Talk:Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

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• Discussion archive

Contents 1 Streetcar history 2 5 abandoned tunnels? 3 Addition suggestion 4 Museum 5 Buses as "Yellow Line"? 6 Sources for history 7 Station Infoboxes 8 OT: BAT 9 Other images, keep in this article, or move to Commons?

[edit] Streetcar history

I've started looking at the history of the streetcars - I've written Dorchester Railroad and Cambridge Horse Railroad. User:SPUI/New England streetcar companies is a partial list of the companies; the Railroad History Database was the source of most of these (and has detailed info for some). The NOT FOUND ones were in other sources (mostly a pair of maps (1898-1899) on http://memory.loc.gov/ ). --SPUI (talk) 20:44, 8 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] 5 abandoned tunnels?

The "Filming on the MBTA" website advertises that the MBTA has "5 abandoned subway tunnels". The only one I can think of is the abandoned segment of the Red Line under Brattle Square -- are the rest on the Green Line? 134.174.21.2 20:28, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

• The only one I can think of is the Pleasant Street Incline which connects to Boylston on the Green Line. -- Beland 14:04, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Pleasant Street? No street of that name in the area. I know there is at least one disused tunnel in the Downtown Crossing area though. Phase III of the Silver Lie is supposed to usie something under Tremont Street. --Belg4mit 00:20, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

• Oh, there's also one between Bowdoin (MBTA station) on the Blue Line (MBTA) and the Longfellow Bridge, formerly ending at "a portal at Cambridge and Russell Streets", sealed in 1952. [1]. -- Beland 17:35, 13 January 2007 (UTC)
• I think there is another near Government Center; see Tremont Street Subway. -- Beland 18:40, 13 January 2007 (UTC)
• Ah, and there are [2] two more sealed portals, one at the Public Garden (closed 1914), and one at Charles St. (closed 1941). Don't know if there are actually tunnels corresponding to those. There are also some apparently abandoned side tracks at Kenmore, perhaps from the old incline there which closed in 1932. -- Beland 20:41, 13 January 2007 (UTC)
• There might be some near Harvard Square, due to the northwest expansion and closure of the repair yards there. -- Beland 00:46, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Addition suggestion

This article could benefit from would be a discussion of the governance of the MBTA. Right now, almost all content (excellent as it may be) is about the current and historical services it offered or absorbed, rather than how it was and is organized. Thoughts? 140.247.60.206 22:36, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Please be bold and add what you know!

Atlant 22:56, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Museum

Is there an MBTA museum? I did not turn anything up in a brief search, but it seems odd there the oldest system in the country should not have one. Many other major systems, like the SFO cable cars, have museums. Heck, New York even has a museum with some MBTA cars. --Belg4mit 04:33, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

Not that I know of, but there are historical cars at Boylston and some explanatory panels at Boylston, Park Street, Downtown Crossing, Davis Square, and perhaps other stations. -- Beland 14:04, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Buses as "Yellow Line"?

I have never once heard this term at all, and i've lived in or around Boston nearly all my life. To paraphrase 4chan, citation or it never happend, maybe? 72.74.17.70 00:18, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

I've taken the T for over a decade and also have never heard it referred to as this. I've removed the reference until someone can dig up a citation (unlikely as that is). ChazBeckett 00:31, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Cough::horseshit.. The official words for the MBTA's bus system are as follows:

1. The Dirty Windows line
2. The Chronically Late line
3. The Tiny Seats for Tiny Asses line

Never the yellow line.--Loodog 03:23, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

I've lived here all my life. It's never been called the Yellow Line. Neo16287 16:28, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

• (jumping on the band wagon) I've also lived here all my life. I have never heard of it being referred to as the "Yellow Line". --Mespinola 16:11, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

I have live just outside of Boston my whole life. The buses have (or used to have) a yellow line on the side of them. I have heard the term 'Yellow Line' multiple times. It's just like calling the Commuter Rail the 'Purple Line' ArcaneKnowledge (talk) 00:12, 9 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Sources for history

These might be useful to expand the histories of this article or more likely subarticles. -- Beland 00:54, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

• Streetcar Suburbs: The Process of Growth in Boston, 1870-1900, by Sam Bass Warner, Jr.
• [3] - list of agencies
• [4] - electric railway map
• [5] - list of interurbans
• [6] - obscure bus lines
• [7] - BSRA
  • [8] - Publications directory
  • [9] - BSRA publications

[edit] Station Infoboxes

I've been doing infobox projects for rapid transit station articles in BART, DART and Miami Metrorail over the past three weeks. I've expanded into MBTA articles recently. Since I'm not able to do all the work due to time constraints, any help on adding station infoboxes to the other rapid transit MBTA station articles would be much appreciated. Examples of these can be found in Boston North Station, Boston South Station, Government Center (MBTA station) and Downtown Crossing (MBTA station). I prefer the line descripts in the boxes be styled like I have them (color-coded). Thanks. Any other info and corrections would help as well. GETONERD84 13:27, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

Why don't you give the overall length of the system? How in heck can you judge a system without that?

[edit] OT: BAT

This is a little off-topic, but I'm rather surprised nobody's written anything about the BAT, given the proximity and overlapping service area. --Belg4mit 00:10, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

There are a few private semi-private/public carriers which still exist in Mass. The BAT for Brockton is one of them.... There's also one for Lexington that comes to mind...[10] Also one in Worcester[11] and I think Haverhill[12] too also each have one... The name of another system which doesn't quickly come to mind right now-- I believe that Fitchburg also had one planned a few years ago also. It would be tough to single out the BAT. The Ferry service by the T- is also a private venture as are the 13 (or-so) private coach lines that partner with the T. I think it is a slippery slope. If I were you I would just leave the T article with the tone that the T- is not the only public transportation provider in Mass. As seen here [13]

CaribDigita 03:06, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

The link I added on the MBTA Advisory Board will show what I mean... See this page [14] Those are other Mass. Agencies that are pretty-much on par with the MBTA. They're missing some though. (Unless they're only focusing on Eastern MA.) CaribDigita 03:15, 14 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Other images, keep in this article, or move to Commons?

Today, I placed in the infobox at the top of this page what basically amounts to a single photograph (using 9 photos combined into one) showing (or attempting to show) all of the services offered by the MBTA (except for Boat). Similar pictures were placed in the infoboxes for Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York) and New Jersey Transit; the common link between these two and the MBTA (and SEPTA, which will have one placed there soon) is that they are all multimodal agencies with at least three modes. But should other images be moved to the Commons instead of being listed, as the infobox picture (a 3072 x 2304 image) shows all of the services---subway lines, bus, BRT, and light rail---except for aforementioned MBTA Boat? --AEMoreira042281 (talk) 19:39, 23 April 2008 (UTC)