MBTA the Boston Subway System: How it Works

The Boston Subway system seems much more difficult on the map than it actually is. The maps tend to make the entire metro area look spread out and big city-like, when in actuality, you could scoot between Boston’s individual towns in a matter of five minutes and that’s walking time. It’s quite simple to learn the ways of the T. That’s “T”, short for MBTA, short for Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, which is the body that governs the public transportation in Massachusetts. When you hear Bostonians refer to the T or T stop, they are talking about the busses, commuter rail trains or the subway, but most likely the subway. The best way to learn the T system is by simply experiencing it; take it as often as possible. However, to make things a little more comprehendible, read these guidelines before you attempt out on your journey.

The subway T system consists of four major lines; Red Line, Blue Line, Orange Line and Green Line. The red and green lines then have sort of sub-trains to be aware of , but I’ll get to that later.

First let’s take a look at the organization as a whole.

All of the lines meet underground in the downtown area of Boston and then go off on their own separate ways. The Blue Line begins at Government Center and goes out to Wonderland, with stops for the Boston Logan Airport shuttle and Revere Beach, along the way. The Orange Line extends from Oak Grove to Forest Hills and covers areas from Malden/Everett, Somerville, Downtown (of course), Roxbury and Jamaica Plain. These are also suburbs just on the outerskirts of Boston. The Red Line, then, goes from Alewife to Braintree or Ashmont. If you are headed away from Alewife you must choose the appropriate train for either Ashmont or Braintree, as eventually, once further out away from the city, the tracks split; trains go one way or the other but not both. This is fairly easy to figure out though, because the automated conductor on the Red Line is pretty consistent about announcing “The destination of this train is..” and then declaring “Braintree or Ashmont” accordingly. You can also look at the little slates in the windows on the side of the train as it pulls into your station; it should list the destination location there at the top. The Red Line, when going toward Alewife, outbound, will take you out to Harvard Square, home of Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT, and many other little “Squares” that are centered around their respective colleges and filled with artistic happenings.

The Orange Line, Red Line and Blue Line do not leave much room for one to get confused. The maps go in a straight line, the colors make for obvious distinction and the routes are pretty self explanatory. It is the Green Line trains, however, that one must really practice a bit in order to really get the hang out of. They can be complicated, with four separate sub-trains of the category. Hopefully this explanation below will help you feel at least a little more familiar with the system or help you anticipate what it will be like and what to look out for when traveling on the Green Line as a newbie.

The green line typically runs east to west through Boston, once in the city, and extends outbound to various neighborhoods in the outskirts of the Boston metro area. Far out on the B, C, D, and E Lines are very common places for students to find nice, cheap apartments. There are four sub trains of the Green Line: B Line, C Line, D Line and E Line. D and B originate at Government Center, E, at Lechmere in Cambridge and C, at North Station.

This sounds confusing already, I know, so to start all you really need to remember is that the B, C, D and E lines all go outbound from Boston in a westerly direction (at least to start ) and when going inbound, stop their routes at different T stops. In other words, going inbound, the various Train lines stop at all the same stations in the same order but each one ends with its last stop at a unique station. To take the train all the way out, take E to Lechmere, and then use the other T lines according to what stops you need to go to in order to reach your destination or to witch to another train.

Here’s a little table to help explain. Lechmere is the very first stop, the most inbound, of all of the Green Line Trains. This table shows where the first stop of every train on the Green Line’s route is and illustrates how they meet up with each other. This table only goes to Government Center but note that at Government Center, all four lines overlap their routes and continue in the exact same path, to the exact same stations, for the next five or six stops.

The stops, in order�

LECHMERE SCIENCE PARK NORTH STATION HAYMARKET GOVERNMENT CENTER (more – )
E Line Starts E Line Stop E Line Stop E Line Stop E Line Stop
C Line Starts C Line Stop C Line Stop
D Line Starts
B Line Starts

So, this is inbound. Again, sounds confusing, but really it’s not. Each train will have listed its final destination in the top of the vehicle along with the specific line. Additionally, the driver will announce when the last stop is up. Hey, the worst that can happen is you go the wrong way and have to turn back around.

Now back to the outbound routes. The B, D, C, And E all pass through downtown before they go outbound and their routes overlap for a few stops. From Government Center to Park Street to Boylston to Arlington to Copley, the trains follow one another back to back. Therefore if you are a any of those stops and wishing to go to another one of those stops you need not pay attention to the train line you get on as long as it is green. In fact, up until the trains go above ground, after the Kenmore square stop, you can also take any train back and forth, with the exception of E. E train stops following the others lines after Copley.. While the B, C, and D Lines proceed to Hynes Convention ICA stop and Kenmore, E line goes off to Prudential and Symphony.

So now that you understand the underground part of the green line T system, its time to get a grasp on the layout of the green line T’s once they get above ground. I’ll take it train line by train line.
B Line= After going through the conventional underground downtown stops from Government Center to Kenmore, the B line hits first outbound stop at Blanford Street. This is right near Boston University and the next few stops are designated to just that. The B line travels down through Packard’s Corner and into Allston area, with a major stop at Harvard Ave. Harvard Ave cannot be missed it is a street full of bars and restaurants and shops and a very popular hangout as well as area to rent apartment in Boston for college students on a budget. Then continuing on the train makes its way into another little outskirts of Boston, Brighton. The whole area is often referred to as Allston-Brighton. Finally, after crossing a major street, Chestnut Hill Ave, the train meanders its way into the Boston College Campus where it finally makes its last outbound stop.

C Line= The C Line is very similar to the B line except for it runs along Beacon street, a main road parallel to the main B Line street, commonwealth. Depending where you are on the route, it is only a short ten minute walk or so from a b line stop to its horizontal counterpart c line stop. The C, as mentioned follows suit with the other train lines underground from North Station to Kenmore Square and then starting above ground at St. Mary’s, the C line runs through Brookline another Boston suburbs, much faster than B, where are fewer stops and less crowds. The two main areas of interest off of the C line to take note of are Coolidge Corner and Cleveland Circle. Coolidge corner is on Harvard St (which is coincidentally the same road as the previously discussed “Harvard Ave” of Allston) only a few miles South . Coolidge had many shop , and restaurants as well and also an independent movie theatre for arts and foreign films. Then some more stoops with light shopping until reaching final stop, Cleveland circle. Cleveland circle is on chestnut hill Ave, same as the b line stop that precedes Boston college. If you walk along that road it’s a five-minute walk from C line to B line.

D Line= The D Line starts at Government Center and after going through the same underground route I’ve spoken of all the way to Kenmore, it starts stopping above ground at Fenway. The D Line travels through the Longwood Medical area, the residential Brookline areas and into the towns of Newton. Note that once you pass the Reservoir stop the fare goes up trying to become back inbound. The reservoirs is a central stop on the line as well. For the station is just a short walk from the movie theatre, Circle Cinema, and the whole Cleveland circle area. And chestnut hill Ave. so if you are following me so far, you should be up to guess that the D line is short walk to C line and that is a short walk to B line.

E Line=Finally, the E Line starts at the very last Green Line train stop there is, which is called Lechmere. This stop is where one would go in search of the Cambridge Side Galleria Mall. Once the E Line leaves its starting point at this innermost bound location, it travels toward downtown where it will meet up underground with not only the B, C, and D trains but also the Orange Line, Blue Line and Red Line. Some of the stops the E Line goes through, in order from Lechmere are: Lechmere, Science Park, North Station, Haymarket, Government Center, Park Street, etc. Science Park is the stop by the Museum of Science as well as the Boston prison. North Station will take you to the larger train station that the commuter rail trains and Amtrak lines. Then, the E Train carries on in the same direction, stopping at the same stations as listed above in the diagram. Until it reaches Copley. As also mentioned previously, the E Line does not follow the other Green Trains to Hynes Convention Center and Kenmore underground stops. Instead, it goes to the Prudential stop (by the Prudential Mall) and Symphony (Symphony Hall and Christian Science Center) before heading above ground and down Huntington Avenue through many of Boston’s most popular art museums, art schools. It finally ends its route at Heath Street, the main street that winds through Jamaica Plain, another popular outskirt of Boston that is well known to college students.

This general guideline has hopefully provided you with a foundation upon which to build your MBTA knowledge as your days in Boston add up. And while I tried to explain the system as best as possible, through written words, you will likely achieve more insight still, if you look at a map. Each Subway train has a map of at least that train’s route hanging on the walls above the seat and usually near the automatic double doors. Or, before you head out, print out a map from the MBTA website. And finally, if you are out there and get lost and are not having much luck with the MBTA employees in the field, find a phone and call the MBTA customer service line. They work long hours for our convenience and are usually very helpful. If you are really in a bind you can even give them the address where you are and the destination you are headed to and they will give you a step by step way to get their through subway or bus or both.
Their number is: 617-222-5000