to get fish, so good!

I am confused. You don't want to navigate the circular road around Logan but you want to navigate the no-logic city streets of Boston?

My suggestion - rent a car at Logan. Follow the signs to the Ted Williams Tunnel/I93 South. It really is well marked and if you miss it, you follow signage back to airport and circle back. This will take you either to the MassPike if you are headed to Northampton or I93 South to get to New Bedford - although if the only reason you are going to New Bedford is to get fish, that is a little unusual. It is hardly a "stop by", being no where near the route one would take to get to western MA.

Hi Gail,

Oh it is all visiting family. Sister in New Bedford (and best freshest fish I have ever had in my life) and mother in Northhampton but I have always taken Peter Pan buses before. This time I need to rent a car.
In the best of all possible worlds I could take Peter Pan or other bus to a nice, nearby, smallish town where I can rent a car, get my bearings, and head out wherever.
I am sure Logan is easy to navigate if one is familiar with it, but I am not and find it stressful driving in and out of any airport, even my local one, Vancouver.

Most smallish towns don't have car rental agencies - except perhaps for Enterprise. Depending on your day of travel, make sure they are open that day and hours, since many are not open late and some closed Sat and/or Sun.

What I would suggest is that you take Logan Express bus to Framingham. Arrange for Enterprise to pick you up there (in case you are not familiar, they advertise "we'll pick you up" - which means they meet you someplace, drive you in their car to their office to complete paperwork, and you leave from there). There are likely other car rental companies in Framingham, to which you could take a taxi.

From Framingham you can head to either New Bedford or Northampton. There is a Logan Express bus to Braintree - which would be closer to New Bedford - but then you have issue of returning car in Framingham and not sure if Enterprise would let you do that.

Logan Express bus runs about every 30-60 minutes and stops at each terminal at Logan. The stops are marked. Since there are 5 different Logan Express routes, make sure you get on the right one.

This will avoid having to drive at Logan or in Boston. I respect your wish not to do so - but in 2006 the "Big Dig" was not actually fully done and it was more confusing. But this plan, while adding more time, should save you stress,

Rent at the airport. There are no easier options.

Travelg - OP seems adamant that s/he had a bad experience 10 years ago at Logan and does not want to drive to/from Logan. What I offered is an alternative. S/he did not find my assurance that Loigan was easier to navigate than Boston or suburbs.

But maybe if we all lend our voices we can convince her?!

The last thing I would want to do is get off a plane and take a bus or train somewhere in order to then rent a car and finally get on the road. And I do not at all see the point of going into a city with notoriously bad traffic and confusing streets to rent a car in order just to drive out of the city!

Most people driving around an airport--anyone who isn't a taxi/Uber/limo driver, that is--are not familiar with it. If you keep this in mind and allow yourself to make navigational errors without freaking out, you'll be fine. However hair raising your drive in 2006 was, you made it, right? And there's no guarantee that your alternate plan won't be hair raising, too, as well as bloody inconvenient.

If you don't already have your plane tickets, you can fly to and from Providence.

Green is a much smaller airport, and your sister in Fall River is just around the corner.

Then drive to Northampton via Providence, Auburn, the Mass Pike and I-81. It's a bit over two hours.

Providence sounds like the way to go, thank you for that recommendation.

Or Gail's Framingham. Thank you for such detailed instructions and understanding my request.

Perhaps 2006 was a bad year re road development but flying red eye and dealing with what was there was not fun; Sister will also not drive to Boston airport so maybe it is genetic LOL.

I can't begin to imagine how taking a bus to Framingham to catch a taxi to get a rental car is, in any way, preferable to renting at Logan. It makes no sense. I know it is what you asked for, but it still makes no sense.

It isn't like Framingham is some small town and the traffic patterns around there can be a bit funky. At the airport, you at least have good signage.

If you can fly into Providence (or Hartford, if you wanted to go straight to Northampton) are okay options, but I think the Framingham bus thing is, frankly, crazy talk.

While I would rather walk than follow my directions regarding Logan Express - clearly OP feels differently. I am trying to help him/her out within stated limitations and preferences.

You can't flight family phobias - we are all terrified from birth of wasps and hornets and no amount of reason would change that.

<I>While I would rather walk than follow my directions regarding Logan Express - clearly OP feels differently.</i>

Oh, I agree that the advice was what the OP asked for, I just don't think the OP really understands what he or she is getting. I think bussing to Framingham is just trading one headache for another.

I agree with you, tg. Providence sounds like a good idea to me, although I've never used that airport. The bus to Framingham, not so much, although I see that gail is indeed giving the OP what was asked for.

<but flying red eye and dealing with what was there was not fun>
If you know you're a fretful driver, don't fly red eye. I hate red eyes, myself. Are you doing a red eye this time?