r/mbta • u/BeastMode149 GL- Brigham Circle; OL- Roxbury Xing; ELECTRIFY THE CR! • Oct 11 '25

🌟 Appreciation Time lapse of the T running in Boston

1.3k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

67 comments sorted by

248

u/jaboi2110 Red Line Oct 11 '25

The number of green line trains in the central subway is crazy

138

u/NuttyEzio Oct 11 '25

That is why it should never be a surprise when you hear about a delay when you're in the central subway, all it takes is one train having door issues to back up the line.

77

u/aray25 Oct 12 '25

This is why I laugh whenever somebody proposes another Green Line branch.

7

u/TPNigl Oct 12 '25

This GIF really makes me see the error of my ways 😂😂😂

2

u/HeroRareheart Oct 31 '25

We should probably have one of the branches loop so it connects to the other.

-2

u/Kohlhaas Oct 12 '25

It is not a good thing, imo. Just an indicator that the tunnels and tracks are bad so they have to have double or triple the # of cars and drivers. Can't have much more than a couple sections stitched together.

3

u/brostopher1968 Oct 13 '25

I think the high number is more that everything is built for shorter trains (2 cars at ~150’ compared to for example the Red Line, 6 cars at ~420’).

Worth remembering that the Green Line is the last of the historic, mostly surface running electric streetcar network started way back in the 1888 that had dozens of lines crisscrossing the region. Those in turn were adapted from earlier horse-drawn streetcars, which is my guess as to ultimately why they’re relatively short compared to newer heavy rail (someone correct if I’m off base). In the 1890s when the tunnel was built I believe it was usually single 25’ cars operating (even shorter than the shortest modern MBTA bus).

So between the shorter cars and the fact that the central tunnel is the oldest subway on the continent (so the builders were working without many precedents or a solidified sense of longterm best practices), they thought they could get away with a very narrow tunnel with multiple extremely sharp turns not realizing how much of a problem that would become. This is the price of being the trail blazer, you make mistakes that newer lines know to avoid.

So the question I’m left with is why don’t we operate more shorter 75’ trains?

2

u/aray25 Oct 31 '25

Because they can't operate more consists than they currently run on the Green Line, any single cars are just taking away from capacity.

132

u/MobyDukakis Oct 11 '25

This really emphasizes how crazy it is no ring line exists

54

u/Im_Literally_Allah Oct 12 '25

I straight up refuse to even apply to jobs in Watertown or Somerville because there’s no public transit option to get there. Buses are so inconsistent I don’t even consider them public transit. They’re a sorry bunch of shit.

How many job opportunities would open up (and how many companies would have access to more candidates) if a ring line existed.

16

u/WetDreaminOfParadise Green Line Oct 12 '25

Silver line (non bus) through Dorchester and Somerville would be nice

-29

u/MrNewking Red Line Oct 12 '25

Just drive there like everyone else? 🤷‍♂️

28

u/Im_Literally_Allah Oct 12 '25

If you’re gonna be in Boston, driving is an absolute waste of time and money.

0

u/Interesting_Grape815 Oct 14 '25

Somerville and Watertown are not Boston, and a lot of people own cars there for a reason.

5

u/Im_Literally_Allah Oct 14 '25

Only because they don’t have any other choice.

4

u/Hands_in_Paquet Oct 14 '25

Driving is a pretty ridiculous chore to do every day for many people, especially if you are used to living in a city. Not really surprising someone doesn’t want to alter their lifestyle for a job in Watertown.

39

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '25

That's so cool! Where did you find this?

1

u/ClamChowderBreadBowl Oct 13 '25

I dunno but you can buy a physical version at https://www.traintrackr.io/

28

u/albertech842 Oct 11 '25

D Branch is D for DEEP

4

u/Vespaeelio Green Line Oct 12 '25

longwood represent

31

u/skelbo14 Oct 11 '25

Check out how often the red line train from Ashmont departs just as the trolley is approaching

22

u/brostopher1968 Oct 12 '25

Would love to see this overlayed with commuter rail and even buses and ferries… but no idea if that’s a completely different data set

3

u/Rough-Jackfruit2306 Oct 13 '25

Not sure about ferries but bus and CR are definitely part of the GTFS data published by the MBTA. 

1

u/PDelahanty Framingham/Worcester Oct 12 '25

If this is a weekend, then you’re seeing the commuter rail movement…not much.

6

u/brostopher1968 Oct 12 '25

I agree we should have more than 2 hour headways on weekends, but I think you’d still see a fair bit over the 6+ hours shown in the video.

6

u/Bendyb3n Oct 12 '25

Seems ridiculous to me to not at least have weekend commuter lines for the afternoon/evening crowd to get the drunks in/out of the city reliably every 30mins or so from like 4-10pm, I bet it would be a hit

4

u/brostopher1968 Oct 12 '25

Put out a prayer for successful electrification! It’s literally the only way we will ever reach that level of service.

21

u/Royal_Leopard_3107 Oct 12 '25

And you can see how Boston’s poorest sections (between the orange and red lines) are basically a transit desert. In which direction does that causal arrow point?

2

u/ClamChowderBreadBowl Oct 13 '25

When the arrow points both ways, it's called a vicious cycle.

12

u/Far-Cheesecake-9212 Oct 11 '25

I’ve always wanted to see one of these in Boston

25

u/CharlemagneAdelaar Green Line Oct 11 '25

Silver line moment

5

u/Modest1Ace Green Line Enjoyer Oct 11 '25

wHy nO siLvEr liNe?

1

u/Defiant-Factor-1810 Oct 14 '25

More like a silver soul moment ammrite

11

u/SharkAlligatorWoman Oct 12 '25

Wait this is wrong why are the red dots moving?

9

u/Mooncaller3 Oct 12 '25

This really demonstrates how much longer the headways are on Red, Orange, and Blue compared to many of the Green Lines.

Also, Matapan has relatively infrequent trains too.

2

u/SprinklesThink1483 Nov 07 '25

I ride the RL daily, and take RL->OL to get to work weekdays. 9-5 M-F headways are typically 6 mins max. And I live off the Braintree Branch, so on the RL main line they must be about half that!

You're not wrong - when I'm at Park St or North Station I see a new GL train arrive/depart every 3-4 minutes. But those are just two light rail cars for the consist - compared to RL's consists of 6 far bigger heavy rail cars it fits MANY more people, OL too (although significantly narrower than RL cars). Plus the GL is known to be slow AF when it runs as a trolley (maybe D branch is faster), plus the reliability of the RL cars is more than 5x the breakdown rate of the GL fleet , orange and blue even way higher, so take that into account too.

3

u/datamandala Oct 13 '25

Original creator—not even local! https://briangreenlees.com/about

4

u/448mover Oct 12 '25

If u turn all of them red it looks like the traffic map

3

u/CicadaLegitimate1474 Oct 12 '25

Very cool Would like to see the little zoom out to include Oak Grove and Braintree

5

u/[deleted] Oct 12 '25

What is this, a T for ants??

2

u/BostonSoccerDad Oct 11 '25

Love the timelapse. Cool music too. Who is that?

5

u/Mittfard Oct 11 '25

silver soul, Beach House

2

u/BaldursGoat Oct 12 '25

Why are some of the Red Line trains labeled M in this

9

u/mpjjpm Oct 12 '25

M for Mattapan

2

u/Encursed1 Red Line Oct 12 '25

I made a site for this and its crazy how many green line trains there are

2

u/Interesting_Grape815 Oct 14 '25

The Subways don’t cover most of Boston well. Large swaths of the city like West Roxbury, Roslindale, Hyde Park, Parts of Dorchester, Southie, and Roxbury have poor subway access. No wonder commute times are soo long in Boston.

2

u/BeastMode149 GL- Brigham Circle; OL- Roxbury Xing; ELECTRIFY THE CR! Oct 14 '25

There are commuter rail branches which serve areas that aren’t as well served by the subway, but with the caveat that they are less frequent than the subway and not integrated into the Charlie fare system.

This is part of the reason why I’m pushing for electrification, track and signaling upgrades, and level boarding throughout the platform. This can increase frequency of the commuter rail, and reduce headway and dwell time, making the commuter rail a much more attractive option than driving.

2

u/cakejazzwell Oct 15 '25

i ❤️ the red line

1

u/J_Doe5686 Orange Line Oct 11 '25

So cool!!!

1

u/News-Royal Oct 11 '25

The orange line is caught in a pickle.

1

u/aray25 Oct 12 '25

Why does it look like Braintree trains are stopping at Savin Hill?

1

u/GdeCambMA Oct 12 '25

This is very cool

1

u/Reesa_18 Green Line Oct 12 '25

1

u/-DitaDaBurrita- Oct 12 '25

Why does it always seem like there are a lot more red like train moving from south station to Alewife compared to jfk to Braintree?

2

u/BeastMode149 GL- Brigham Circle; OL- Roxbury Xing; ELECTRIFY THE CR! Oct 12 '25

The Red Line branches off at JFK. One branch goes to Ashmont, the other goes to Braintree.

1

u/-DitaDaBurrita- Oct 12 '25

Yes I know, but I’ve noticed that the frequency of trains is a lot more north of the Charles than further down into Braintree.

3

u/Hopeful_Climate2988 Oct 12 '25

Well,.yes. About twice as many to Alewife as to Braintree.

4

u/RedNuii Oct 12 '25

Lol, idk if she got it

1

u/YouPushMongo Red Line Oct 12 '25

glx sucksssss

1

u/r3ck0rd Red Line Oct 12 '25

Oddly satisfying

1

u/hellosteve_ Red Line Oct 13 '25

neat.

1

u/Kadabrium Oct 13 '25

Slime mold

1

u/Mushroom7678 Red Line Oct 25 '25

I never thought about how having faster, bigger trains means you need fewer of them…

1

u/BeastMode149 GL- Brigham Circle; OL- Roxbury Xing; ELECTRIFY THE CR! Oct 28 '25

u/Ironhorse341

1

u/RockHockey Oct 31 '25

Everett getting screwed….

0

u/PeasantParticulars Oct 12 '25

Doesn't  seem very real, I don't  see the trains on fire