Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), is a quasi-governmental organization formed in 1964, which controls the subway, bus, commuter rail, and ferry systems in the Boston, Massachusetts area. Originally it was called the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or the MTA, as immortalized in the popular folk-protest lament "The MTA Song". It is known by the locals as just The T because of the logo it adopted back in the 1960s.

The four-line subway system consists of the Red, Orange, Green, and Blue Lines. The term "four-line" is a bit misleading. The Green line has four branches, B, C, D, and E; the Red Line has two branches and also incorporates a separate trolley line, the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line.

In recent years, a BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) line known as the Silver Line began operating in the city. In theory, these buses run in dedicated underground tunnels, thereby avoiding traffic of any sort. Due to constraints in existing construction, it was not possible to isolate the Silver Line BRTs from normal street traffic for portions of their operations, making them vulnerable to traffic in the downtown Chinatown and Financial District areas.

The remainder of the bus system is identified by the color yellow, and the commuter rail purple; however, these lines are rarely actually referred to as the "Yellow" or "Purple" Lines.

The commuter rail service serves the outer suburbs that would not otherwise be feasably served by rapid transit.

In 2005, revenue service will commence on the Greenbush Line, an expansion of the commuter rail system, to serve Boston's South Shore. While it will follow the old right of way of the Old Colony Line, which ceased operations in the 1960s, much money has been spent in the purchase of abutting properties to establish right-of-way for the new branch of the rail system.

External links

This organization-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Related articles

External links