History UsefulNotes / TheT

'''Green Line:''' The Green Line is a light rail system, using articulated vehicles to negotiate tight curves. Extends from Lechmere on the Cambridge side of the Charles River, on a viaduct across to the Museum of Science, then past North Station and south through Tremont Street and around Boston Common, west under Boylston Street through the Back Bay (the "E" branch splits off past Copley Square and heads more sharply southwest along Huntington Avenue, underground at first but surfacing at Northeastern University and passing the Museum of Fine Arts and the medical area, finally turning to reach its current terminal at Heath Street), continuing west to Kenmore Square, where it splits into three streetcar lines that soon surface, "B" (due west past Boston University and along winding Commonwealth Avenue to Boston College and the city line), "C" (west-southwest along the median of straight Beacon Street to Coolidge Corner and Cleveland Circle), and "D" (west-southwest past Fenway Park and following the meandering route of an old railroad branch through Brookline and Newton all the way out to Riverside). The "B", "C" and "D" lines nearly converge at Chestnut Hill Reservoir.[[note]] If you're wondering why the lines are lettered B-E, there used to be an "A" line that diverged from the "B" line at Packards Corner and continued on to Watertown Yard prior to 1969. As most of the line between Packards Corner and Watertown Yard ran in mixed traffic, the service's reliability plummeted as automobile traffic increased, contributing to the MBTA's decision to close the line on a trial basis in 1969, a closure that became permanent. Currently, the old route of the "A" line is serviced by the route 57 bus.[[/note]] Plans are under way to extend the Green Line to the northwest of Lechmere, with the extension being serviced by the "D" and "E" branches.

The northern portion, which opened in 2004, has been better received. Built as the mass transit component of the infamous Big Dig, it consists of an exclusive tunnel between the South Station rail terminal and the waterfront area, in which the dual-mode buses run using overhead trolley wires (to avoid fumes in the tunnel). After surfacing, they switch to regular engines and take one of three routes. One takes a short loop route near the waterfront that includes the Boston cruise ship terminal, while the other two loop into the Ted Williams Tunnel to cross the harbor to Logan Airport. One route loops around the airport, stopping at the terminals before heading back through the tunnel, while the third (and most recent) uses a combination of airport bypass roads and a private roadway to reach Chelsea.

'''Red Line:''' The longest of the heavy-rail lines, the Red Line extends from the Alewife parking garage in western Cambridge, east under a railroad turned bike path to Davis Square in Somerville, south back into Cambridge in a very deep tunnel, tightly curving around Harvard Yard and running east underground towards the MIT campus, surfacing to cross the Charles River on the Longfellow Bridge, briefly becoming elevated before going into a tunnel under Beacon Hill and the Boston Common, then connecting with the Green and Orange Lines on a lower level and continuing underground south through South Boston, surfacing in Dorchester. Here it splits into two branches, one due south to Quincy and Braintree and one south-southwest through Dorchester to Ashmont. (The Mattapan High Speed Line, a heritage streetcar line operated with PCC streetcars that formerly served the Green Line, functions as an extension of the Ashmont branch, heading due west and straying across the Neponset River into Milton.) Technically a north-south line, but never acknowledged as such by Bostonians or official signage (which uses "inbound" and "outbound" to indicate directions).

->''"Pahk Street. Change heah fa' dah Green Line. Doahs on both sides."''[[note]]The current automated announcements do not have anywhere near such a strong accent. It will usually be something like [[http://youtu.be/8GqE2jcZEzM?t=54s "Next stop, Park Street. Doors will open on the left/on both sides of the train."]] On the other hand, barring the four Green Lines (B~E) and maybe the Blue Line, not all of the rolling stock have automated voice announcements, so sometimes you'll hear the operators making the announcements, some of whom do have this strong an accent.[[/note]]

The T proper consists of four subway lines (Green, Red, Orange, Blue), as well as a high-speed bus line (Silver).[[note]] The colours date back to the MBTA re-branding process in August 1965 and were not chosen randomly; the five lines that ran through the Emerald Necklace park system became collectively known as the Green Line, the line with a northern terminus at Harvard Square became the Red Line (a nod to the Harvard Crimson athletic teams), the line that runs under Orange Street (now Washington Street) became the Orange Line, and the line that ran under Boston Harbor became the Blue Line.[[/note]] The four lines meet in a quadrangle of transfer stations in downtown Boston. In the pre-MBTA period, the lower-level platforms at some of the central stations were distinguished by having the word "Under" appended to the station name: Park Street Under, South Station Under (which was originally under an elevated station that was later demolished), Scollay Under. Each line uses its own type of equipment, even though in the early 20th century what are now the Blue and Green Lines were both operated with trolleys and the Tremont Street Subway was temporarily rebuilt to accommodate elevated cars.

The T proper consists of four subway lines (Green, Red, Orange, Blue), as well as a high-speed bus line (Silver). The four lines meet in a quadrangle of transfer stations in downtown Boston. In the pre-MBTA period, the lower-level platforms at some of the central stations were distinguished by having the word "Under" appended to the station name: Park Street Under, South Station Under (which was originally under an elevated station that was later demolished), Scollay Under. Each line uses its own type of equipment, even though in the early 20th century what are now the Blue and Green Lines were both operated with trolleys and the Tremont Street Subway was temporarily rebuilt to accommodate elevated cars.

'''Silver Line:''' Opened in 2002, it basically is a pair of disjointed bus routes that were inaugurated for two separate reasons. The southern portion, which started first, is a limited stop bus running on Washington Street two a couple of different downtown loops. It was launched as a partial replacement for the Orange Line when it was moved from the Washington Street Elevated to the new alignment alongside the Amtrak and commuter tracks. With little to separate it from a regular bus route, and running in regular mixed traffic, it has been roundly criticized as a pointless exercise, especially since it took 15 years to launch. It's been lacked as the "Silver Lie" for its entire existence.

'''Blue Line:''' The second oldest subway line in Boston, including the second oldest underwater vehicular tunnel in North America. Cutting on a northeast diagonal through the city, this line starts downtown at Bowdoin, tunnels under State Street and Boston Harbor into East Boston, surfaces near Logan International Airport, and from there past Suffolk Downs and along the shore to Revere Beach and Wonderland. This line is unique in that the line runs on electric third rail in the underground section from Logan Airport to Bowdoin, but on the aboveground line from Airport to Bowdoin runs with overhead catenary. The underground section was originally operated with trolley cars that continued along East Boston streets from where Maverick station was later built, while most of the aboveground section was built along part of a defunct suburban railroad. The reason for the use of overhead wire on the aboveground track is to prevent the icing that normally happens on third rail-equipped tracks in winter.

'''Green Line:''' This is a light rail/streetcar line, using articulated vehicles to negotiate tight curves. Extends from Lechmere on the Cambridge side of the Charles River, on a viaduct across to the Museum of Science, then past North Station and south through Tremont Street and around Boston Common, west under Boylston Street through the Back Bay (the "E" branch splits off past Copley Square and heads more sharply southwest along Huntington Avenue, underground at first but surfacing at Northeastern University and passing the Museum of Fine Arts and the medical area, finally turning to reach its current terminal at Heath Street), continuing west to Kenmore Square, where it splits into three streetcar lines that soon surface, "B" (due west past Boston University and along winding Commonwealth Avenue to Boston College and the city line), "C" (west-southwest along the median of straight Beacon Street to Coolidge Corner and Cleveland Circle), and "D" (west-southwest past Fenway Park and following the meandering route of an old railroad branch through Brookline and Newton all the way out to Riverside). The "B", "C" and "D" lines nearly converge at Chestnut Hill Reservoir.[[note]] If you're wondering why the lines are lettered B-E, there used to be an "A" line that diverged from the "B" line at Packards Corner and continued on to Watertown Yard. As most of the line between Packards Corner and Watertown Yard ran in mixed traffic, the service's reliability plummeted as automobile traffic increased, contributing to the MBTA's decision to close the line on a trial basis in 1969 - a closure that became permanent. Currently, the old route of the "A" line is serviced by the route 57 bus.[[/note]]

'''Red Line:''' One of the system's rapid transit lines, with the longest cars of them all, the Red Line extends from the Alewife parking garage in western Cambridge, east under a railroad turned bike path to Davis Square in Somerville, south back into Cambridge in a very deep tunnel, tightly curving around Harvard Yard and running east underground towards the MIT campus, surfacing to cross the Charles River on the Longfellow Bridge (now undergoing major reconstruction), briefly becoming elevated before going into a tunnel under Beacon Hill and the Boston Common, then connecting with the Green and Orange Lines on a lower level and continuing underground south through South Boston, surfacing in Dorchester and splitting into two branches, one due south to Quincy and Braintree and one south-southwest through Dorchester to Ashmont. (The Mattapan High Speed Line, a heritage streetcar line operated with PCC streetcars that formerly served the Green Line, functions as an extension of the Ashmont branch, heading due west and straying across the Neponset River into Milton.) Technically a north-south line, but never acknowledged as such by Bostonians or official signage (which uses "inbound" and "outbound" to indicate directions).

'''Blue Line:''' The second oldest subway line in Boston, including the second oldest underwater vehicular tunnel in North America. Cutting on a northeast diagonal through the city, this line starts downtown at Bowdoin, tunnels under State Street and Boston Harbor into East Boston, surfaces near Logan International Airport, and from there past Suffolk Downs and along the shore to Revere Beach and Wonderland. This line is unique in that the line runs on electric third rail from Logan Airport to Bowdoin in the underground section, but runs on overhead catenary from the Airport to Wonderland, on the aboveground section. The underground section was originally operated with trolley cars that continued along East Boston streets from where Maverick station was later built, while most the aboveground section was built along part of a defunct suburban railroad.

'''Green Line:''' This is a light rail/streetcar line, using articulated vehicles to negotiate tight curves. Extends from Lechmere on the Cambridge side of the Charles River, on a viaduct across to the Museum of Science, then past North Station and south through Tremont Street and around Boston Common, west under Boylston Street through the Back Bay (the "E" branch splits off past Copley Square and heads more sharply southwest along Huntington Avenue, underground at first but surfacing at Northeastern University and passing the Museum of Fine Arts and the medical area, finally turning to reach its current terminal at Heath Street), continuing west to Kenmore Square, where it splits into three streetcar lines that soon surface, "B" (due west past Boston University and along winding Commonwealth Avenue to Boston College and the city line), "C" (west-southwest along the median of straight Beacon Street to Coolidge Corner and Cleveland Circle), and "D" (west-southwest past Fenway Park and following the meandering route of an old railroad branch through Brookline and Newton all the way out to Riverside). The "B", "C" and "D" lines nearly converge at Chestnut Hill Reservoir.[[note]] If you're wondering why the lines are lettered B-E, there used to be an "A" line that diverged from the "B" line at Packards Corner and continued on to Watertown Yard. As most of the line between Packards Corner and Watertown Yard ran in mixed traffic, the service's reliability plummeted as automobile traffic increased, contributing to the MBTA's decision to close the line on a trial basis in 1969 - a closure that became permanent. Currently, the old route of the "A" line is serviced by bus.[[/note]]

'''Green Line:''' This is a light rail/streetcar line, using articulated vehicles to negotiate tight curves. Extends from Lechmere on the Cambridge side of the Charles River, on a viaduct across to the Museum of Science, then past North Station and south through Tremont Street and around Boston Common, west under Boylston Street through the Back Bay (the "E" branch splits off past Copley Square and heads more sharply southwest along Huntington Avenue, underground at first but surfacing at Northeastern University and passing the Museum of Fine Arts and the medical area, finally turning to reach its current terminal at Heath Street), continuing west to Kenmore Square, where it splits into three streetcar lines that soon surface, "B" (due west past Boston University and along winding Commonwealth Avenue to Boston College and the city line), "C" (west-southwest along the median of straight Beacon Street to Coolidge Corner and Cleveland Circle), and "D" (west-southwest past Fenway Park and following the meandering route of an old railroad branch through Brookline and Newton all the way out to Riverside). The "B", "C" and "D" lines nearly converge at Chestnut Hill Reservoir.[[note]] If you're wondering why the lines are lettered B-E, there used to be an "A" line that diverged from the "B" line at Packards Corner and continued on to Watertown Yard. As most of the line between Packards Corner and Watertown Yard ran in mixed traffic, the service's reliability plummeted as automobile traffic increased, contributing to the MBTA's decision to close the line on a trial basis in 1969 - a closure that became permanent.[[/note]]

->''"Pahk Street. Change heah fa' dah Green Line. Dorrs on both sides."''[[note]]The current automated announcements do not have anywhere near such a strong accent. It will usually be something like [[http://youtu.be/8GqE2jcZEzM?t=54s "Next stop, Park Street. Doors will open on the left/on both sides of the train."]] On the other hand, barring the four Green Lines (B~E) and maybe the Blue Line, not all of the rolling stock have automated voice announcements, so sometimes you'll hear the operators making the announcements, some of whom do have this strong an accent.[[/note]]

'''Green Line:''' This is a light rail/streetcar line, using articulated vehicles to negotiate tight curves. Extends from Lechmere on the Cambridge side of the Charles River, on a viaduct across to the Museum of Science, then past North Station and south through Tremont Street and around Boston Common, west under Boylston Street through the Back Bay (the "E" branch splits off past Copley Square and heads more sharply southwest along Huntington Avenue, underground at first but surfacing at Northeastern University and passing the Museum of Fine Arts and the medical area, finally turning to reach its current terminal at Heath Street), continuing west to Kenmore Square, where it splits into three streetcar lines that soon surface, "B" (due west past Boston University and along winding Commonwealth Avenue to Boston College and the city line), "C" (west-southwest along the median of straight Beacon Street to Coolidge Corner and Cleveland Circle), and "D" (west-southwest past Fenway Park and following the meandering route of an old railroad branch through Brookline and Newton all the way out to Riverside). The "B", "C" and "D" lines nearly converge at Chestnut Hill Reservoir.

As subways go, the T falls somewhere on a continuum between the outright filth of New York's subways and the antiseptic Washington Metro. It's very safe, reasonably clean, and far, far more efficient than trying to brave the hells of driving on congested streets filled with [[DrivesLikeCrazy Boston drivers]] (made worse by the fact that much of Boston's street grid, with the notable exception of the Back Bay, more closely resembles the web of a deranged spider than any sort of actual, you know, ''grid''). Likewise, the T isn't quite as iconic as NYC's subways or Chicago's L, but just about any work set in the Greater Boston area will show the T somewhere, even if it's just in a stock scenery shot. (Red Line trains crossing the Charles River tend to show up ''very'' often in film and TV.)

-->''"Pahk Street. Change heah fa' dah Green Line. Dorrs on both sides."''[[note]]The current automated announcements do not have anywhere near such a strong accent. It will usually be something like [[http://youtu.be/8GqE2jcZEzM?t=54s "Next stop, Park Street. Doors will open on the left/on both sides of the train."]] On the other hand, barring the four Green Lines (B~E) and maybe the Blue Line, not all of the rolling stock have automated voice announcements, so sometimes you'll hear the operators making the announcements, some of whom do have this strong an accent.[[/note]]

* "Charlie on the MTA" was originally written as a campaign song for Walter O'Brien's unsuccessful 1949 mayoral bid, protesting a recent fare increase. The song was popularized ten years later by the Kingston Trio and ultimately became an AscendedMeme when the MBTA rolled out its [=CharlieCard=]/[=CharlieTicket=] fare system in late 2004.

-->''"Pahk Street. Change heah fa' dah Green Line. Dorrs on both sides."''[[note]]The current automated announcements do not have anywhere near such a strong accent. It will usually be something like [[http://youtu.be/8GqE2jcZEzM?t=54s "Next stop, Park Street. Doors will open on the left/on both sides of the train."]][[/note]][[note]]On the other hand, barring the four Green Lines (B~E) and maybe the Blue Line, not all of the rolling stock have automated voice announcements, so sometimes you'll hear the operators making the announcements, some of whom do have this strong an accent.[[/note]]

[[AC:{{LiveActionTV}}]]

The T proper consists of four subway lines (Green, Red, Orange, Blue), as well as a high-speed bus line (Silver). The four lines meet in a quadrangle of transfer stations in downtown Boston (though Government Center, formerly Scollay Square, has been temporarily closed for construction since 2014). In the pre-MBTA period, the lower-level platforms at some of the central stations were distinguished by having the word "Under" appended to the station name: Park Street Under, South Station Under (which was originally under an elevated station that was later demolished), Scollay Under. Each line uses its own type of equipment, even though in the early 20th century what are now the Blue and Green Lines were both operated with trolleys and the Tremont Street Subway was temporarily rebuilt to accommodate elevated cars.

As subways go, the T falls somewhere on a continuum between the outright filth of New York's subways and the antiseptic Washington Metro. It's very safe, reasonably clean, and far, far more efficient than trying to brave the hells of driving on congested streets filled with [[DrivesLikeCrazy Boston drivers]]. Likewise, the T isn't quite as iconic as NYC's subways or Chicago's L, but just about any work set in the Greater Boston area will show the T somewhere, even if it's just in a stock scenery shot. (Red Line trains crossing the Charles River tend to show up ''very'' often in film and TV.)

-->''"Pahk Street. Change heah fa' dah Green Line. Dorrs on both sides."''[[note]]The current automated announcements do not have anywhere near such a strong accent. It will usually be something like [[http://youtu.be/8GqE2jcZEzM?t=54s "Next stop, Park Street. Doors will open on the left/on both sides of the train."]][[/note]]

'''Orange Line:''' The main north-south line... kind of. Originally elevated over city streets for most of its length (with an elevated branch along the waterfront that was finally scrapped during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII), its outer ends were entirely rebuilt along railroad rights of way in the 1970s and 1980s. It starts in Oak Grove way up in Malden, continues south through Charlestown, tunnels under the river and runs through downtown under Washington Street. (The four innermost stations originally had different names for the northbound and southbound platforms, none of which lie exactly opposite each other and in the case of State are several blocks apart.) It continues south-southwest in an open cut next to the Amtrak main line through the South End, Jamaica Plain and Roxbury, ultimately ending in Forest Hills.

The T proper consists of four subway lines (Green, Red, Orange, Blue), as well as a high-speed bus line (Silver). The four lines meet in a quadrangle of transfer stations in downtown Boston (though Government Center, formerly Scollay Square, is temporarily closed for construction). Each line uses its own type of equipment, even though in the early 20th century what are now the Blue and Green Lines were both operated with trolleys and the Tremont Street Subway was temporarily rebuilt to accommodate elevated cars.