MBTA Subway

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) operates heavy rail, light rail, and bus transit services in the Boston metropolitan area collectively referred to as the Rapid Transit or Subway system.^[1]

The colored rail trunk lines consist of 3 heavy rail lines (Red, Orange, and Blue), one branched light rail system (Green), and a short light rail line (the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line, colored as part of the Red Line). All except the Ashmont-Mattapan Line operate in tunnels in the downtown area; no route operates entirely underground. The four branches of the Silver Line bus are also shown as part of the rapid transit system. Two branches operate underground as bus rapid transit and charge rapid transit fares; two branches operate entirely on the surface and charge lower bus fares.

The section of the Tremont Street Subway between Park Street and Boylston Street stations on the Green Line opened in 1897, making it the oldest transit subway in the United States still in use. (Only the short-lived Beach Pneumatic Transit demonstration line was built before.)

History

Opened in September 1897, the four-track-wide segment of the Green Line tunnel between Park Street and Boylston stations was the first subway in the United States, and has been designated a National Historic Landmark. The downtown portions of what are now the Green, Orange, Blue, and Red line tunnels were all in service by 1912. Additions to the rapid transit network occurred in most decades of the 1900s, and continue in the 2000s with the addition of Silver Line bus rapid transit and planned Green Line expansion. (See MBTA History and MBTA Future plans sections.)

Park Street station in Boston on the Green Line soon after opening, circa 1898

Streetcar congestion in downtown Boston led to the establishment of subways and elevated rail, the former in 1897 and the latter in 1901. The Tremont Street Subway was the first rapid transit tunnel in the United States. The grade-separated railways added transportation capacity while avoiding delays caused by intersections with cross streets.^[3] The first elevated railway and the first rapid transit line in Boston were built three years before the first underground line of the New York City Subway, but 34 years after the first London Underground lines, and long after the first elevated railway in New York.

Various extensions and branches were added to the subway lines at both ends, bypassing more surface tracks. As grade-separated lines were extended, street-running lines were cut back for faster downtown service. The last elevated heavy rail or "El" segments in Boston were at the extremities of the Orange Line: its northern end was relocated in 1975 from Everett to Malden, MA, and its southern end was relocated into the Southwest Corridor in 1987. However, the Green Line's Causeway Street Elevated remained in service until 2004, when it was relocated into a tunnel with an incline to reconnect to the Lechmere Viaduct. The Lechmere Viaduct and a short section of steel-framed elevated at its northern end remain in service, though the elevated section will be cut back slightly and connected to a northwards viaduct extension in 2017 as part of the Green Line Extension.

System

Lines

The rapid transit lines consist of 3 heavy rail lines, 2 trolley lines, and an underground bus rapid transit line.

The traditional heavy rail lines include the Blue Line, which is a former trolley line running from Revere to downtown Boston; the orange Line, which was converted from an elevated line running from Roxbury to Malden; and the Red Line, running from Cambridge to Ashmont or Braintree.

The trolley lines include 4 Green Line branches which terminate in Brighton, Brookline, Newton, and Roxbury, and the Mattapan High Speed Line.

Two branches of the Silver Line, the SL1 and SL2, operate in underground tunnels for part of their length, with direct transfers at South Station. These two lines use the higher subway fare, while SL4 and SL5 follow bus fare rules.

Coverage

An unofficial schematic map of the rapid transit system (plus non-BRT key bus routes) from 2013. The official MBTA map is an altered version of this map, which won a redesign contest in 2014.

All four subway lines cross downtown, forming a quadrilateral configuration, and the Orange and Green Lines (which run approximately parallel in that district) also connect directly at two stations just north of downtown. The Red Line and Blue Line are the only pair of subway lines which do not have a direct transfer connection to each other. Because the various subway lines do not consistently run in any given compass direction, it is customary to refer to line directions as "inbound" or "outbound". Inbound trains travel towards the four downtown transfer stations, and outbound trains travel away from these hub stations.^[4]

The Green Line has four branches in the west: "B" (Boston College), "C" (Cleveland Circle), "D" (Riverside), and "E" (Heath Street). The "A" Branch formerly went to Watertown, filling in the north-to-south letter assignment pattern, and the "E" Branch formerly continued beyond Heath Street to Arborway.

The Red Line has two branches in the south—Ashmont and Braintree, named after their terminal stations.

Colors

Originally, transit lines in the region only used geographic names; though numbering was added to public maps in 1936. The three heavy rail lines were assigned numbers 1, 2, and 3; what is now the Green Line was assigned different numbers for each branch. However, riders generally continued to use the geographic names.^[5] Colors were assigned on August 26, 1965 as part of a wider modernization under design standards developed by Cambridge Seven Associates, and have served as the primary identifier for the lines since then.^[6] The numbers for the heavy rail lines and the Mattapan Line were retained in public information until 1966.^[5] In 1967, the then-current five branches of the Green Line were lettered A through E.^[5] Vehicles were converted from the previous BERy/MTA orange color to a muted gray scheme; only later in the MBTA's history were vehicles repainted to match the colors of their lines.

Cambridge Seven originally intended to use red, yellow, green, and blue for the four lines. However, yellow proved unsuitable, since some patrons would have difficulty reading yellow text on a white background; orange was substituted, and yellow eventually was used for bus visibility markings and signage.^[7] Later sources claim meaningful origins for the color names, although these were not publicly discussed at the time of the switch. According to some explanations, the Orange Line is so named because it then ran along part of lower Washington Street (which was formerly named Orange Street); the Green Line because it runs adjacent to parts of the Emerald Necklace park system; the Blue Line because it runs under Boston Harbor; and the Red Line because its northernmost terminus used to be at Harvard University, whose school color is crimson.^[8][9]

When the switch to colored names was made, the MBTA planned to color bus rollsigns and bus stop signs to match the destination station of the route.^[10] However, that scheme was never implemented.

Stations

The MBTA rapid transit system consists of 133 stations, with another 7 in construction as part of the Green Line Extension project in Somerville.

Rolling stock

The four transit lines all use standard rail gauge, but are otherwise incompatible; trains of one line would have to be modified to run on another. Orange and Blue Line trains are similar enough that modification of some Blue Line trains for operation on the Orange Line was considered, although ultimately rejected for cost reasons. Also, some of the new Blue Line cars from Siemens Transportation were tested on the Orange Line after hours, before acceptance for revenue service on the Blue Line. There are no direct track connections between lines, except between the Red Line and Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line, but all except the Blue Line have little-used connections to the national rail network, which have been used for deliveries of railcars and supplies.^[11]

Fares

As of July 1, 2016, MBTA fares are based on the trip type. A one-way ticket or cash on board costs $2.75, or $2.25 if loaded onto a reusable CharlieCard. The monthly LinkPass (which includes unlimited travel on rapid transit and bus) costs $84.50 per month. Daily and weekly passes are available at $12.00 and $21.25, respectively, and discounts are provided to seniors and high school students. Children up to 11 years old ride free when accompanied by an adult; limit 3.^[12]

See also

• List of metro systems
• List of United States rapid transit systems by ridership

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Subway lines (List of stations)	Heavy rail      Blue      Orange      Red Light rail      Green "B" Branch "C" Branch "D" Branch "E" Branch      Ashmont–Mattapan Former lines      Arborway Line      Atlantic Avenue Elevated      Causeway Street Elevated      Charlestown Elevated      Green Line "A" Branch      Washington Street Elevated
Commuter Rail lines (List of stations)	North Station lines Fitchburg Haverhill (Wildcat Branch) Lowell Newburyport/Rockport South Station lines Fairmount Framingham/Worcester Franklin Greenbush Needham Old Colony (Kingston/Plymouth Middleborough/Lakeville      CapeFLYER) Providence/Stoughton Former lines Central Mass Branch Dedham Branch Lexington Branch Millis Branch Woburn Branch
Bus routes (List of routes)	Silver Line Crosstown routes Key routes Trackless trolleys Routes East Boston, Chelsea, Revere Melrose, Reading, Stoneham, Wakefield South Boston
Other services	Boat The Ride
Component parts of system lines	Boylston Street Subway      Haymarket North Extension      Lechmere Viaduct      Tremont Street Subway
Capital projects	Under construction      Blue Hill Avenue station      Boston Landing station           Forest Hills modifications      Green Line Extension      Haverhill Line upgrades           Silver Line Gateway / Chelsea station      South Coast Rail In planning / proposed      Buzzards Bay extension      Foxboro service      Hynes Convention Center renovation      Kingston R.I. extension      Nashua extension      Route 16 extension      Wollaston renovation Formerly proposed      Arborway Line restoration      Indigo Line (Fairmount Grand Junction Track 61)      Lexington extension      Lynn extension      North–South Rail Link      Plaistow extension      Reading extension           Red Line—Blue Line Connector Urban Ring Project
History	Predecessor companies Boston Elevated Railway Streetcar lines Boston and Maine Railroad Conrail New York Central Railroad New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Penn Central Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway Middlesex and Boston Street Railway Newton and Boston Street Railway Accidents and incidents      1990 Back Bay      2008 Waban/Woodland
Other	Accessibility Arts on the Line Bicycling CharlieCard Grand Junction Railroad "Charlie on the M.T.A." Nomenclature Police                Winter Street Concourse Yards and maintenance facilities