The Oldest Subway in the Americas | Boston's Rapid Transit Network
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- čas přidán 28. 06. 2024
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Boston's Subway lines are the most historic in the United States, and the network is impressive despite some parts clearly showing their age. Let's take a closer look!
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Check out the bonus video on Nebula, after you are done this one! Crayoning is my passion
nebula.tv/videos/rmtransit-levelling-up-bostons-rapid-transit-network
Special thanks to Marc Ebuña for helping with the script of this video!
How did you even make those emoji picture things of your face small enough we cant see your face without zooming in enough to make it pixelated? At first it creeped me out.
SEPTA NEXT??? :)
Hey Reece, I'd love to sign up for Nebula, but like many other people over here in Germany/Europe, I don't have a credit card, which means I have no way to actually subscribe to the service (no, my debit card doesn't work for this).
It would be great if Nebula would introduce additional payment options such as PayPal (or even plain and simple SEPA bank transactions or SEPA direct debit for us Europeans), because right now people with no credit card are basically excluded from accessing Nebula.
Boston would be uniquely suited to an orbital route among U.S. cities due to it being more polycentric. Connections with rapid rail transit between the airport, Cambridge, Somerville, Longwood Medical Area, the Seaport District without going downtown would be a game changer.
Agreed. It would remove the need to go downtown for trips that use multiple lines. It would mean walking stops competing with taking the T for most trips. Definitely needs to be a pink line.
I also support the creation of this hypothetical "pink line"
They used to have big plans for this on their web site, including a BRT ring of which some would eventually be converted to light rail or rapid transit, but all those plans quietly disappeared back in the 2010s. The only expansions they ever do are the ones they are dragged into kicking and screaming (or at least fidgeting and whining).
@@Lucius_Chiaraviglio These ideas go back at least a hundred years and somehow never get close to realization. A few scraps of the BRT ring survived as portions of the Silver Line.
Yes. Going from Brookline to Cambridge ( Boston U to Harvard )which are somewhat adjacent - separated by a river with plenty of bridges - requires an hour trip into downtown. You can walk it in half the time.
obsession with battery electric buses instead of service increases deserves an episode
2 interesting things about the D branch:
It actually used to straight up be a heavy rail branch! It was converted from a commuter rail line in the 60s
At Brookline Hills it runs through a high school! (as it, it literally cuts through the middle of and has a stop poking out of one of the buildings). It’s also got some excellent TOD at this station as a huge amount of the students at that school use that stop to get around, and it was recently renovated with the school!
The Riverside Line was a former Boston & Albany (New York Central) branch.
@@staycgirlsitsgoingdown2 Damn; Boston is one helluva cultured city! Most rapid transit systems don’t have stations even in COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES; Boston has one inside a HIGH SCHOOL?!
Classiest way to go to class!!
The over line construction is very fun to look at
One thing the video missed: there is a free shuttle service that runs between Airport on the Blue Line and all of Logan's terminals... so no one actually walks (which is good, because most of the route is blocked by freeways)
It takes a while to make that connection though. What impresses me more is that the Silver Line now does the same loop with a connection straight to South Station through the Ted Williams Tunnel--and the outbound ride to South Station is free and even gets you a fare-free transfer to the subway, so they're effectively spotting you a free one-way subway ride. As frustrating as the development of the Silver Line has been, that's one of its nicest features. I wish it had existed when I was in grad school and living car-free in Cambridge.
I was being facetious about walking, a free shuttle is expected!
I lived in Boston for over a decade without a car (a little bit in Allston but mostly in the South End), and here are some of my wishes for the MBTA system:
1. The North-South link. It's inexcusable that after all this time, there's no direct way to get from North Station to South Station (or vice versa.)
2. A subway line that doesn't go downtown. One of the biggest weaknesses of the the T's rail network is that all lines go to/from downtown, so if you want to go (for example) from Fenway Park to Harvard, you either have to go all the way downtown and back out or take a bus. I would love to see a line along Mass Ave. that starts at either Harvard or Central Square and goes south along (or below) Mass Ave. through MIT, the west end of the Back Bay neighborhood, and into the South End from there. Right now, bus 1 takes that route and it is packed at all times of day, 7 days a week.
3. That they could give back the debt they were forced to take on from the Big Dig. They gained nothing from those loans which they didn't get a penny from and that debt cripples them so much.
And now for some fun facts about how each line got its name:
Red Line: initially ended at Harvard, whose primary color is crimson
Blue Line: Goes under the Boston Harbor
Green Line: The D branch goes through a series of parks just west of Fenway known as the Emerald Necklace.
Orange Line: The stretch of Washington St. it goes under in the downtown area used to be called Orange Street.
Silver Line: What's now called the SL5 was the first silver line branch to be built, and it replaced the Orange Line. When the MBTA rerouted the Orange Line in the late 1980s, they promised South End residents a replacement that was as good as the Orange Line. The solution was a bus "rapid" transit which is nowhere near as good as a subway line. Since it was only a second best solution, they called it the Silver Line 😛.
That’s cool. But I can add to that story about the Silver Line. Apparently in later years the T explained its choice of Silver for their BRT network in honor of Logan Airports chrome and metallic exterior throughout much of its Airline Terminals.
The Orange Line *used to* go along Washington St when the Washington St Elevated was still around.
It no longer does so bc the eL was torn down in 1987 and has been relegated to the SW Corridor since then.
They also called it the “Silver *Lie*” since they did a bait and switch and gave them buses instead of rail.
In regard to the North-South link, that was supposed to be down as part of the Big Dig, but as the cost of that project ballooned to ridiculous levels, it was dropped. Of course, the highway portion was finished, because cars.
@@1978dkellywell the Silver Line could be improved with more dedicated busways like you have on the SL3 in Chelsea and traffic priority signaling.
Also building a new portal Downtown to unify the Waterfront and Washington Street branches of the Silver Line for a one seat ride between Nubian and Logan Airport. While they’re are it replace the roadways in the underground busway cause the ride is rather bumpy.
Finally! I've been living in Boston (well, Cambridge) for the past few years and have grown to love this city. Been waiting for this video for a long long time!
Lived in Cambridge my entire life and I also love this city/metro area
I hope it was worth the wait!
The T was one of the main reasons I chose to move to Boston. Been here for 3+ years without a car and I will say that it may not be perfect, but it is sufficient. The more I know about transit the more I believe there is serious potential here. Anyway great video.
Absolutely enormous potential!
The congestion in the Green Line tunnels around Copley is maddening.
@@JacobMoretti-NotABot congestion due to train traffic?
@@theaveragejoe5781 It's where 4 different branches all converge into a single track. I can imagine lineups could end up forming there.
@@takeyb0y2 I see. And a solution is probably unlikely because of the cost of tunneling :/
The green line frequencies in the main tunnel is soooooo congested
@@theaveragejoe5781 There have been talks for decades for a ring line linking all the spokes of the system. I think most proposals had it going through Kenmore where three of the branches merge, and that’d help divert some of the ridership. but the Big Dig sucked up all funding for a generation, and I’m sure the huge cost overruns on the Green Line Extension don’t help either.
It's crazy that Boston hasn't opened a new subway line in about 100 years.
@@RipCityBassWorks not many American cities have.
Boston really needs to bring back the Green Line A Branch.
I do remember how nightmarishly slow that last streetcar leg could be.
As a transit nerd, studying at Northeastern was a dream because I could look out the window and see rapid transit, light rail, commuter rail, NE regional, and Acela trains passing through the campus
I love being a Northeastern student for the same reason!!
It's a dream indeed, Boston is great for universities and transit, if you are a student who likes transit its hard to go wrong!
Having both the Green Line and the Orange Line right on campus is so convenient and honestly such a flex compared to most other US universities
I think Northeastern was the most urban non-NYC university in a classic City Nerd video
The reason for the offset Orange Line platforms is a bit funny. Local merchants in Boston were concerned that if people didn't have to walk along the surface streets to get to the train, they wouldn't go to their stores. So the solution was to have a long series of disconnected one-way stations so that everybody would have to walk along the street either on the way in or on the way out, because the northbound and southbound stations weren't colocated. MTA (as it was at the time) put in a fairly impressive effort in the 50's to join up these one-way stations in pairs to create the stations we have now.
State station is like a baffling underground labyrinth because it's such an assemblage of conjoined stations that were originally separate.
Why would store owners get to decide station design?
@@badhomwork3585 There are two reasons. First, at the time the Orange Line tunnel (then called the "Main Line") was being constructed, there was a protectionist racket going on in the city where the politicians were in the pockets of the business owners. Second, recall that BERy, Boston Electric Railways, which was building the line, was itself a private business, so it would have been sympathetic to other business's concerns anyways.
The alignment of the orange line stations of Chinatown and downtown crossing is so weird and state is even weirder
There is yet another reason for the offsets. Washington Street is very narrow and there wasn't enough room to have 2 tracks and 2 platforms across from each other at all stations. At State Street, for example, the northbound Orange Line actually dives under the southbound platform.
I love how the train in the thumbnail looks like it’s falling apart, which perfectly encapsulates the MBTA now 😭
Aww I heard it's bad 😔😔
The train in the thumbnail is one of the new Orange Line trains. But having ridden one of those and seeing how cheaply made they are, I think that in a few years you will be proven right.
@@theaveragejoe5781 As someone who lives here -- it's bad.
@@theaveragejoe5781 let me guess, from Wendover's overly negative and pro-car biased video?
@@crowmob-yo6ry acquaintance living there
@@crowmob-yo6ry Would you say that Wendover's video is less than accurate?
So excited you finally covered the T and other systems part of the MBTA and our other services
Thanks for watching!
The silver line route in seaport is the WEIRDEST and most CONFUSING transit routes I have ever seen.
It’s a consequence of US aversion to spending money on transit. They decided a new train was too expensive so they went with buses.
@@1978dkelly That aversion always gets worse under Republican administrations in Washington DC
As someone who's been a bit more critical of your takes on Boston's transit, I have to say you did a great job of highlighting the city's strengths and weaknesses here!
Definitely going to check out that nebula video!
the Green Line is really damn cool. it's basically a rapid transit system on its own. it's bigger than most entire streetcar or light rail systems in other cities in the US. Very versatile system overall
@@himbourbanist Second only to the “A” line in Los Angeles….
Worth noting: in addition to regional rail, North Station is also served by Amtrak trains to Portland, Maine.
But it's disconnected from the rest of the Amtrak network, which is profoundly frustrating (if there were a North-South link there could be trains to New York City from my neighborhood).
@@MattMcIrvin Quite true, but I don't see how it could be done. I haven't been around Boston for some years, but after the ordeal of the Big Dig, I can't imagine anyone wants to build more tunnels through downtown.
@@caeliachapin5317 It IS difficult to imagine; however, once it’s considered that rail lines consume much less space than stuperhighways, tunneling shouldn’t be too much trouble.
I’m very confident the MBTA is on track to remove all it’s slow zones by the end of the year. It’s still a work in progress, but GM Eng’s leadership has been magnificent and is putting the system on a much better path compared to previous administrations
It’s crazy how similar Boston and Philly’s transportation system are.
Makes me look forward to that video :P (I know he covered just the trolleys a little while ago.)
In my home city for a change, we certainly need more trains. traffic is maddening here. electrification of the commuter lines would also go a long way here. nice video.
You completely forgot to mention one of the Boston transit system's most unique features: It's the only public transport system in the world with its own ghost! The system is haunted by the ghost of a man named Charlie, who boarded a train and was never able to disembark because of the introduction of exit fares at stations. The fare card for the system is called the CharlieCard in a tribute to the ghost!
(Actually, Charlie comes from a song that was commissioned by a mayoral candidate, Walter A O'Brien, who had an anti-exit-fare position as part of his platform, but I'm pretty sure that most Boston people believe in the ghost because having an official public transport ghost is very funny)
Interesting fact Boston has Americas oldest subway cars still in active service. As a Bostonian I was born here and still live here. I have written the T for a very long time. Now it was perfectly fine in the 2010's era. No delayes trains every 3-5 minutes. Now due to the pandemic stuff changed. Due to slow zones trains now operate very slow. Also due to very old train equipment aging 50+ years. Currently as of now the Red Line is the most one breaking down due to very old trains which are 50+ years old not in replacement. What the T Currently needs to do is fix slow zones and upgrate the equipment. On the video you didnt show any of the old Orange Line cars at all, those were my favorite. The reason the T selected CRRC to contruct the new orange and red line cars because the T was in near bankruptcy and low budget cause they had some issues and also chose to spent cash on the green line extension and CRRC was the lowest bidder and CRRC had no track record in the US. The original order for 152 cars numbered 1400-1551 (152) to be delivered by 2023. Well contract made in 2014 first cars delivered in 2018 as of 2024 only 114 out of 152 delivered. In which units 1400/1401 derailed at Wellington in 2021. 1450/1451 suffered a batterey failiure in 2022. Now 15 of these broke down in December 2023-January 2023. Honestly I don't like the CRRCs that much. The thing is for the interior they could have added the carpet seats like the old ones. They chose orange plastic. Also orange paint could have been added more and why no orange on the doors? For a flashback the old orange line cars were originally manufactured by the Canadian Car company Hawker Siddeley in Thunder Bay, Ontario numbered 01200-01319 (120) from 1979-1981, first ran in February 16, 1981. These were the last bostonioan trains to run on the existing Elevated which closed in 1987. Making the old ones a historical of Boston for running on the El. The old ones were one of my favorites as a kid I loved the paint scheme and the interior of wood paneling walling. Some people may criticize its ugly, but I it felt like home when seeing the interior of the old ones. Unfortunately maintenance of those cars would meet its near end. Due to heavy snow in the Boston area causing those wheels to be jammed up and runing the motors. Also disfiguring the look. In 2020 they began retiring them from Service with the new CRRCs. In July 2022 unit 01251 caught on fire at the Wellingtons bridge due to a fallen loosen metel from 01251 making contact with the 3rd rail made its last straw. On August 19, 2022 units 01226/01227 01318/01319 01286/01287 made its final trip from Oak Grove to Forest Hills. After the shutdown the T had about 66 of the new CRRC trains active on the Orange Line. No old cars were ever made a passenger trip since then. About 10 are left at Wellingtons Yard although scrappers are still Scrapping them. Usually when a subway fleet retires, usually 2 are sent to a museum where they get preserved and can be seen running. Unfortunately for the old ones the museum in Kennebunkport, Maine rejected them. Originally 01252/01253 was suppose to be preserved but was rejected and now scrapped. 01260/01261 01280/01281 01290/01291 01296/01297-01298/01299 are left at Wellington Yard awaiting to be scrapped. When these ran on the el people nicknamed these as the Orange Blossoms while many people called the 01200s serious.
Now for the delivery of the Red Line, the original order was 252 cars numbered 1900-2151 (252). First arrived in 2019. As of now only 20 delivered so far and 14 in active service. The Red Line currently has the oldest subway cars in America. Theres a fleet of 76 cars numbered 01500-01523 and 01600-01651 built by Pullman Standard from 1969-1970. As of now are currently 54 years old in service first run in December 11, 1969. These cars are given the name the 01500s and 01600s serious oldest in North America running on the Red Line. The second rolling stock is the 01700-01757 (58) manufactured by UTDC from 1987-1989. The 3rd one is 01800-01885 (86) Stainless Steel cars built by Bombardier from 1993-1994. The newers ones CRRCs still in shipment. Now for the old ones from 1969 scrappers have began removing them still roughly couple sets left in active service but will be removed by Mid Summer of 2024.
@@nafisali2434 quite an enjoyable dissertation you produced! However, I couldn’t help but note the mention of the longevity of rail vehicles as opposed to the automobile (car, BUS, and TRUCK)….
New York City (more specifically the BMT) ordered what was known as the “Standard” subway car before WW1; the cars survived in service all the way to the beginning of the Nixon administration….
DEFINITELY MUCH LONGER THAN ANY BUS!!
The MBTA NEEDS TO CARE MORE ABOUT THE T!! the issues with the slow zones, 2 disconnected terminal stations and acquisition of rolling stock have to be solved as soon as possible.
London has a whole load of disconnected terminal stations, in which getting from say St Pancras to Victoria may not be easy, but they seem to be fine. But it could enable potentially 65%+ of the T-commuter rail being electrified, and the NEC subsuming the Downeaster, maybe even electrifying it. But that’s at least 10-15, probably more years down the road, and a good few billion $
@@PhilliesNostalgia I think what makes Boston different is how egregious the current termini are (in that there are only two of them, placed on the opposite ends) whereas London has many of them which makes connecting them all up a bit more difficult (and the only US city which is comparable like that is Chicago). Notice that other cities did manage to reduce multiple termini with through service of regional and intercity lines, some like Berlin even down to zero.
group up and hold your council accountable, stop letting nimbys ruin our country.
I think the MBTA its self cares, but the state doesn't seem interested in funding them properly, and on a few occasions has dumped a lot of debt in their laps basically cause it was convenient.
@@secretagentcat Boston City Council is not the entity that needs more accountability when it comes to the T. Sure, there is some nimbyism there, but the main issues the MBTA faces are at the state level. NIMBYism is irrelevant if they don't have the money to do anything in the first place.
MIT is pretty much in Kendall Square, the station is even called Kendall/MIT so that’s the only correction I’d make here, since you placed it around Central Square. Great video!
My experience with “The T” was when I visited Boston back in 2014. I was taking it with my family after going to a Red Sox game and the lights in the train just started flickering but no one local was really worried about it. My mother had lived in Boston for a bit and she had said that the trains hadn’t been updated since she left.
That is likely due to the train going from one set of power lines to another (they are isolated so that one issue / track maintenance doesn’t take out the whole line). If so, then yeah, that is 100% expected and normal.
Glad you mentioned the potential Blue to Red Connector, which might happen this decade. Sorry, I'm not joining Nebula so other interesting video stuck on a platform I'll never use is annoying. It's always nice to see Boston get a spotlight video though.
Nebula is awesome thought I wouldn’t use it but it’s cool
It might, if Boston addresses its cost problems!
@@RMTransit Boston's cost problems are unique to and common with the rest of the USA and can only be solved through new federal laws. The fact that the rest of the White English speaking countries have similar problems is not encouraging.
@@RMTransitThey decided on cut and cover the Red-Blue connector which is a good sign their cost control is moving in the right direction. However the state still won’t properly fund the operating budget, or make investments in capital expansion. Only reason GLX happened is because they were sued to mitigate the emissions of the Big Dig.
13:26 the "suburban" stations being served by the RL in the north are actually very dense squares, definitely more urban than suburban. The terminal station in the north is a massive park and ride with new apartment and tech developments around it, too.
Agreed ... if the budget and infrastructure allows, extending the Red Line to North Waltham / Lexington would pull in a f-ton more riders.
I am not saying they are "suburban" because they are low density, but because they are rather outlying
It was crazy hearing the MBTA (pressured by Harvard) chose to replace their ELECTRIC trolley buses......lemme repeat......ELECTRIC!!!......with diesel buses......with the hope than in the future they would in turn be replaced with battery electrics.
Fellas, electric is electric! It was such a boneheaded move to tear down perfectly functioning electric bus infrastructure. Literally a step backwards. Moscow did a very similar thing, tearing down their perfectly functioning electric trolleybus system.
Also, trolley buses work so much better than battery buses. Huge downgrade basically
Born and raised here in Boston. Recently moved to Revere. Makes me happy to see that you have hope for my home transit system and that you took the time to cover it.
Love Boston and the T. So sad to see some parts of it rumbling apart though.
You forgot to mention how many Dunkin Donuts are in the transit catchment area of each station. If it's less than twelve at any of them, we have a serious problem.
the two inside north station...
I am obliged not to mention any donut shop besides Tim Hortons
@@RMTransit Reece, you're a Vancouverite. There's a reason why you had the inlet line transitioning to 41st avenue at Knight in your fantasy transit map, and that's because of Duffin's Donuts. A donut isn't a donut without fried chicken, an egg roll, and some tamales.
finally a transit YT-er covering Boston. it's always either entirely overlooked or barely mentioned and it's so unfortunate because it's top 10 in terms of US urbanism
Omg I go to college very close to Boston. After spending hundreds on getting an uber to the airport last year, I promised I would learn the unfamiliar transit system this year-and wow, a channel I respect made a video about it at the perfect time!
Park St and Downtown Crossing are actually connected underground. You can fully walk between the two without ever going above ground.
I have nice memories of visiting Boston in 2000 when I was 11 or so. Even back then the T felt really old but in a charming way (the safety and reliability problems hadn't yet come to a head). Copley was and likely still is a congested stations with eastbound trains backing up. And all of the locals were complaining about the Big Dig, or Big Pig as they called it due to the exorbitant cost.
The various locales being named after English towns was also oddly comforting, seeing places like Wakefield, Reading, Haverhill and Newmarket and of course Cambridge immediately reminded me of home despite being 3000 miles away.
As someone who lives and works in the Boston area, I have to add that the service is BAD. Actual wait times are often a lot longer than what the schedules indicate, especially on key bus routes, and the service is highly subject to delays bunching (again especially on key bus routes, but also on the Green Line). This has been getting much worse in the last several years, starting even well before the pandemic. I have gone over to making about half of my commutes to work by Fully Endogenous Express Transport. And I have seen multiple colleagues be driven to get their own automobiles (powered by fossil fuels) due to the bad service on the T (combined with the extremely high cost of housing in the Boston area, which drives them to live far off from work).
Other things they do are to keep getting equipment that is faulty from the start. Prime examples are the new Red Line and Orange Line cars (CRRC) and the Green Line Type 8 (AnsaldoBreda) and Type 9 (CAF) cars (and the manufacturer of the upcoming Type 10 cars is also CAF). I know that federal funding regulations specify buying from the lowest bidder, but New York seems to be able to work around this and get equipment that works at least most of the time. The result is that the T then has to spend more money in the long run to fix their problems. And maintenance of what they already have has NOT been one of their strong points. And then the newest trains on the T have "features" like the extremely annoying beeper that sounds THE WHOLE TIME that the doors are open, with only a slight change when the doors start closing.
And the T keeps coming up with plans to improve service that never materialize, like the recent bus network redesign plan that seems to have quietly disappeared in the last couple of years, or the CT bus plan that was supposed to include a ring of BRT service that would eventually see some conversion to rapid transit or light rail, but which quietly disappeared in the 2010s except for the 3 (now down to 2) fairly useless CT routes that actually got implemented (they largely duplicate parts of other bus routes with limited stop service, but even more limited frequency and hours of operation).
And the one thing that the T is good at is coming up with excuses why things cannot be done. The only expansions or upgrades they ever do are the ones they are dragged into kicking and screaming (or at least fidgeting and whining). They will not do electrification of their buses or regional rail, except in the form of battery buses, and they even had some stupid plan for using battery-electric multiple unit trains on the Fairmount branch of the Commuter Rail (which should really be converted into a rapid transit line and would even be easy to convert except for the last little bit into South Station) -- they might even still have this battery multiple unit plan, but I think it is one of their many plans that quietly disappeared or will soon do so. But broken promises are not new either -- when they replaced the old southern Orange Line elevated section with the Southwest Corridor, they promised equivalent replacement service for the residents that were losing their rapid transit, but instead, they actually delivered the woefully under-capacity Silver Line, of which the buses are so crowded at rush hour that they can't even take the fares. (And fare collection is another major ongoing failure on the T more generally.)
Most of the lessons to be learned from the Boston area are lessons in the results of chronic underfunding (along with massive debt loaded onto it from the Big Dig) and unmitigated mismanagement.
This is the reason I have a hard time believing that any announced plan for a future improvement, like the Blue-Red connection at Charles/MGH, will ever happen.
The North-South Rail Link was a promised addendum to the Big Dig project too, and I seriously doubt that will ever happen in the next hundred years at least. The new tower being built over South Station certainly makes it less likely, and seems constructed under the assumption that the North-South link will never happen.
The whole system seems like an exercise in short-term penny-pinching making things more expensive in the long run.
@@MattMcIrvin Exactly.
Oh, and I should also add that when the T shuts down part of a line for repairs, it doesn't seem to produce much improvement afterwards.
And I should also add that the bus seats on the T have been certified by Mia Certz.
It sounds to me like politicians are running transit in Boston like every where else.
The green line LRVs look like Melbourne B class trams, run as 3 car sets. I would love to see that in Melbourne 😊
The ferries are wicked important here! I use the Charlestown ferry to connect from South Station to Charlestown Navy Yard every morning, via Long Wharf. You can also use the ferries to get to Eastie 😁
Fun fact: the Blue Line north of approximately Airport station to the end was built using the trackbed of the Boston Revere Beach & Lynn Railroad, once upon a time the US's busiest (7 million passengers in 1914) narrow gauge (36") railroad. Built as a steam road in 1875, the road was completely double-tracked by 1903 and electrified in 1928 (on the cheap - they just stuck motors and control equipment onto the old steam coaches). However the Sumner Tunnel, the Great Depression and the collapse of the shoe industry in Lynn eroded ridership to the point that in 1939 the road called it quits. Last train ran January 27, 1940. The trackbed (excluding the section into the original East Boston ferry terminal) was bough by the Boston Elevated Railway (one of the MBTA's predecessors) in 1941 and the first section of the Blue Line extension opened in 1952.
If anyone wants to see a relic of the BRB&L, head out to Pennsylvania, as a group of coaches was bought by the East Broad Top RR and is still being used in tourist service.
Reece, I heavily appreciate your video, as there hasnt been a whole lot of coverage of our transit network.
There are a couple things you overlooked however.
The first is that Massport runs a very frequent shuttle bus between Airport and various destinations around the Airport area.
The other is the Blue Line door open buttons, these buttons are functional at all stops of the Blue Line. (Source, was almost late to work one winter because the operator didnt open the door)
Important to note is the shuttles at Airport station are all free!
An airport shuttle is basically just table stakes, and those exist at every major airport! The fact that you have to take one instead of being able to get there easily from the train is not great, and not up to the standards of other major airports in the US where the rail goes (more or less) directly to the terminal, such as Chicago, DC, and Atlanta.
@@RMTransit At least the Silver Line buses go directly into the airport loop, and actually waive fares for the ride out, including free transfer to the Red Line (this still amazes me). Currently, it seems like for many riders that's a better connection to the subway than Airport station. I would have made great use of it when I lived on the Red Line.
@@MattMcIrvin yes, but otoh, the Silver line only comes ~every 20 minutes (at least late at night) and then proceeds to make 10 stops that no one ever uses (including two stops at the same building)
As someone who transits to the airport a fair bit, the shuttles are messy at best. Buses not timed with train departures, that will stop at the rental car center and sit for so long, everyday riders just get off and walk to the next bus, overcrowding to the extreme between terminals during peak times -- and the ability to become gridlocked when the tunnel to Boston gets backed up, because cars have nowhere to go.
A people mover is desperately needed to seamlessly connect with the airport station.
Thank you for covering the MBTA, Reese. I enjoyed using the subway and trains in Boston when I lived there and it makes me feel sad that the service continues to have money "reallocated" from it by public officials. Great video. 🙂
This was an awesome and trippy episode! I lived in Boston for a year, after growing up in Toronto and moving to Montreal after my Boston stint.
@rmtransit I'm from Boston, Born and raised. Thank you for the video and couldn't agree more with your assessment and summary. The only item you forgot was the Logan Express bus as well as the MBTA Ferry network that works in conjunction with the system.
Why the hell do you have one of those stupid car selfies?!
@@crowmob-yo6rywhy do you care?
Boston's transit is great- you don't need to rent a car if visiting. On our last trip, we made extensive use of the "T", our nearest station being Copley Square on the Green Line. We also used Commuter Rail to visit Salem and Rockport. We loved the city and the friendly, helpful people there (a complete contrast to Washington DC).
It is regrettably out of print now, but the Boston subways featured in the Sci-fi novel "A Subway Named Mobius" by A. J. Deutsch- an enjoyable read if you can get hold of it.
The actual “first subway” in the USA was in Brooklyn NY, when it was its own city. The tunnel, under Atlantic Avenue near Boerum Place, was completed in 1845. However, service lasted just a few short years.
Btw, Boston’s subway was just a trolley line that was buried under Tremont Street, whereas the New York City subway was conceived as its own separate rail-based rapid transit system from the very beginning.
It's true that, initially, trolley cars exclusively used the Tremont Street subway when it opened in 1897. However, beginning in 1901, and lasting up until 1909, the Main Line elevated trains also ran through those tunnels. Beginning at the Pleasant Street Portal they travelled through Boylston, Park Street, Scollay Square, Adams Square, and Haymarket Square stations, and then up the incline to North Station to continue as the Charlestown Elevated to Sullivan Square. All of these stations had high-level boarding and were the first, true, "heavy rail" subway in the Western hemisphere. Trains ran on the outer tracks between Boylston and Park Street and then also ran on the outer tracks between the North Station Portal and Scollay Square. (The tunnel section between Park Street and Scollay Square - now Government Center- was built with only 2 tracks, unfortunately.) In 1909, the parallel Washington Street tunnel opened and the Tremont Street subway returned to all-trolley usage. There are many photographs of the system as it existed at that time on the City of Boston Archive pages. A close analog is the portion of the Market-Frankford subway in Philadelphia where the trolleys are on the outside tracks and the Market Frankford line heavy rail line is in the middle tracks.
I love Boston's transit system. The trains, the buses, the routes, and the voice of Frank Oglesby Jr. as their announcer.
The only thing I can't forgive the T for is removing the Trackless Trolley lines. I agree with Reece that this could have been a moving charging route for battery-trolley buses.
Great overview, and I’m saying this as a Bostonian!
So you know, when you mention the orange line running along the Haverhill line, it’s pronounced “HAY-Vrill” not “haver-hill”
I'd really like to see your take on Dublin, Ireland's LUAS system and future commuter rail plans!
North Station’s cross platform transfer is another nice feature, like the Spanish solution platforms at Park St.
Boston is a neat town. A mix of old European city and big American city. I like it.
Some years ago I was at a trade show for my employers. Nobody could figure out where my hotel was until I got the pronunciation right "nooton cohnah". 😎
I mean, London is bigger than all American cities (yes, even NYC)... but yeah, it's a pretty cool mix. Oddly, as Boston was founded in 1630 and London burned to the ground in 1666 the two cities are, for all intents and purposes, pretty much built at the same time by the same people. Which is why there's a sort of synergy I guess, at least in the older parts of the city. Boston is pretty unique.
Boston is what you get if Europe had skyscrapers
@@MrStark-up6fi Like Frankfurt?
@@marsgal42 basically
What’s most interesting is just about all the extensions of the T are actually just older rail ROW’s the last time anything completely new was built from scratch was sadly when they finished the original red line at Andrew station all the way back in 1918. Everything since has been built over old ROW (quite embarrassing though if you ask me).
Also if you look at it the D branch of the Green line is effectively a metro as it is entirely grade separated with only a singular pedestrian at grade crossing, but it also uses light rail style vehicles and has low platforms. Despite the fact that it goes through the sleepy suburbs it is also the busiest line on the green line as it is a major commuting option for the wealthy neighborhoods it serves. It’s actually even more weird as the D branch was once a redundant secondary line as part of the old Boston and Albany main line and they closed it for two years in the 50s and converted it to a light rail branch. I forget exactly when but there was a service disruption once and they actually sent commuter trains down it as far as Fenway and probably would have sent they all the way to North Station if the commuter lines could fit in the tunnels.
That's not true. The 1980 red line extension from Harvard to Alewife does not follow any existing ROW. It is under Mass Ave. So that would be the last time an extension happened that did not follow an existing ROW.
1:55 North Station also serves Amtrak Downeaster to Portland, ME
Thank you for finally doing a Boston video and a video on how you would improve it! I think that the MBTA has been making great progress into bringing itself into a better spot and then hopefully fulfilling its expansion plans (for a hopefully reasonable cost). I personally think that the MBTA should play around with New York style express services in the central green line tunnel in a attempt to add capacity and speed to a very slow and crowded tunnel.
Unfortunately one needs four tracks for express services to work; three for rush hours only express. Otherwise the express trains are delayed by the local trains.
@@user-uo7fw5bo1o I would do bypass tracks or dual island platforms at stations, but good point.
There was a television show in the 1970's or 80's, I think, "St Elsewhere". It used some building in Boston for exterior shots, and one was of the elevated streetcar (old PCC cars?) running by. That line subsequently went underground, and no idea what the area might look like now.
@@fjkelley4774 Those cars appeared to be more like Orange line HEAVY RAIL cars, and NOT streetcars. There were two scenes in the series where these cars were shown in close-ups.
@@user-dj7wv5ok2x Thanks, it's been quite a few years, and I had never seen too much of the Boston system (other than the PCC cars I rode to/from Fenway).
Continue doing this for cities around the world!
I'm sure tourists when travelling will find them very useful
7:49 Brussels mentioned!
ayooo cheeky boston tea party joke
Boston has a lot of problems with its subways, mostly due to neglect. They really really need a north south route west of back bay connecting all the lines, it would make the whole system so much more useful.
I've been waiting for this one!!! thank you!!!
BOSTON MENTIONED! LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOO
@@careplanes Now only if they could go 24-7-365 like New York City….
One interesting part of the Boston transit network is that they have the regional commuter train that connects the city of Providence to Boston as a direct regional train between two cities, and basically two states. And you can pay with the Charlie card that you can use in all of Boston's transit network. The train between Providence to Boston runs fast enough that you can reasonable commute between the two cities if you really wanted to. The connection is just a bit over an hour between the cities so, one could technically live in Providence (where housing is significantly cheaper) and take the train to work in Boston.
I often forget about Boston! It definitely has a unique transit system.
Hello!
Would you consider creating a video dedicated to Madrid’s suburban train network, known as “Renfe Cercanías”? You’ve already covered the metro system brilliantly, and I believe exploring this additional rail transport system connecting the city would be fascinating.
Thank you! 😄
Great video! You covered all the important details but still didn’t skimp out on any of the railfan details. And of course I watched this video while riding the red line, and I was happy to see that there was only one 10mph slowzone between Harvard and Field’s Corner.
As you mentioned, the MBTA needs some TLC, and as someone who takes the T everyday to school, I can certainly agree. The main thing is unreliability, particularly with wait times between vehicles, which often do not reflect the schedule. Buses are often late or bunched, especially with frequent buses or buses during rush hour. Even transit with their own right-of-way gets delayed, which is very frustrating.
All in all, the T is improving, but given the hundreds of systemic problems, it can’t go fast enough. We need a North-South station connector, more electrification, removal of all slow-zones, much better transit priority, and better reliability overall.
Nice video! Nit: you put the “Harvard Boston” label in the Longwood Medical Area, which is not totally false since Harvard Medical School is there, but generally when people talk about Harvard’s campus in Boston they are referring to the much larger Allston campus which is home to Harvard Business School and a whole bunch more stuff. That would also be home to the proposed West Station
Moved here last summer, and was horrified by how bad the service has become in the MBTA train system. Especially as a rider on the south leg of the red line. Despite that, the current admin has been putting in serious work to improve the system, and that work is slowly beginning to pay off. It hasn’t been without its hiccups, but I’m cautiously optimistic about the future of the MBTA. They are trying to fix decades of neglect which includes, decaying trains, decaying infrastructure, lack of adequate labor, etc… and that is no easy task.
Do Cleveland you could talk about a city that built transit and then lost a bunch of population
You should make a video explaining Melbourne's tram network.
Love the red line
@RMTransit Ok here’s a challenge: Why not do a video on Iceland’s bus system?
hearing you repeatedly call the longwood medical area "harvard's boston campus" was the weirdest part of this video
taking the blue line to go to the airport is a fool's move. the SL1 goes to each terminal of the airport.
and yes, as much as the MBTA is always breaking, it is great and has allowed me to live car free for a large part of my life, so i do begrudgingly love it.
you should do a video about how you came to be so knowledgeable about transit
This Is awesome. I lived and went to school in Boston for many years and it's good to see a deep dive into the transit system.
As the only American city whose public transport I have used, it's interesting to see the details about it. The fact that there's no rail station at the airport is still crazy.
Enjoy your channel immensely. Great detail and thoughtful commentary. The Silver Line brought to mind the evolving Trolebús Elevado system in the CDMX. Would greatly enjoy you dedicating an episode to it. Thanks.
Blue line should be extended pass the Charles/MGH to Back Bay and on to take over the rail tracks from Newmarket to Readville.
I live in Malden on Orange Line and we've built up the area around the station. Too bad that there isn't close to proper capacity at rush hour.
In many ways, the Red Line feels like an RER route, the only exception being the lack of excessive suburban branches. Your opinions?
Really looking forward to your take on the MBTA Regional Rail network. I have looked at that system, and their proposed expansions. Next to GO, they probably have the most ambitious plan to electrify and regularize their service to make it a true “regional rail” rapid transit network - as opposed to just a collection of rush-hour only commuter rail lines. It’s nothing like, say the Chicago advocates dreamt up for METRA (see StarLiner), but still, exciting.
The challenge though is that Boston as a whole has a lot of old infrastructure that needs work done. Just maintaining what they have will take a lot of work - and adding tracks to Increase capacity and electrify the existing tracks will cost a lot. A connection between N and S would be ideal to allow through running - but how to do it for less than 11 figures (10 Billion) seems hard to fathom. Do you spend there or do you focus on extensions to say, Manchester, NH and regular service to Cape Cod? Hard to say.
I dream of a version of Boston where South Station and North Station were connected so you can just stay on Amtrak to go from like NY or Prov straight up to Portland Maine etc. Having to transfer to subway is silly. Minor thing but still.
Also really hoping they modernize the commuter rail soon too, at the very least the Providence line since it's already electrified anyway. It's so silly that they've been running diesel under electric wires for decades now.
Wish you covered the Commuter Rail too. There is a push to connect North and South Stations via rail, but that would involve converting the CR trains to electric from diesel. Since the CR network is disjointed, Amtrak's Downeaster is not connected to the rest of the network.
I'm actually lifelong resident of the greater Boston area (Cambridge specifically). This video is very, through there are a few things I lead about recently I'd like to mention. One is that a bunch of Greenline station have actually gone through some retrofitting, to make them more accessible to those with disabilities, and more are in the work. Also, there is a fair upgrades system in the works, it will include being about to use mobile devices and contactless credit care to pay for fairs and create a Charlie Card (Name of the transit care for the T and bus services) app, that allows to you to check your balances and load money onto it. Also, one thing I only noticed recently is there is actually and underground walkway connecting Park Street (a Green and Red Line transfer in the downtown area), to Downtown which is, and Organ/Red line stop. Besides being creating an easy transfer between the green and orange line, one inserting thing is that Downtown Crossing has underground connection to several building, near it, making the whole thing kind of like a small (emphasis on small) scale version of the Toronto Path system mentioned in other videos. There are at least a few other cases of MBTA stops that have entrances into major buildings, one of the best examples is Prudential Station that goes into the Prudential Center (a major shopping complex that is attached to several other large buildings), but Haymarket (Orange and Green line stop) has and entrance into Boston Public Guarden, and Hynes Convention center (Green line) has one into 360 Newbury Street. And those are just the ones I know off the top of my head.
Fans of "liminal spaces" really need to check out that underground walkway between Park Street and Downtown Crossing. There's an eerie tranquility to it.
Back Bay Orange Line exits to Copley Place
What do you think of the proposal to connect the North Station and South Station, similar to Philadelphia's Center City connecting tunnel built in the 1980s?
I've always wondered why the Blue Line didn't continue west to the Red Line.
8:22 small correction: there is one active track connecting the yard to Union Square, but it joins the main line on the side going towards Union, requiring trains returning from Union to cross over and travel the "wrong way" for about 1500 ft before leaving the main line. Source: I drive those trains.
I'm especially dissapointed the new subway trains don't have open gangways, especially when CRRC has put them on other metro trains, even the ones supposed to go to Los Angeles. I just don't understand why
The MBTA tabled but decided not to go forward with it.
Having to update their Maintenance facilities in order to accommodate them with a shoe string budget they’ve always had was not in their deck of cards.
The Harvard bus tunnel is a very sad story. And a loud one too. Last time I was in it was a long time ago when they ran both diesel and trolley buses, really highlighting the differences between the two and how incompatible the diesel buses are with the tunnel (and the user experience).
Hi Rece can you make a video about the Bielefeld light rail? I know it's just a city with 300,000 inhabitants, which doesn't actually exist. The light rail also consists of only 4 lines and 40km in length.
yes my home city! Thank you so much for doing a video on this! Boston is indeed old and unique despite its problems! Even though there are problems, I enjoy riding this system as a transit fan!
In the future, if you need more MBTA video content, you are welcome to use mine. Also, the Green Type 7s and PCC's are beloved and will be missed, but we need accessible cars, now.
Funny thing is, I was just in Boston. Me and my parents stayed at the SpringHill Suites in Revere Beach, which is directly adjacent to the Wonderland station at the end of the Blue Line. We took the Blue Line every day we were there.
Orange line and its rolling stock has strong Glasgow Subway vibes?
It's much taller.
"which actually has a Spanish Solution platforms"
The Spanish Solution has begun in Boston, actually. This, it should be called the Bostonian Solution.
As a Bostonian you forgot to mention how many problems this system has:
The lines are all only inbound/outbound so if I wanted to go to from one neighborhood to another right next to it, I’d have to go on an inbound then hop an outbound train, taking around an hour instead of the like 20 minutes it should.
You also forgot to mention the line specific problems:
Red Line: never works
Orange Line: way too many slow zones
Green Line: slow as can be
(Also with the new red and orange line cars they had a genius idea to make all the exit signs stickers so I’ve seen people peel them off and put em on their forehead + the new cars removed the old maps of the system on the old ones that were really helpful)
Overall an alright video, just wish it went more into detail on the systems problems
A major problem with Boston is the cities around Boston aren't required to work together on major projects. The state of Mass can't force cities to do anything really. It's a terrible part of our constitution. Most cities want to work with Boston and create a homogenous region. However, small wealthy towns refuse to do anything that benefits the region.
cough* cough* Milton
It is sad that a majority of Boston south/southwest of downtown isn't even served by rapid transit, let alone the already dense and rapidly developing suburbs bordering the city that also deserve rapid transit. Decades of nimbyism have truly hindered rapid transit in the Boston area.
@@Legonatic yup. Roslindale, Hyde Park, West Roxbury, Dedham, and much of Roxbury and Dorchester really deserve better transit (and the ROWs are already there!) Same with Arlington, Lynn and Melrose
@Reece: It's pronounced "Quinzee"
The West end of the Red Line is not suburban at all, it’s still very much within the urban Camberville area (Cambridge + Somerville).