HELLO BOSTON!
The Boston Auto Tour is a 5-year tale drawn from discussions with riders and observations from the road. It is a new crowdsourced travel and information resource for the Boston community.
ABOUT ME
I’m Jim Lantos! I started driving for Uber back in 2014
Went FT with the gig in 2017
Driven on Storrow Drive > 1,000 times
Spent more time at the airport than platinum frequent fliers
MILESTONES
5 years Uber (4.93) / 3 years Lyft (5.00)
8,000 rides / riders from 58 different countries, 1000s of conversations
120 pages of notes of road related observations; 1000s of stories; 100s of rider restaurant picks; 4,000 photos
In-car journal w/170 stories
a. written by riders (local & international)
b. includes rider recipes!
Used 3 cars, spent $20K in gas, went through dozens of tires, oil changes, and incurred 3 pothole flats
200,000+ miles driven (MA, NH, CT, RI, NY) through hundreds of neighborhoods
Lists compiled:
a. Most comprehensive list of the worst Boston intersections & rotaries
b. 100+ “secret panoramas”
c. 50+ “secret neighborhoods”
100s of interesting, odd, curious businesses, roadside markers, quirky sights
THANKS
A note of thanks to thousands of riders who took the time to chat, telling stories and offering tips and opinions. In particular, thanks to those who wrote their own stories in the in-car journal. Everyone has given me their permission to reprint their thoughts and words. Thank you!
Also a big thank you also to various friends who served as volunteer critics, editors and advisors throughout the process. This has truly been a crowdsourcing effort at all ends of the diamond!
The Boston Auto Tour would not be possible without your generous time and contribution.
Please don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts!
Thank you!
EDWARD MORAN
Edward is a contributing writer/editor for the Boston Auto Tour. He is a literary historian specializing in nineteenth- and twentieth-century American social and cultural history. He was associate editor of the World Authors reference series published by H. W. Wilson. He was also an associate editor of the Random House Dictionary of the English Language, the English language editor for the Japanese American News Corporation, chief editor of Global Rhythm magazine, and a contributing writer to the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture.