Sullivan Station is by all regards the epitome of the MBTA: beyond practical and yet beyond dirty and beyond outdated.
BEYOND PRACTICAL:
Dozens of bus lines, most of them heading to the 99%-er suburbs of Everett and Malden, leave from the station's upper and lower busways and provide an easy (though not free) connection to the above-average-running Orange Line. Parking is dirt cheap compared to Downtown rates, plus there's fairly easy access to/from I-93 and thus it becomes a haven for suburbanites wishing to go to events. The Garden is a mere two subway stops away; Fenway is an easy two-seat ride more dependent on the Green Line cooperating.
BEYOND DIRTY:
For its mammoth size, I guess overall Sullivan has a much higher cleanliness-per-square-foot ratio than other MBTA station complexes. The biggest issue with the station is that its literally the catch basin for all the fumes, chemical runoff and general standing water that doesn't quite make it into the drainage pipes of I-93 overhead, the ultimate insult to people choosing to take public transit instead of sit in the traffic above. As you walk along the Upper Busway toward Cambridge Street there are sections of I-93 that literally SHOWER water whenever it's raining/heavily snowing.
The subway platform is a sundry of graffiti along the far wall as seen from the Inbound platform and the MBTA freight division often parks its scrap cars on the railroad siding. Commuter trains, which don't stop there, blow endless amounts of diesel fumes as they growl by. It's even more fun when they park there waiting for opposite traffic. They SHOULD move the Commuter Rail stop from Malden there since it's where the Newburyport/Rockport and Haverhill Lines merge.
As far as smoking--well it might as well be an open-air opium den! The official rule system-wide is that there is no smoking on (public) MBTA property. The ESTABLISHED rule is that there is no indoor smoking, which equates to the area from the doors to the top of stairs to get to the subway platform. Elsewhere is smokers' paradise! I've actually seen people light up just as they exit the doors onto the Upper Busway, in plain view of the Inspectors' booth.
BEYOND OUTDATED:
Like all other Orange Line stations, Sullivan is largely devoid of any architectural prowess or inviting feeling, save for local children's artwork, recreated amongst the maps and benches on the subway platform level. As far as the aforementioned busway shelter--or lack of--the MBTA really got its money's worth by having I-93 provide it. They don't need to build a roof over the entire station--just perhaps over the Upper Busway so people don't get the toxic showers.
My biggest pet peeve, other than the aforementioned smoking issue, is the poor transportation engineering both within and around the station. Of course, this comes from a Massachusetts history of having the most incompetent transportation engineers in the world since the cow path days. Let's start with pedestrian traffic:
There really should be a dedicated "In" and "Out" section with the faregates (formerly turnstiles), for a station that handles such a high volume of riders and with very few faregates. Rush hour becomes a huge bottleneck as people push through the faregates to the busways and people getting off of buses head to the trains. The latter of course gets screwed since they have to wait to pay their fares--or at least are supposed to.
Next, navigating the Upper Busway is extremely dicey during rush hour since the average Greater Boston commuter is anything but orderly. People stand all over the Busway and *Heaven forbid* you try to get around them to walk toward the street or catch a train--or another bus further down. They really should have a corral system, which would also eliminate the "me first" people who sit all the way back at the benches until just before a bus pulls up then elbow-check everybody just to get on first--and pay in pocket change.
Next, let's look at the road traffic engineering, specifically the signage As others have mentioned, the signage is RIDICULOUSLY confusing, beginning with the fact that there's enough of it to have the great Hans Monderman rolling over in his grave. It's all well-intended to ensure that buses don't crash into other buses or cars, but, like all other Greater Boston signage it's a guarded secret by the locals just WTF every sign really means are and a guessing game for everybody else. I guess the saving grace is that the signs are SO confusing that there are no crashes since most drivers just use the waiting area on Maffa Way.
Long-story short, because apparently my review is so prolific, you CAN make a left turn off of Cambridge Street-Eastbound into the busway. Buses/T vehicles stay LEFT; cars stay RIGHT. You CAN'T make a U-turn in front of that driveway, however. You also CAN'T make a RIGHT out of the Busway onto Cambridge Street--all traffic must go via Maffa Way and around the Teamsters Building. Got it? read more