Boston Duck Tours are a fun, family-friendly way to see the city the Paul Revere way: by both land and water.

You board a renovated WWII amphibious craft decked out with a fun name and your own ConDUCKtor who doubles as driver and tour guide. After sightseeing in downtown Boston, you plop off a ramp into the Charles River to enjoy the Beantown and Cambridge skylines from the water. At this point, children are allowed to take the wheel and “pilot” the craft with the ConDUCKtor by their side, treats at the ready.

The entire tour takes about 90 minutes. The DUCK tour covers many of the historical locations of Boston (one sees how compact it really is), and leaves from both the Prudential Center (shopper friendly), and the Museum of Science (kid friendly). The parking at the Museum of Science is reasonable and solves the problem of where to leave your car downtown.

During the summer months, a steady flow of DUCK boats make their way through the city streets and waters, the drivers supply cheers for the DUCKS to holler out as they pass each other. The DUCK boats have caught on in a big way; plans are afoot to bring them to Manhattan.

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Have you noticed how the nights are getting just a little bit cooler? And in the mornings, there’s starting to be a little crispness in the air.

When the weather gets like this, I start thinking about the fall foliage, and how beautiful nature can be this time of year.

Word is that this year’s foliage New England foliage should be spectacular. The warm days and cool evenings are perfect conditions for dramatic color and foliage.

If you’re interested in planning a driving tour to see the foliage, check out the Massachusetts Office of Travel Tourism site for a listing of New England foliage events. There’s also a foliage timetable map, along with suggested scenic drives. The website is updated twice a week with “leaf” reports.

There’s also a Fall Foliage Hotline at: (800) 227-MASS.

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Even so, it’s impossible to remain unaware of the problems — meaning the sky-high gas prices — that have been tormenting the many drivers in the United States who aren’t wealthy. Since I can’t imagine what a pain in the wallet it must be to drive a car these days if you don’t have a lot of disposable income to waste, reflexive curiosity makes me stop and listen (or read) when the issue of conserving gas is raised.

While I was browsing the Sunday paper last weekend, I came across an interesting and relevant article in the Parade magazine insert titled “Smart Ways to Save on Gas.” The piece details a number of small, mostly painless and practical things that drivers can do to squeeze more mileage out of the gas in their car.

A commenter on the online version noted that some of the tips in the article are inspired by those shared at the Drive Smarter Challenge website. I list the bare bones after the jump; visit both websites for more details on how to implement the suggestions, as well as to get additional tips. An earlier post at The Boston Traveler, “Massachusetts Website Offers Help with Gas Prices,” has a few more words of advice that could also help save drivers money.

How to Increase Your Car’s Fuel Efficiency

• Avoid lugging around excess weight in your car
• Bike, carpool, walk, and/or use public transportation whenever possible
• Convert to a motorcycle or motor scooter
• Do more at one time by scheduling multiple errands on fewer trips
• Don’t let your car idle
• Drive more smoothly by avoiding unnecessarily high speeds and abrupt acceleration and braking
• Get rid of anything that causes drag, such as dents, luggage racks, and open windows during long trips
• Keep all four tires in good shape
• Make sure you’re using the correct motor oil for your car
• Stay in the right lane whenever possible

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Governor Deval Patrick and his administration apparently feel constituents’ pain, and in response, they’ve established a new website specifically geared towards helping drivers in Massachusetts cope with soaring gas prices.

Titled Gas Tips, the website currently has six sections with links to timely information on:

• Searching local gas prices to find the best bargain
• Maximizing the amount of gas purchased and increasing the mileage of vehicles
• Alternatives to driving, such as using public transportation, biking, carpooling, and sharing rides through programs like MassRIDES
• Saving money on vacations by visiting destinations within the state

Whether you live in Massachusetts or just plan to drop by in the near future, the new Gas Tips website is a useful tool for those who want money-saving tips and alternatives on the road.

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Urgent safety considerations forced state officials to take action this week when a Thursday inspection revealed a steel beam supporting one sidewalk requires immediate work. That discovery is in addition to previously known problems with deteriorated railroad ties, which urged MBTA officials to have Red Line subway conductors slow down substantially as they ride over the bridge on their normal route until replacements are completed.

As a result of these combined pressing problems, Longfellow Bridge will close several times this summer to allow repairs that will increase its stability. The west side of the bridge already underwent such drastic action on Friday, and the entire bridge will on July 4th.

Vehicles usually aren’t allowed to cross Longfellow Bridge on that day — the Red Line T carries on as always, however — but pedestrians won’t be able to either this year. Since Independence Day is a time when thousands arrive at the bridge from all over to enjoy the festivities and to get the best look possible at impressive fireworks displays, the changes are definitely going to put a crimp in people’s holiday plans.

The following disruptions in access to the Longfellow Bridge are currently in effect or scheduled for later:

• June 7: West sidewalk closed indefinitely to foot traffic; Pedestrians should detour to east sidewalk
• June 14–15: Red Line service completely shut down
• June 21–22: Red Line service completely shut down
• July 4: No pedestrian or vehicle traffic; Red Line service available

Watch the video after the jump to get a better idea of the effects these developments are having on travelers who use the Longfellow Bridge.

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Debatably titled Boston’s Deadliest Bike Messenger, the admittedly thrilling viewing material demonstrates numerous ways to get yourself — or someone else — in a fatal accident while riding a bicycle on the streets of Boston … or any other place for that matter.

There are rules of the road in Massachusetts that bike riders are supposed to follow just as much as drivers. If you plan to visit and use your bicycle, become familiar with them before taking to the road in order to avoid unnecessary bodily injuries.

Some people wonder why Boston drivers have a reputation for being so angry. After taking a look at the video following the jump, one potential reason should became very clear.

Incidentally, a large portion of the video is filmed in the mixed shopping and business district of downtown Boston, a popular spot for tourists. So, if you’re in the location, remain alert when walking and driving because a lot of bike messengers frequent the streets there, especially during normal weekday work hours.

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I personally prefer sticking with mass public transportation rather than cabs for this very reason. It’s appalling what too many cab drivers do just to get a few extra dollars, such as the ever-popular scam of deliberately making unnecessary detours to prolong the ride or avoiding shortcuts on side streets in order to wait longer at the more numerous red lights on major streets.

The WHDH report focuses on a practice I knew nothing about since I don’t frequent the relevant section of town, East Boston. When taking passengers to Logan Airport in East Boston from Downtown Boston, cab drivers are allowed to charge a legitimate so-called Logan Fee of $2.75 in order to recoup half the expense of the large toll they must pay when they return downtown.

Some slick drivers have repurposed the Logan Fee, however, also charging it when customers request a drop-off anywhere in East Boston. As the WHDH report demonstrates, the more blatant offenders even do it when their cab has signage clearly stating that assessing the fee on a trip to any East Boston destination other than Logan Airport is *not* allowed.

Residents and visitors alike, make a note of this ridiculous practice if you prefer to travel by taxi. And if you should encounter a driver who charges you an illegal fee, request a printed metered receipt and then take a few moments to file a formal complaint with the Boston Police Hackney Carriage Unit (617-343-4475 during normal business hours and 617-536-8294 after hours).

Find additional information about Boston taxis at the City of Boston website, including telephone numbers for the six cab companies in the city and the fare structure they must all follow.

A video of Fare Play, the WHDH report on the Logan Fee, is below. If you require closed captions, you can enable that feature on the video player by clicking the CC symbol in the top right-hand corner.

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In the first case, starting this Wednesday, the MBTA will make Wi-Fi service available on the Worcester/Framingham commuter line, one of the busiest lines in the commuter rail system. As a result, passengers will presumably have the ability to do just about anything they normally could on their Internet-ready computers, such as surf the Web and watch online videos.

I only hope everybody keeps in mind that “free” and “public” is usually synonymous with “vulnerable” and “security issues,” so beef up your computer’s defenses accordingly. Just say a deafening no to online banking and paying bills electronically on the way in and out of the city; I probably wouldn’t even dare check my email or anything else that requires a password.

In the second case, the MBTA announced today that violent crime on Massachusetts’ trains and buses reached a ten-year low in 2007. The decrease in assaults, murders, rapes, and robberies is a whopping 18.5 percent from 2006, which means that “the probability of someone being a victim of a crime on the MBTA is less than one in 400,000 passengers” now, according to Acting Transit Police Chief Paul MacMillan.

The lower rates are attributed to a recent program that has transit policemen patrolling the same areas on a regular basis instead of rotating geographically, as well as the installation of cameras in high-traffic areas and a public-service program called See Something, Say Something that urges passengers to report any misdeeds or suspicious events they encounter while commuting.

This is the kind of news that should convince travelers who plan on visiting Boston to feel assured they’ll be safe, although I have to add that I’ve never felt unsafe on the T—a decade or two frequenting the public transit system in metropolitan New York can have that effect on a person. In fact, my greatest MBTA dream has nothing even remotely to do with crime.

After nearly getting frostbite or sunburn while waiting for a bus to arrive on more occasions than I can count, I simply wish MBTA personnel would manage to make the darn buses and trains run on time more than twice a day. And, please, start with the #69 bus in Cambridge, which you’d think would nearly always arrive in a punctual fashion since 90 percent of the route basically consists of traveling up and down Cambridge Street in a straight line (but, of course, you’d be thinking way wrong). When that news story breaks, then I’ll jump up and down with joy.

Post from: The Boston Traveler

Just about everyone who commutes into, out of, and within Boston on weekdays had one thing on their mind recently—the rapidly increasing likelihood that Amtrak employees would go on a nationwide strike come 12:01am on January 30.

If such a catastrophe occurred, the heavily used commuter rail system that lugs suburbanites in and out of metropolitan Boston via South Station—the main hub for Amtrak in the area—would become unavailable. Travelers forced to use the city’s public transportation routes as an alternative would then inevitably contribute to bus and train lines so overcrowded that earlier commutes from hell would seem like nirvana in comparison.

It was also roundly acknowledged that the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority) would probably not even have sufficient resources to handle all of the rush-hour overflow traffic that South Station and the commuter rail system customarily service. Moreover, those people who chose to drive their own cars instead of relying on public transportation would only contribute to massive gridlock on Boston roads and surrounding highways.

At dispute were the terms of a new contract. Since Amtrak employees had been working without any formal agreement in place for the past eight years, certain details were very contentious, including the degree of back wages that Amtrak must pay for agreed-upon raises, in addition to the amounts required to make up for unpaid cost-of-living increases.

As anxious commuters braced for the first Amtrak strike in history, the company mercifully struck a deal with its employees’ unions on Friday, and not a moment too soon. Now Bostonians and suburbanites alike who toil downtown and in the outer regions of the city can rest assured that their trip to work won’t reach unendurable lengths in a couple of weeks.

Take it from someone who used to travel anywhere from four to six hours, six days a week, between home in New York and a job in New Jersey—there are few blessings greater for working stiffs than a speedy commute. This development is definitely reason to celebrate or at least be very, very thankful.

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Anyway… While digging around the Web shortly after publishing the piece in order to find material for another potential post, I stumbled across an informative video put together by some folks from the popular local blog Bostonist. The footage was totally state-of-the-art when it made its online debut since it was recorded the very first morning that the CharlieCard system went into effect.

Of course, the historic day in Boston transit history was December 4, 2006, and here’s what an intrepid staff member at Bostonist reported as he demonstrated how to put some travel money on a CharlieCard at a train station vending machine and then verify the balance. Warning, though—if you tend to get motion sickness easily, the jerky camera movements might trigger an unwanted attack. Otherwise, enjoy the stunning 49-second clip after the jump!

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