MBTA Subway or The Boston ‘T’

 

 

The MBTA subway, or popularly known as the ‘T’, is the rapid transit rail system of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the first subway system of the United States and hence, also the oldest.

 

 

 

 

 

The MBTA is the largest cosumer of electricity in the state of Massachusetts. It is also the second largest land owner. Although it is known as a subway system, it comprises of two lines which are not entirely subways: the Green Line, which is a light rail- subway line and the Silver Line, which is a Bus Rapid Transit line. All the trains are painted with the color of the line it serves. The logo of the MBTA was inspired by the Stockholm Metro, the Tunnelbana.

Lines and Routes

 

The MBTA comprise of 5 lines. These lines are known by the colors with which they are represented on the MBTA map: Red, Orange, Blue, Green and Silver lines.

Red Line

 

The Red Line runs roughly in the north- south direction through Boston and into some of the neighboring communities. Starting from the west of Boston, the terminus station is Alewife Station, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

 

At the south of downtown, the line splits into two directions. The split occurs at JFK/ UMass station. One branch leads to Braintree station and the other branch leads to Ashmont station. Following Ashmont station, the Ashmont- Mattapan High Speed Line leads to Mattapan station. The Ashmont branch mainly runs vintage streetcars which have been abandoned by older or defunct transit agencies, the most popular being the PCC streetcars. The line is mainly underground, except for a portion which runs over the Charles River. The power drawn by the trains on this line is by third rail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Orange Line

The Orange Line runs from Forest Hills in Jamaica Plain, Boston in the south to  Oak Grove in Malden, Massachusetts. Prior to the construction and opening of Orange Line, an elevated rail line, known as the Atlantic Elevated Rail Line used to run in this route. The elevated line was eventually torn down, and the Orange Line was constructed. The Orange Line is totally underground. Like the Red Line, the trains in the Orange Line also draw power via third rail. During the Big Dig in the 1990s, many stations in this line underwent major renovations, including Haymarket and North Station.

Blue Line

The Blue Line runs runs from northeast to southwest. Until the construction of the Silver Line, this was the only line in the T which connected people to Logan International Airport at Airport Station. Although this station is not located within the airport, a free shuttle is available from this station to the airport. The electrification of the trains on this line is via overhead lines as well as third rail. The termini are Wonderland Station (Revere, Massachusetts)  in the northeast and Bowdoin Station (near Beacon Hill) in the southwest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Green Line

The Green Line is a light rail-subway line. It is the most highly used light rail system in the United States. This is also the oldest line in the entire system. The Green Line is a result of renovation and conversion of the old streetcar lines in Boston into light rail lines. The Green Line consists of four branches, where the system serves as a light rail. Three of  the four branches converge at Kenmore station, and it is from here that the light rail system goes underground and functions more like a subway. Although the light rail system is the result of the old streetcar lines, most of the streetcar lines were removed from Boston, as the construction of a subway system was planned.

 

 

 

Silver Line

The silver line, though considered to be a part of the subway, is actually a bus rapid transit line. It consists of two sections: the first runs from Dudley Square in Roxbury to downtown Boston, Massachusetts and South Station, mostly via Washington Street, with buses operating in reserved lanes; the second runs from South Station to several points in South Boston and to Logan Airport in East Boston, partly in a dedicated bus tunnel and on dedicated surface right-of-way. The buses fleet consists of 40 ft buses as well as 60 ft articulated buses. These buses are primarily dual- mode buses: they run via electrification through overhead wires as well as Compressed Natural Gas. Unlike the usual fare system in case of buses, fares for the Silver Line are to be payed before boarding the bus via kiosks. A ticket needs to be purchased for the Silver Line which serves as proof-of-payment from the street level stations. However, there are turnstiles in the underground stations.

 

Fares and tokens

 

The fare is paid either via a Charlie Ticket or a Charlie Card. A Charlie Ticket costs $2 and consists of a single trip along with one free transfer from a bus to the subway, or from one subway line to another, but not from a subway to a bus. A Charlie Card is a transit card in which an amount can be stored. Each trip via a Charlie Card costs $1.70 along with a free transfer. The transfer conditions are same as that of a Charlie Ticket.

 

New York City Subway

  The MTA New York City Subway, or simply the New York City Subway, is the rail rapid transit system of New York City. It is the largest rapid transit system in the world in terms of number of stations, the second largest system in the Western Hemisphere in terms of total track length, and the fourth most busiest system in the world in terms of annual passenger boardings (the first three being the systems of Tokyo, Seoul and Moscow). Unlike any other American city, where the chief means of transport is a private vehicle, about 54% of the total population of New York City does not own a car or any other private vehicle, and only 27% of the total population commutes by private vehicle.

This is also one of 4 rapid transit rail systems in the United States that runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This system serves 4 out of the 5 boroughs of New York City, Staten Island being the only borough where there is no subway service. Even though the subway system has been criticised for the low maintenance of the stations, lack of emancipation of the infrastructure and being dingy, dirty and at times hostile for passengers, the system plays a very important role in the average in New Yorker’s life. Since New York City is known for its rush, the people don’t really care much about the issues mentioned above, as long as the train is reaching them to their destination on time.

Lines and Routes

 Ideally in the subway maps of most of the systems, the lines (each line differentiated from the other by a specific color) denote the route that the trains serving these lines would be taking. However, in case of the New York subway system, the lines should not be mistaken for routes. The lines only indicate the physical track, whereas their are trains for more than one route running on the same line. Thus, in some of the stations, the platforms cater to trains running for more than one route. Due to this, people using the system for the first time often end up in the wrong train and thus donot reach the station of their choice. After figuring out which platform to wait in for your train, it is important to know which train you are boarding at the same time. Each train has the route (indicated by a letter or number) specified in front of the motorman’s car. There are displays on the sides of the other cars as well indicating the route and the direction of the train. One must check this information on the displays before boarding the train in order to avoid getting into the wrong train. Another practice of this system which is unlike other systems is the method of denoting the direction of the train. While in most of the other systems you have the destination terminus indicating the direction of the train, in the New York subway system, the direction is indicated by the words Uptown or Downtown. It is therefore important to know the map geographically to know in which direction do you have to travel.

Although the system runs 24 hours a day, only some of the routes are served by the system at late nights. The routes also undergo diversion and avoid some stations and may  at the same time stop at some stations to which they do not serve at the ideal time of operation. A separate map of the system is available for the night time service.   There are two types of services: Express and Local. The Express trains only stop at certain stations and this makes the transit faster between these particular stations. The Local trains stop at all stations and are thus slower. This information is also provided at the displays in front and the sides of the train. While boarding an Express train, one should make sure that the station where they wish to get off is also an Express train station. The tracks of these services for each route run parallel to each other.

Fares and Tokens

The most common means of paying the fare is through a Metrocard. This card carries a stored monetary value and debits a standard value from it at each time of boarding. Turnstiles at all stations need to be either flashed or swiped by these cards in order to board a train. The Metrocard can also be used for the MTA bus service, the PATH rapid transit system, the Staten Island Railway, the Long Island Rail Road service and the Roosevelt Island Tramway. The standard charge is $2 for each boarding.

Single ride tickets are also available, which cost slightly higher than each boarding via the Metrocard. Each single ride ticket costs $2.50 with a free transfer to another MTA service.

Unlimited Transit Passes are also available on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Special reduced fare cards are also issued to certain eligible people. In order to purchase a reduced fare card, proper documents with ID proofs are required and can only be issued by MTA authorities. These cards are not available on kiosks.