Transportation in Boston


Transportation in Boston includes roadway, subway, regional rail, air, and sea options for passenger and freight transit in Boston, Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Port Authority operates the Port of Boston, which includes a container shipping facility in South Boston, and Logan International Airport, in East Boston. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority operates bus, subway, short-distance rail, and water ferry passenger services throughout the city and region. Amtrak operates passenger rail service to and from major Northeastern cities, and a major bus terminal at South Station is served by varied intercity bus companies. The city is bisected by major highways I-90 and I-93, the intersection of which has undergone a major renovation, nicknamed the Big Dig.

Road transportation

Road infrastructure

Except for the Back Bay and part of the South Boston neighborhoods, Boston has no street grid. The City of Boston, composed of many smaller towns annexed over the years, retained most of the pre-existing street names, resulting in many duplicates throughout the city.
Expressways and freeways in and around Greater Boston are laid out with two circumferential expressways: Interstate 495 and Route 128. The circumferential routes are intersected by several radial highways, including:
By the early 1990s, traffic on the elevated downtown portions of I-93 and Route 1 was 190,000 vehicles per day, with an accident rate four times the national average for urban interstates. Traffic was bumper-to-bumper for six to eight hours per day, with projections of traffic jams doubling by 2010. Also, the elevated structure itself was decaying, after more than a half century of continuous use. For most of the 1990s and early 2000s, driving in Boston was disrupted by the Big Dig, the most expensive road project in the history of the US.
After more than 15 years of disruption, The Big Dig, along with other highway projects, provided less than 10 years of relief before congestion returned to the levels seen in "prerecession 2005, when the Big Dig was almost complete and marketed as the solution to gridlock for commuters... analyses would conclude that the added capacity attracted more drivers, and pushed the traffic bottlenecks farther into the suburbs." However even without the big dig the raised road was structurally deficient and needed rebuilding or replacement.
Boston remains one of the most congested metropolitan areas in the US. The complex and still-changing road network, with many one-way streets and time-based traffic restrictions, has led many Boston travelers to consider an up-to-date GPS navigation map system a necessity.

Walking and bicycling

Boston is known to travel agents as "America's Walking City", has been rated as the third most walkable city in the US by Walk Score, and also has a high Transit Score.
Boston is a compact city, sized right for walking or bicycling. According to a Prevention magazine report in 2003, the city has the highest percentage of on-foot commuters of any city in the United States. In 2000, 13.36% of Boston commuters walked to work according to the US Census. This was the highest of any major US city, bested only by college towns such as nearby Cambridge. Most of the area's cities and towns have standing committees devoted to improvements to the bicycle and pedestrian environment. The first pedestrian advocacy organization in the United States, WalkBoston, was started in Boston in 1990, and helped start the national pedestrian advocacy organization America Walks.
Cycling is popular in Boston, for both recreation and commuting. Some bicycle paths are marked on some roadways, but very few completely separated paths are available to cyclists. The Minuteman Bikeway and the Charles River bike paths are popular with recreational cyclists and tourists. The Emerald Necklace system of parklands and parkways, pioneered by Frederick Law Olmsted and his sons, provides some more pleasant alternative routes for cyclists. The Southwest Corridor also provides cycling infrastructure, as does the East Boston Greenway. Many MBTA riders use a bicycle to get to a nearby station, and the number of bicycle racks and lockers has been increased.
However Bicycling magazine, in its March 2006 issue, named the city as one of its three worst cities in the United States for cycling. The distinction was earned for "lousy roads, scarce and unconnected bike lanes and bike-friendly gestures from City Hall that go nowhere—such as hiring a bike coordinator in 2001, only to cut the position two years later". Neighboring Cambridge earned an honorable mention as one of the best cities for cycling with a population of 75,000-200,000.
Since September 2007, when Mayor Thomas Menino started a bicycle program called Boston Bikes with a goal of improving bicycling conditions by adding bike lanes and racks and offering bikeshare programs, the city has improved accommodations for bicyclists in a number of ways. The least visible improvement is zoning and building code changes to encourage showering and locker facilities in major office buildings. Better signage and lane markings for bicyclists are starting to appear. More visible enforcement of traffic regulations on motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians has commenced.
Boston has an active Critical Mass ride group, and MassBike is a bike advocacy group active in supporting cyclists in the area. The LivableStreets Alliance, headquartered in Cambridge, is an advocacy group for bicyclists, pedestrians, and walkable neighborhoods.

Maps and guides

The Boston regional Metropolitan Area Planning Council publishes a large and detailed "Greater Boston Cycling & Walking Map", which it distributes free of charge. The map is also available online and in downloadable form, and revisions are solicited from the general public.
In addition, a small private company called Rubel BikeMaps has for many years published and distributed an extensive lineup of books and maps covering Boston, the state of Massachusetts, and nearby areas of New England. These publications are for sale at many bicycle shops, and online. Because of recent expansion of bike lanes and other facilities, plus increased input from the public, it is important to use the most recent editions of these maps and guides.
Rubel BikeMaps also publishes Car-Free in Boston:a Guide for Locals and Visitors, still in its 10th edition as of 2015. Prepared by the Association for Public Transportation, this book contains extensive information useful to bicyclists and pedestrians alike, including coverage of intermodal travel and handicapped accessibility. Although the general overview and travel tips are largely still relevant, this classic book has not been updated since 2003, and must be supplemented by current online information.
With widespread use of smartphones and tablet computers, online mapping services such as Google Maps have become popular aids for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists. The MBTA was one of the earliest large transit agencies to embrace the Open Data philosophy, making route, scheduling, and real-time vehicle location information publicly available in the standard GTFS format. As a result, many third-party apps are available on a number of hardware platforms, allowing riders a wide range of choices in obtaining travel information. Google Maps has started to present maps of the interiors of underground subway stations, and this information is available on Android and iOS smartphones, as well as web browsers.

Buses

162 MBTA bus routes operate within the Greater Boston area, with a combined ridership of approximately 375,000 one-way trips per day, making it the seventh-busiest local bus agency in the country. The bus fare is $1.70 with a CharlieCard, or $2 with a CharlieTicket or cash; monthly commuter passes are available, as are reduced fare transfers between most bus lines and the subway.
In an effort to provide service intermediate in speed and capacity between subways and buses, the MBTA has begun projects using bus rapid transit technology. The MBTA has one BRT line, the Silver Line, although this operates in two discontinuous sections. The Silver Line operates in part via dedicated trolleybus tunnel, in part via on-street reserved bus lanes, and in part mixed with general street traffic. Service through the trolleybus tunnel is by dual-mode buses, which operate electrically in the tunnel and within a short section on the surface, and which use diesel power for the rest of the route.
Massport operates the Logan Express, an express bus service between Logan International Airport and suburban park-and-ride lots.
Several privately owned commuter bus services take passengers between the city and suburbs. Transportation Management Associations also run public shuttles to specific employment centers, such as the EZ Ride for Kendall Square; and the Route 128 Business Council shuttles around Alewife, Needham, and Waltham; Partners HealthCare runs public shuttles among its locations. The MASCO TMA operates six commuter shuttles for the use of Longwood Medical Area employees and students run by the MASCO TMA for the Longwood Medical Area. The MASCO M2 shuttle between Harvard Square and the LMA via Massachusetts Avenue is available for public use, though tickets or cash card must be purchased in advance. Many colleges and universities also run private shuttles for students and employees.
In June 2014, the Cambridge-based startup Bridj began running "data driven" bus service in core neighborhoods. It uses a mixture of fixed and dynamic routes and pricing, depending on where and when registered members say they want to go.