<p>Which of the MTBA monthly/semester passes would be most useful for an incoming freshman from out of state, but one who would like to get out and experience Boston?</p>
<p>I'd recommend getting a subway pass. it allows you onto all of the lines minus commuter.</p>
<p>yeah the regular subway passes are $44, but tufts probably has some discount.</p>
<p>Just the subway pass? No buses? I see there are some combo passes that include the buses also........Just trying to select the one that will give me the best options for getting around Boston.</p>
<p>well the subway pass entitles you to rides on the blue line, silver line (takes you to the airport), green line (above and below ground trolley things... they take you to places like BC and BU), the orange line (takes you to china town among other places) and most importantly the red line which goes basically from Tufts to harvard to MIT to the charles river and through boston adn out the other side) </p>
<p>All of those lines are considered technically part of the subway and like I said are free for people with the subway pass.</p>
<p>Buses are useful because this whole subway system is designed like spokes in a bicycle wheel. For example, Tufts and BC are both at the end of their lines. though if you draw a line through them the distance is quite small, in order to get form one to the other you must go inbound on the red and outbound on the green. This can take a good amount of time.</p>
<p>However, if you're interested in traveling through Boston in your spare time I'd still recommend the Subway pass because a lot of the places you'd want to go in Boston are reached on the red line (which Tufts is located one) such as the Boston Commons, Newberry Street, Quincy Market, Downtown Crossing.... or are pretty easily gotten to by use of the subway system (fenway park, a billion schools on the green line). </p>
<p>I'd say for the amount you'll use the buses it's not worth the pass. </p>
<p>That being said if your parents don't mind getting you the bus one why not get it too? I'm paying for mine so I'm not going to spend the extra money on the bus but theres no harm in getting the bus and then seeing if you use it or not.</p>
<p>Either way if you plan on going into Boston it's definitely worth getting a pass.</p>
<p>Hope that helped.</p>
<p>i'd wait to see how often you use the T: some ppl (like me) use it all the time, others almost never get off campus.</p>
<p>yeah, i wouldn't worry about getting T passes just yet. i go downtown several times a week and i've still found it to be cheaper to pay for single rides. also, if you're feeling daring it's incredibly easy to NOT pay for the T. you either drop random change into the discount drop or you pull the handle back and slip through. its not hard and no one ever gets caught. :)</p>
<p>that being said, t passes are very convenient because you never have to wait in line or hope you have money to pary for it. as far as discounts go if you DO go for the T pass, the discounts available for students are semester rates and i think its like $220 per semester</p>
<p>Pay for single rides, unless you anticipate almost daily commutes into the city, which will mean that you'll really never be on Tufts campus.</p>