This piece is part of our BOStoday Q+A series. Do you know someone we should interview? Nominate them here.
Perhaps you’ve run into this Cambridge resident taking the Blue Line to Wonderland or hopping on the commuter rail to Walden Pond. However, it’s much more likely that you’d recognize his deadpan humor + MBTA travels from your TikTok feed.
We recently chatted with the local TikTok creator behind the series “Adventures with Jed.” The Colorado native and public transit aficionado has lived in the Boston area for about a year now, and has been documenting his journeys around the city since March. Now, he has more than 30,000 followers watching him travel around Boston and beyond.
How did you get the idea to start this series?
I’ve always liked public transit and riding trains in general. I have a lot of early memories of my mom taking me on trains and even buses — like one time, I went to Vegas with my mom, and instead of going around to all the different shows and stuff, I just wanted to ride the bus up and down because it was a double decker bus.
Moving to Boston, one of the exciting things was that, while it’s not up to European standards in terms of its transit connections, there’s a history there. Boston has the first subway tunnel in the US, and the trains are more frequent. It was exciting for me to get to come to a city like that. So I’d been telling my wife (who is real) that I wanted to ride these trains to the end of the line and see what was there, but she had no interest in that whatsoever. But she travels a lot for school and for work. So, she was gone and one time she was gone I just decided to take the Green Line out and then I filmed it and put it on TikTok. It got enough lift that I thought it would be worthwhile to keep doing.
Have you been impacted by the MBTA service changes?
I mean, I go with the flow. So one time I tried to go into Wonderland, and instead of being able to take the Blue Line there from the start, I had to make a bus connection then get on the Blue Line. So there are those little things, but I haven’t been impacted in a huge way.
What has your favorite adventure been around Boston?
I really liked Oak Grove. I went on a hike there. I didn’t realize that there is nature that close to Boston and you’re able to do a fun little hike and see some trees and stuff. Plus, that video had a good ending — I feel like I was satisfied with the whole trip, where most of the time I hit mishaps and something goes wrong, like the store I go to was closed or it’s really cold at the beach or something. This one just went smoothly from start to finish.
Did you ever expect your TikTok to take off like this?
No, I was shocked but I was excited. And the Internet is just a different place than when I was in middle school playing Xbox Live and everyone was mean to each other. Now it seems like a much more supportive community on TikTok and all the comments are very uplifting and I get really nice ones, from people that say like, “Oh, I was feeling really down today, but I watched this video and it cheered me up.” Those are always my favorite.
What’s the wildest comment or interaction that you’ve had on TikTok?
A lot of people are asking me to leave my wife for them. Which I’m not going to do.
John Green is one of the [comments]. I woke up to that comment. And I got excited because John Green is one of my favorite authors. I think “The Fault in Our Stars” is one of the only books I’ve read from start to finish in one sitting.
Do you have a favorite T line?
Well being in Cambridge, I think I’m biased towards the Red. I do think it’s a decently well run line that gets me where I need to go. I like that it branches off into two different areas at the end. My favorite view on the whole T is going over the Longfellow Bridge.
What about your least favorite T line?
The Green Line is really screech-y. I don’t like that one as much. I haven’t ridden the Extension yet.
Can we expect an Adventure With Jed when the full Green Line Extension is done?
Oh, yeah.
Do you have any favorite spots in Boston in general?
Memorial Drive is really nice to run along. I like going on the river, and there’s a fitness park there called Magazine Beach. I just think it’s fun to be able to run to a place with fitness equipment, so you can work out during the summer too. And then there’s a restaurant that I really like going to called Chalawan. It’s southeast Asian food near the Porter Square area, like a 10 minute walk from the station.
I also really like a meat pie place off the Blue Line, on the other side of East Boston by the airport. It’s called Seabiscuit and I went there for the first time about a month ago. It’s delicious and it’s right next door to Downeast Cider, where you can order food from the meat pie place but hang out in the cider brewery.
Do you have any pro tips for taking the T?
Have a CharlieCard. Plus, the MBTA website for bus and rail connections is more accurate than Google Maps, so if you know what line you’re going to take, I think the best way is to look at the app to make sure that nothing is late. I also always like to know which exit of my destination station I’m leaving and then get on the train either at the front or the back of the platform, depending on how close it is to the exit. That’s something that takes time to figure out.
