At right: The asphalt horror of Oak Grove station. Creative Commons licensed photo by kbrookes.
WalkScore is being touted all over the blogosphere. You type in an address, and the site immediately rates it on a "walkability" score -- essentially calculating how far it is from services such as grocers, hardware stores, and fitness clubs. It has some kinks, most notably in the inclusion of movie theaters and bookstores in its formula. Sadly, a full-time cinema is too much to expect even in a walker's paradise these days; at any rate, the WalkScore bots don't seem to recognize what a real movie theater is. (Eye Candy Cinema in the Fenway is a production company, not a movie house.) WalkScore also counts porn shops and comic book sellers as "bookstores," though their utility is arguably less than a good newsstand.
So I tested WalkScore by inputting the street addresses (or as close as I could get) of MBTA subway stops, and the results, listed below, seem pretty accurate. (Mass transit stops are not factored into the WalkScore calculations.) There were four perfect scores: Downtown Crossing, Chinatown, New England Medical Center, and Boylston. Fifteen other stops were above 90 percent -- all in downtown Boston, the Back Bay, or Cambridge.
Oak Grove, in Malden at the northern end of the Orange Line, is the only subway station categorized as "car-dependent." ("Only a few destinations are within easy walking range. For most errands, driving or public transportation is a must.") Having grown up near there, I can attest to that description. The station is not isolated by highways or bridges or anything, so I don't know why there's so little commerce nearby. It's a heartbreaking site (and sight) for a New Urbanist. "Somewhat walkable" describes the entire stretch of the Blue Line east of Boston Harbor, as well as Wellington on the Orange Line and Quincy Adams on the Red Line (both surrounded by highways and parking lots) and Green and Forest Hills at the southern end of the Orange Line.
Do these scores line up with your perceptions? Are there other criteria you would use to measure walkability? Next I'll try to see how the commuter rail stops line up.
RED LINE
Alewife: 82
Davis: 95
Porter: 83
Harvard: 98
Central: 95
Kendall: 89
Charles: 95
Park: 98
Downtown Crossing: 100
South Station: 97
Broadway: 89
Andrew: 80
JFK: 82
Savin Hill: 74
Fields Corner: 85
Shawmut: 72
North Quincy: 83
Wollaston: 85
Quincy Center: 83
Quincy Adams: 55
Braintree: 74
GREEN LINE
Lechmere: 89
Science Park: 92
North Station: 92
Haymarket: 95
Government Center: 95
Park: 98
Boylston: 100
Arlington: 97
Copley: 95
Hynes: 98
Kenmore: 98
ORANGE LINE:
Oak Grove: 46
Malden Center: 83
Wellington: 65
Sullivan Square: 78
Community College: 74
North Station: 92
Haymarket: 95
State: 95
Chinatown: 100
New England Medical Center: 100
Back Bay: 97
Mass. Ave.: 95
Ruggles: 83
Roxbury Crossing: 88
Jackson Square: 78
Stony Brook: 74
Green: 69
Forest Hills: 65
BLUE LINE:
Wonderland: 55
Revere Beach: 58
Beachmont: 51
Suffolk Downs: 51
Orient Heights: 68
Wood Island: 65
Airport: 65
Maverick: 75
Aquarium: 94
State: 95
Government Center: 95
Bowdoin: 95