Pick up north of Boston Logan
 

A friend plans to pick me up by car then drive to Maine after I arrive at Boston Logan Airport. Can I take public transportation out of Logan to a point on the driving route to Maine that allows my friend to avoid the worst Boston traffic?

There are a lot of possibilities depending on where your friend is coming from and how comfortable you are using public transportation.

Here are three, none of which I am recommending without more info:

1 Blue Line to Wonderland
2 Blue Line to State, change to Orange Line outbound to Oak Grove
3 bus to Portland (maybe Concord Trailways?)

Agree 100% with Ackislander: an essential piece of information is where your friend is starting from. and the time of day/day of week when you'll arrive.

That said, if your friend is starting from many parts of the area west, southwest, or northwest of town, the Logan Express terminal in Woburn could work well.

Also, again depending on origin/time, it might make most sense to meet at Logan. Getting to Logan from south and west of the city at non-peak hours is relatively simple, as is getting from Logan to the highway to Maine. The trickiest part could be selecting a pick-up spot, and we can help with that.

I use Concord Trailways to Concord NH so one of their buses to Portland should work fine. Check their schedule and your arrival. Pickup is outside the baggage claim area and then we make a short stop at South Station. There is free parking at the bus stations. The bus driver will put your luggage underneath and get it out at your stop. Very comfortable and easy.

A friend recently picked me up at Chicago's Midway. I thought she was brave but she had a TomTom gps unit and I called her cell when I was outside for pickup. Just make sure if you are picked up by private car, you are in the right area. The airport people don't like cars to wait long.

You can take the bus to Newburyport, MA. The bus station is right off 95N, so very easy for your friend to find. Bus runs every hour and costs $22. Trip is about 1 hour. PUrchase tickets online before you depart. From Newburyport, the Maine border is about 30 minutes.

https://webstore.ridecj.com/

Bennnie's idea has legs, but only if it is convenient to your friend.

Ackislander - absolutely right - we don't really know where friend is coming from. I also should point out that the Newburyport bus station is also located very close to the northern end of 495N as well.

Another option is Logan Express to Peabody. Cost is $12. It's easy to get on I-95 from there.

http://www.massport.com/massport/gtu...s/peabody.aspx

Of course, as others have said, it depends on where your friend is coming from.

BUT, that being said, if you friend is coming from almost anywhere in Massachusetts, the options to Newburyport and to Portland, ME, should be viable.

If you friend is coming from inside/close to the I-95/MA 128 loop, the Peabody option should be viable as well.

Yet another option would be riding the bus to Portsmouth, NH (instead of Newburyport), if your friend is in New Hampshire (as well as most anywhere in MA). Check the same website as the bus to Newburyport.

www.ridecj.com/locations/new-hampshire/dover
Get off at Pease if your friend is coming down Rt95.

Is the OP still out there or have we wasted a lot of bandwidth try to help a jerk?

My friend will be driving to Boston from Connecticut. The detailed options are fabulous, especially since I'm not excessively experienced in utilizing public transportation.

No, Ackislander, just a newbie to the forum who failed to hit "submit" on my post yesterday.

From CT it is my opinion that, unless it is the middle of rush hour, your friend should take the MassTurnpike to Ted Williams Tunnel to Logan Airport and pick you up there. There is easy access to major highways from Logan - no need to ever go into downtown Boston. There is now a cellphone lot at Logan - rather remote, but good signage to and back to terminals.

All the other plans involve coordinating air schedule and potential delays, traffic from CT, bus schedules - and unless your friend is extremely airport-traffic phobic, likely to more annoying than just going to the airport.

And a tip on Logan pickup. We usually tell air arrivers to go to the Departure level (generally one level up from baggage pickup and usual Arrival level) for pickup. At most terminals/airlines, there is more curb space there and State Police allow a little longer linger there for pickup. You will exit thru a door of a specific airline which will also have a number on it - if you and friend are simultaneously on cell phones pick up is usually fairly easy (and it is still legal to talk and drive on handheld cell in MA)

So this is a guessing game we're playing? Completely different route to Logan and Maine -- and therefore intelligent answers to OP questions -- depending on where in CT the driver starts from, and time/day when OP arrives at Logan.

I'll arrive at Logan on a Sunday in the early afternoon.

Sunday afternoon makes it simple: gail's advice of a pick-up at Logan is the very easiest for both the OP and his/her ride.

From all but the most eastern parts of CT, take I-84 or I-395 to the Mass Pike, then follow Mass Pike to its end, which is Logan Airport. Use cell phones to coordinate the pick-up. gail's advice of using the departure level for the pick-up is also spot-on, unless you're arriving at Terminal 5 (Southwest and Int'l arrivals), which has only 1 level.

From Logan, follow the signs to 1A north, and follow 1A to I-95 north for all points in Maine.

Give the newbie a break. I felt the same way about having a friend pick me up at Midway. I'm Logan-phobic. When I travel north from CT I go up thru western MA and then cut over, I hate I90. My friend did pick me up at Midway and we didn't have any trouble. She used her TomTom and someone had suggested a good hotel for her with easy access to the airport. But before I relented, I asked Fodorites for ideas of how to get to downtown Chicago without having her come to the airport. It also took me a few minutes to figure out that I needed to cross the streets since the pickups were at the outmost lane.

DonTopaz means Terminal E for Southwest and international arrivals. Terminals at Logan have letter designations (A, B, C, E—there isn't a D, at least not any more).

And you don't want to take 1A North all the way to I-95. You would eventually get there, but it would be incredibly slow.

Take 1A to Route 60 to US 1 to I-95. Either that, or follow the airport signs to i-93 North and take 93 to I-95 North.

Saying they are travelling from CT is of little help. It really depends where in CT to know what their travel path is and if it is worth the effort to meet them somewhere up north. And where are you going in Maine?

Thanks, Cranachin, for the correct info.