Malden Center — Local services in Malden

Malden Station! I love this station. It was the first I encountered when I moved here, and, as a transplant from Sacramento, the first full transportation concourse in comparison with our Regional Transit system. What an upgrade. There are 12 bus routes that connect with this station and two trains that roll through. The station is usually very well-staffed and very, very helpful! I once lost my phone on the T and it was recovered within minutes (since it was coming back from Oak Grove) thanks to the T's communication system. The station has five CharlieCard stations, and I believe three of them are capable of taking credit cards. The station is handicap-friendly and has an elevator and bridge plates located at four places throughout the station for disabled patrons for the Orange Line, however I do not think this gratuity extends to the Commuter Line stop. My only real complaint with the design of this station is that there is no escalator that goes down, and it funnels all of the outgoing patrons toward the two sets of stairs. There's usually a lot of foot traffic when the full outgoing Orange Line Trains make their way to Malden, and I feel it would improve safety and train timetables if a larger elevator or secondary method of returning to the concourse were available to Orange Line patrons at this station. Commuter Rail facilities are pretty well maintained, timetables are clearly visible and easy to read. Aesthetically, the Malden Station is quite darling. Most of the station is adorned with orange, white, and black tiles which give it a very cozy look. There are many art installations throughout the station as well, including a painted bench and pieces made by local children in the community. The station itself overlooks Malden Central to the east and the bustling outpouring of foot traffic from the Gaming District, and to the west is a large sports field which is regularly used. The station is well designed for both sunny and rainy conditions (some day I will brave my fears and ride a subway in the snow and have something to say about the T's snow maintenance in the future) and is a treat for the eyes while waiting for the train. The folks here are really nice and neighborly, but are usually just trying to get home; this station makes me feel safe and secure not only because of the presence of MBTA personnel but the fact that the average patrons of Malden Station are, by and large, very wonderful people. As an advocate for public transportation, I can't complain much for the wait times, but I can say that most transitions from bus to train at this station occur within 15 minutes, which is miles better than what I left behind in Sacramento. Very streamlined in comparison with outskirts stops on the Blue and Gold Lines out there like Florin and Mack, and much less threatening to be at due to the actual existence of rotating security personnel and mostly full security...

the trains and buses here are pretty good its a MAJOR hub that has at least 9-10 different routes from here you can go pretty much anywhere from Melrose Wakefield Reading Everett Saugus Medford Somerville Boston and a few others all within 1-2 hours or less depending on your destination and how you plan to get there, this station also has the Reading/Haverhill Commuter Rail lines so whether you take that or the Orange line you are LESS than 20 minutes away from the city, malden center also has some ptetty good places around if you look carefully when entering the station dont waste your time with all those annoying stairs instead on your LEFT there is an Escalator (up ONLY unfortunately i think) that will take you to Both Oak Grove/ Forest Hills platforms so if your train is arriving dont have to worry about tripping and missing it by those 15 extra seconds the stairs are. only downside is certain times in the day this place is extremely crowded and can have people hanging around but the police do a good job monitoring whose hanging around and waiting for a bus /train. Oak Grove is 1 short stop less than 5 minutes away so on the train you will find more than enough seats as you would less at Wellington / beyond this is a really busy place for such a small tiny station with so little around to see! and i think parking here is only around 5-7$ which is not too bad as to what you would the closer you...

CR platform at Malden Center suffers from a falling apart platform, though I saw an alert from a while ago saying they were fixing it so it may be fixed now. The station building is small but good for its purpose. Bus and OL connections are easy enough, you just go down to the lobby and to the subway platform/busway. Station is also in a great downtown location. CR platform also has the annoying LED scrolling sign, where you have to wait a whole minute to have a chance to see when the next train is arriving (they should install the newer ones like seen at Beverley, Mansfield, Back Bay, etc). Orange Line platform seems fine, and has departure screens showing the next two arrivals in each direction. Both platforms are covered with a good amount of canopy, and both platforms are accessible via an elevator (CR passengers with disabilities should board the northernmost two cars to get off step-free at all accessible stops except North Sta, Oak Grove & Lawrence, which can be alighted...