How is Boston's Public Transportation Performing??

The MBTA (AKA the T)

In 1897, the Boston Elevated Railway Company completed the first ever subway tunnel in North America. Fast forward 125 years and Boston is home to one of the highest ranked public transportation systems in the United States. That system includes a subway system referred to as the T by locals and its used by over 40% of Bostonians.

While public transport is an essential for many residents of large US cities, Boston is ranked around the nation for the impact it has had on the people, culture and accessibility of the city. Boston traffic concerns and relatively expensive cost of living mixed with an ever growing need for environmentally sustainable transportation options around the globe are cause for such a boom in public transportation usage. With such high demand for this transportation and it operating as the backbone for the city of Boston, there are key factors that dictate whether or not the MBTA deserves the credit it receives.

What is the environmental impact?
Is the system reliable to its local citizens?

Ultimately, are those customers satisfied using it every day?

The MBTA utilizes a mixture of 113 bus routes, 12 heavy rails, 3 subways, 5 light rail/rapid transit, and 2 ferry lines allowing riders to cover the farthest stretches of the Greater Boston Metropolitan Area. They thrive however, off of the light rail or rapid transit system which is comprised of the Orange line, Blue line, Green line, Red line and Silver line.

The four main rails seen to the left can be found meeting in downtown Boston at Park St, Govt Center, State, and Downtown Crossing. The hub that is Boston may greatly benefit from the MBTA but the T is the heart of the system and is important to understand moving forward. These cars are constantly under renovation and ridden by countless Bostonians but which ones are most depended on?

Those same routes mentioned previously can be seen here showing the dependence on the red line which extends into Cambridge, the orange line extending into the south Greater Boston area, the Blue line which extends into commuter towns to the North East such as Winthrop, and the green and silver lines which are much less gated but travel mainly West to North.

The important things to takeaway here are how great the inflow of passengers are in the downtown area where all stations meet. Although there are less stations the downtown area is heavily relied on due to the booming work industry of Boston. It should still be mentioned how great the inflow is at the outskirts of each line as residents of the Greater Boston area need to board the trains to commute into work. Over the years, these routes have stayed consistently depended on and although in 2020/2021 the drop off is obvious due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the MBTA still operated as it is at the heart of the city of Boston.