Transportation in Boston includes roadway, subway, regional rail, air, and sea options for passenger and freight transit in Boston, Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) 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 (MBTA) 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.
The Silver Line is a system of bus routes in Boston and Chelsea, Massachusetts, operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). It is operated as part of the MBTA bus system, but branded as bus rapid transit (BRT) as part of the MBTA subway system. Six routes are operated as part of two disconnected corridors. As of 2019, weekday ridership on the Silver Line was 39,000.
South Station, officially The Governor Michael S. Dukakis Transportation Center at South Station, is the largest railroad station and intercity bus terminal in Greater Boston and New England's second-largest transportation center after Logan International Airport. Located at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Summer Street in Dewey Square, Boston, Massachusetts, the historic station building was constructed in 1899 to replace the downtown terminals of several railroads. Today, it serves as a major intermodal domestic transportation hub, with service to the Greater Boston region and the Northeastern and Midwestern United States. It is used by thousands of commuter rail and intercity rail passengers daily. Connections to the rapid transit Red Line and bus rapid transit Silver Line are made through the adjacent subway station.
Airport station is a rapid transit station in Boston, Massachusetts. It serves the MBTA Blue Line and the SL3 branch of the Silver Line. It is located in East Boston under the interchange between Interstate 90 and Massachusetts Route 1A. The station provides one of two mass transit connections to the nearby Logan International Airport, as well as serving local residents in East Boston. Shuttle buses connect the station with the airport terminals and other facilities.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) operates 152 bus routes in the Greater Boston area. The MBTA has a policy objective to provide transit service within walking distance for all residents living in areas with population densities greater than 5,000 inhabitants per square mile (1,900/km2) within the MBTA's service district. Much of this service is provided by bus. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 91,459,700, or about 310,700 per weekday as of the first quarter of 2024.
Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) is the port authority for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It owns and operates three airports, Logan International Airport, Hanscom Field, and Worcester Regional Airport, and public terminals in the Port of Boston.
The Grand Junction Railroad is an 8.55-mile (13.76 km) long railroad in the Boston, Massachusetts, area, connecting the railroads heading west and north from Boston. The line is notable for its railroad bridge over the Charles River that passes under the Boston University Bridge between Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The Boston-area trolleybus system formed part of the public transportation network serving Greater Boston in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It opened on April 11, 1936, with a large network operating for the next quarter-century. Measured by fleet size, the Boston-area system was the second-largest trolleybus system in the United States at its peak, with only the Chicago system having more trolleybuses than Boston's 463. After 1963, the only remaining portion was a four-route cluster operating from the Harvard bus tunnel at Harvard station, running through Cambridge, Belmont, and Watertown. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority took over the routes in 1964.
Ashmont station is a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) intermodal transit station located at Peabody Square in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the southern terminus of the Ashmont branch of the rapid transit Red Line, the northern terminus of the connecting light rail Ashmont–Mattapan High-Speed Line, and a major terminal for MBTA bus service. Ashmont has two side platforms serving the below-grade Red Line and a single side platform on an elevated balloon loop for the Mattapan Line. The station is fully accessible for all modes.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) maintains a large public transit system in the Boston, Massachusetts area, and uses various methods to name and number their services for the convenience of users.
The Urban Ring was a proposed project of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, to develop new public transportation routes that would provide improved circumferential connections among many existing transit lines that project radially from downtown Boston. The Urban Ring Corridor is located roughly one to two miles from downtown Boston, passing through the Massachusetts cities of Boston, Chelsea, Everett, Medford, Somerville, Cambridge, and Brookline. The project was expected to convert 41,500 car trips to transit trips daily.
World Trade Center station is an underground bus rapid transit station on the MBTA's Silver Line, located south of Congress Street on the South Boston Waterfront. The station is situated between the World Trade Center and the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center; it also serves Commonwealth Pier and nearby residential and commercial development. Like all Silver Line stations, World Trade Center station is accessible.
Tufts Medical Center station is an underground Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) rapid transit station in Boston, Massachusetts. It serves the MBTA subway Orange Line, as well as two Silver Line bus rapid transit routes on the surface. It is named for the Tufts Medical Center and is built under a wing of the facility that crosses over Washington Street in downtown Boston between Kneeland Street in Chinatown and the Massachusetts Turnpike. The accessible station has two side platforms for the Orange Line.
Courthouse station is an underground bus rapid transit station on the MBTA's Silver Line, located under Seaport Boulevard at Thomson Street on the South Boston Waterfront. It is named for the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse which is one block to the north on Fan Pier. The station also serves the Fort Point neighborhood, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, and nearby residential and commercial development. Like all Silver Line stations, Courthouse station is accessible.
Bellingham Square station is a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Silver Line bus rapid transit (BRT) station located near Bellingham Square slightly north of downtown Chelsea, Massachusetts. The station has two accessible side platforms for buses on the SL3 route. The Boston and Maine Railroad and predecessor Eastern Railroad served Chelsea station at the same location from the mid-1850s to 1958. The MBTA opened Chelsea station on the Newburyport/Rockport Line in 1985. Prior to its 2010 cancellation, the Urban Ring Project planned for a circumferential BRT line with a stop at Mystic Mall. Planning continued for the Chelsea segment; a Silver Line extension to Mystic Mall was announced in 2013. Construction began in 2015, and SL3 service to the renamed Bellingham Square station began on April 21, 2018. Commuter rail service moved to the newly constructed Chelsea station on November 15, 2021.
City Point Bus Terminal is a bus station in South Boston, Massachusetts. It serves MBTA bus routes 7, 9, 10 and 11. From 2004 to 2009, it was the terminus of Silver Line route SL3.
The Logan Express is an airport bus shuttle which operates between Boston Logan International Airport and Massachusetts suburbs. The service, which is funded by Massport, consists of five routes that run between all of Logan Airport's terminals and the towns of Braintree, Framingham, Peabody, Woburn, and the Boston neighborhood of Back Bay. Each route runs direct between the airport and its suburban terminus on a set schedule.
Chelsea station is a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) intermodal transit station located adjacent to the Mystic Mall in Chelsea, Massachusetts. It is the terminus of the SL3 route of the MBTA Silver Line bus rapid transit (BRT) network, and is served by the Newburyport/Rockport Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail. The accessible station has a loop with two small platforms for the Silver Line, and two full-length side platforms for commuter rail trains.
Eastern Avenue station is a bus rapid transit station on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Silver Line system, located in Chelsea, Massachusetts near Chelsea Creek. The accessible station has two side platforms, with street access from Eastern Avenue and Central Avenue. Plans for the Urban Ring Project called for a busway along the former Grand Junction Branch, but with a station further north at Griffin Way. After the Urban Ring was cancelled in 2010, new plans for a busway with an Eastern Avenue stop were announced in 2013. Construction began in 2015, with route SL3 service beginning on April 21, 2018.
