EVERY TRAIN in BOSTON (kinda)

Not from Massachusetts what so ever but yes, Cambridge is a suburb of Boston (its own city) and not part of Boston proper. Rather it's part of the Greater Boston region. Think of it like how Jersey City is a suburb of NYC, both Cambridge and Jersey City have a river separating them from the main city, and both are connected to the main city by rapid transit

That fenced off building near the beginning of the video was the original entrance to Harvard station, which was converted into a newsstand when Harvard was relocated to its present location. Harvard was the old terminal for the Red Line before the Alewife extension opened in the 80s. And that tunnel you saw at Gov't Center was once a turnaround for northern streetcar routes and connected to the long-closed Adams Square stop, which closed in '63 when Scollay Square was re-developed into the eponymous Government Center. Oh, and Scollay is pronounced "scully."

The Silver Line is on the subway map because it is considered Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) the google definition is "BRT is a high-capacity bus-based transit system that delivers fast and efficient service that may include dedicated lanes, busways, traffic signal priority, off-board fare collection, elevated platforms and enhanced stations." The SL1, 2, and 3 lines run in a dedicated underground bus tunnel from South Station. That and the SL3 stretch through Chelsea on a dedicated ROW are really the only parts of the line that are true BRT IMO.

You missed a train: at the end of the Ashmont branch of the red line there is a special train called the Mattapan line, which is run with the same vintage streetcars it opened with 70 years ago. Also the commuter trains are also run by the MBTA so you can try that too.

The Silver Line's on the map because it's still considered "rapid" transit per the MBTA (even though it's not really rapid, and half the time it runs in mixed traffic). The SL1/2/3 do have their own ROW though complete with dual-mode buses

I’m from Massachusetts. Hot take but I loosely associate all towns/cities with T stops as Boston. Emphasis on the loosely. Being established so long ago, Boston as we know it today has far extended its historic city limits spilling over into neighboring areas. Us locals can be very opinionated though so I would say everyone’s definition of “Boston” varies from person to person.

The Blue Line is my favorite line in Boston.

Awesome to see you using the MBTA. I’ve ridden all the line colors, especially the orange, green and red. One of the few mass transit systems I’ve thoroughly enjoyed using.

We never quite had social distancing stickers. Just the most annoying announcement ever about keeping masks on when riding public transit (Annoying as in they play it at least 3 times between any given stop, its louder than the other announcements, and they didn't use Frank [the voice of the automated announcements], but instead some other lady). My bad, I should've been clearer on pronunciations in my last comment. Bowdoin = Bow (bow and arrow) - din Scollay = Scoll - eey Get your subway maps out: Yeah.... the Silver line is brand new, and is pretty much only on the maps because the T wanted to attract ridership and make those routes seem better than they really are. Some history: The SL4 and SL5 replace what used to be the Boston Elevated Railway, which rain from Nubian (The terminus of the SL4 & 5) to Sullivan Square (What is now on the orange line, however a much worse and less grand version of the old grand station (Think Penn Station before and after it got torn down). Residents on the SL4 and 5 lost their subway connection when the el closed down, and was replaced with service on the Southwest Corridor (Orange from Forest Hills to Back Bay), which in lots of areas isn't in close range of these neighborhoods that grew up around the line. To combat this, the T promised it would bring back "equal or better service", which isn't what ended up happening. The old elevated line used to be much much faster than the current silver line. Since it was added to the map, i've been wanting just SOMETHING designating it as a bus route, and not a subway line; theres literally nothing on there that calls it a bus. The silver line actually does have a tunnel along its route, which is in the waterfront of the city. It uses it after South Station, and follows it through to World Trade Center (2 stops). Another fun history fact: There once WAS an A branch. It merged off the B branch past Packards Corner, up to Watertown Square. It ran as a streetcar, with no dedicated lanes for it. It was replaced with buses (Getting some flashbacks to the Boston Elevated Railway), and is I believe the 53 bus now. Yes, we have a rather huge bus system, which sprawls out across the whole city. I'll argue it has better coverage, redundancy, and travels farther than the NYC bus system, however yours has better ridership, more bus lanes, and more routes overall. Some things to checkout if (when) you come back: - Check out whatever phase of the green line extension opened during the time of your trip. The stops are really nice. - Ride the Ashmont - Mattapan line (I'll argue you didn't ride all the colors because its more of a maroon, but depending on the signage it may be the same red color as the main red line); its a very peaceful ride through beautiful wooded areas, using vintage PCC cars! - Ride the B and C branches (Exit the C at Cleveland Circle and walk to Chestnut Hill Ave, or vice versa), so you can see how wonky they are. - You should totally also take a ride on the commuter rail. Theres tons of attractions within arms reach of these stations, and small towns in Massachusetts are really cool to checkout.

There was an A branch on the green line from Park Street to Watertown, although it suffered through train traffic and accidents, so they replaced it with the route 57 bus from Kenmore to Watertown Yard. Few buses run early to other stops at early morning, so buses frequently run from 4:00am to 1:00am. There are over 100 bus routes. The commuter rail takes you somewhere farther from Boston.

This is so cool. Awesome one with the Blue Line!

... I miss Boston so much!! 😔 Thank you for uploading this!! 🙂

This video takes me back to my two-day visit in January 2020 for my birthday. Glad I squeezed it in after a day in Philadelphia in time before the lockdown.

Thanks to the extravagant costs of "The Big Dig," the Silver Line ended up being a bus line instead of a rail line. To answer your question regarding the "A Line," it used to exist until 1969 when it was discontinued and replaced by busses. It used to run on the B Line, but instead of turning left at Packard's Corner, it continued west to Watertown on Brighton Ave. For some reason, there were many traffic accidents involving A Line trolleys on Brighton Ave and N. Beacon St in the 60s. Consequently, the MBTA decided to replace the trolleys with busses to reduce traffic accidents and increase traffic flow efficiency.

The silver line is advertised as “bus rapid transit” which is supposed to be faster and more like a rapid transit line than a normal bus, however they kinda half assed the execution. SL4 and SL5 just hace poorly enforced bus lanes, and while SL1, 2, and 3 have a proper bus tunnel with multiple stops starting from south station, once they exit the tunnel they’re back to being a normal bus (except the SL3 which has a short bus only road at the end)

Nice little series! Hopefully one day you can make it out to Chicago. They have a huge rail system with lots of elevateds.

The first station looks A LOT lot LIKE van wyk pkwy station (after it goes on it’s own track not with the (F)), sutphin blvd & Jamaica ctr. It definitely has that feel!

Yessir! Great video! Hope to see more videos like this soon!

Here In Cleveland we have the 2 BRT lines known as the Cleveland State Line & Healthline on our Rapid Transit map along with the Red Line, Blue Line & Green Line trains. Most cities now include BRT with their trains even though BRT is buses.

Wow this reminds me of back in 2014 my grandfather would take me on every New England train and subways and I’ve experienced all of these trains and stations hundreds of times