Teban54

Just another transit enthusiast

Thoughts from Everyone: MBTA Systemwide

The “Thoughts from Everyone” series is a collection of discussions and analyses of the current system contributed by other transit fans that I personally find interesting. For a full index with ideas on all topics, see here.

This post includes discussions of the entire system in Greater Boston that do not focus on a specific region or concept. They can be of any mode: rapid transit, buses, commuter rail, etc.

Note: If a discussion is largely about the entire system but also has a particular focus on a region, it may be listed in both this page and another relevant “Thoughts from Everyone” page, with a brief note.

Last updated: April 20, 2024 (updated Delvin)

Meta Discussions

These discussions are typically not about specifics of the MBTA system, but more about the high-level procedures behind it. They’re still written in context of Boston (discussions about transit in general or in other cities can be found here).

Planning Processes

Typical planning processes of transit expansions:

  • ArchBoston user F-Line to Dudley made a brief mention here (Mar 2024), in context of processes for infill stations: “There would have to be a T-blessed scoping study benchmarking ridership and full costs. Traditionally that’s been an internal thing, or an MPO thing…although the municipalities can do it as long as all the actionable study metrics are there.” (I’m not sure how much this applies to larger-scale expansions.)

Commuter Rail Platforms

Comments on conversion between commuter rail platforms and rapid transit platforms (F-Line to Dudley, Mar 2024)

  • The discussion is in the first paragraph of the linked comment. It is in context of converting Needham Line stations to Orange Line.

Speed Restrictions (“Slow Zones”)

In early 2020s, especially since 2022-23, many speed restrictions were added the MBTA rapid transit system, primarily due to track defects as a result of insufficient long-term maintenance. Many of them were added in response to inspections by the Federal Transit Agency (FTA). These speed restrictions slowed down all rapid transit lines, often significantly, and received widespread outrage from the media and general public. In November 2023, the MBTA announced the Track Improvement Program to eliminate all speed restrictions by the end of 2024.

This section includes live trackers of speed restrictions, both from official sources and third parties, as well as analyses of travel speeds during this time.

Systemwide Speed Restrictions Trackers

Official MBTA Speed Restrictions Tracker

  • List of speed restrictions by location, length and speed limit on all rapid transit lines. Data from January 1, 2023 to present.
  • Does not show the travel speed of trains in practice.

TransitMatters Slow Zones Dashboard

  • Third-party tracker that analyzes travel speeds from real-world data and infers slow zones. Data from January 15, 2016 to present.
  • This tracker does not rely on official slow zone declarations, and may disagree with the official tracker.
  • The dashboard also allows viewing slow zones line by line, and travel times between any stations, during any time period.

Reddit User u/Chemical-Glove-1435’s slow zone update posts

  • This user frequently writes posts on latest changes in slow zones, such as this, in both their profile page and the r/mbta sub.

Travel Time Analyses

Delvin4519’s travel time charts based on TransitMatters data: These are plots made by archBoston user Delvin4519, visualizing all TransitMatters data from 2016 as line plots.

  • March 9, 2024: Green Line E branch (after a period when all other branches were suspended)
  • March 16, 2024: All Green Line branches (follow-up to the March 9 analysis above)

Other travel time analyses based on TransitMatters Dashboard:

Transit Maps

This section includes discussions of the official MBTA system maps, and fan-made maps that display the real-world MBTA system.

Commuter Rail System Maps

Commuter Rail Map v.39 (March 2024) and discussions (archBoston), and later comments