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BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s South Coast Rail service, scheduled to launch on Monday, March 24, will offer free weekday service through March 31, the MBTA has announced.
The free weekday trial period is in addition to previously announced free weekend service through the end of April [see “Schedule released …,” Trains News Wire, March 4, 2025]. Like the weekend service, the free weekday rides will be good for trips originating or ending at the six new South Coast Rail stations: Middleborough, East Taunton, Freetown, Church Street, Fall River Depot, and New Bedford. Parking will also be free at those stations March 24-April 30, although that promotion may end if lots fill up and spaces become unavailable.
“The MBTA is proud to launch South Coast Rail service; a truly monumental moment for these communities that we will now serve directly and for so many that have long advocated for this service,” MBTA CEO Phillip Eng said in a press release. “… we welcome new and even more passengers to experience the benefits of this new transit expansion.”
Ticket sales for South Coast Rail service began Thursday, March 20, on the MBTA’s mTicket app, with tickets good for up to 90 days after purchase. More information is available here.
This is a great service expansion, but I’m here to tell you, this will be the last. There will be no more new train services in America. Don’t blame Donald Trump. The economics of rail and bus transportation in America have been falling into a fiscal black hole for a long time. The massive accounting fraud that local transit authorities have used to “balance” their budgets with borrowed federal money has been exposed. Chicago METRA is collapsing with zero hope of a federal bailout. Its increasing costs and declining revenue began long before Trump 47 was inaugurated two months ago. Which won’t stop people posting on these pages from blaming him and Elon Musk.
Mass Hole politicians have insisted on electrifying the MBTA suburban trains, hundreds of route miles, for which effort there is no money. Let’s come back in five years and see how many of these trains still run.