"Harvard has more chains, more types of buildings like [Pizzeria] Uno's," Murphy notes.

"The people [in Dudley] are poorer than some of the people in Harvard, money-wise, but some people might be wealthier in spirituality," she says, her eyes peeking out under a wide straw hat.

Third Stop: MIT

When the bus stops in front of MIT, Murphy strikes up a conversation with her neighbor.

Students shuffle aboard, some grabbing seats, some standing, and the bus crosses the Charles.

Agus Budiyono, a MIT graduate student in aerospace engineering, sits in one of the few remaining seats.

"The atmosphere [of the bus] is pretty good," Budiyono says.

"There's a mix of people. You can see Americans, African-Americans, Asian-Americans--it's a mix of races," he says.

Budiyono also notes that the racial makeup of the bus changes as it heads towards Dudley.

"The way I see it, that's a part of the Boston character," he says.

Fourth Stop: Hynes

By the time the bus slips by the Back Bay's glitzy townhouses and stops near the Hynes Convention Center, there is only standing room left. Passengers grab the metal bars to steady themselves, and there is little room to move.

Anthony Harvey, a security guard at Hynes, adjusts his red and black checkered jacket and collapses into a just-vacated seat.

He stops at Dudley twice each day, to catch the transfer bus to his home outside Boston.

"I don't think there are any similarities [between Harvard and Dudley]," he says. "They have totally different cultures."