News & Reviews News Wire MBTA to offer free or reduced-fare rail service during major highway closure

MBTA to offer free or reduced-fare rail service during major highway closure

By Trains Staff | June 12, 2023

| Last updated on February 4, 2024

Blue Line will be free, some commuter rail fares reduced during work on tunnel under Boston Harbor

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Subway train in station
Service on the MBTA’s Blue Line will be free July 5-Aug. 31 during the closure of a highway tunnel under Boston Harbor. MBTA via Twitter

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is taking significant steps to address potential traffic issues during the upcoming closure of a 90-year-old highway tunnel, offering free service on the Blue Line subway and lowering fares on the Newburyport/Rockport commuter rail route.

Those changes will come July 5 through Aug. 31, when the Sumner Tunnel (State Route 1A) under Boston Harbor, which connects East Boston and Logan Airport, is closed for renovation. It’s the first of two years of planned summer shutdowns.

Detail of MBTA transit map
A detail of the MBTA’s commuter rail map shows the Newburyport/Rockport Line, a portion of which will see fares reduced during the tunnel project, as well as the rapid-transit Blue Line. MBTA

Blue Line fares are normally $2.40. Parking at four stations — Beachmont, Orient Heights, Suffolk Downs, and Wonderland — will be reduced to $2 per day; weekday parking at those stations normally ranges from $2.50 to $7.

Meanwhile, on the comuter rail Newburyport/Rockport Line, fares that can be as much as $8.75 will be reduced to $2.40 from the Salem or Swampscott stations. Parking at eight lots on the line will be free while at Salem and Swampscott, it will be reduced to $2.

The MBTA will also make its East Boston Ferry service free and add ferry service between Blossom Street Pier in Lynn and Long Wharf South in Boston. Logan Airport will be offering a “Ticket to Skip” program where those arriving by ferry or water taxi will receive a voucher allowing them to skip to the front of the TSA screening line.

More detail is available here.

CommonWealth Magazine reports that discussions are ongoing between MBTA and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation whether the MBTA will be reimbursed for the lost revenue resulting from these programs.

5 thoughts on “MBTA to offer free or reduced-fare rail service during major highway closure

  1. Where is the demand that the trucking company absorb all the costs resulting from their accident?

    1. Here’s how it’s done: Trucking company has enough insurance to cover most day-to-day incidents, so it can stay in business after stuff happens. Insurance is capped, won’t cover the cost of a new bridge. Trucking company goes out of business, insurance pays the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania up to the cap, highway taxes pay the rest.

  2. “MBTA to offer free or reduced fare rail service during major highway closure”

    Fixed It…

  3. They could get more long term commuters if this pricing works and they deliver on time. When some of these drivers realize the benefit of not sitting in Boston traffic and just relaxing on their commute that should produce good numbers and other systems may take note.

  4. This could be an interesting case study, to see how much diversion to the Blue Line subway and the North Shore commuter trains actually happens. That would be information to file and to dust off before the next knee-jerk diversion project.

    Boston road traffic can’t get any worse than it already is. People who can ride transit (MBTA subway, bus, regional rail or ferry) already do. On the flip side, those who don’t ride MBTA have shown a proven willingness to sit in gridlock on frightening highways.

    In this case, I assume the parallel Callahan Tunnel will be converted to two-way traffic, a lane each direction, as has happened before. There’s also the Tobin Bridge and, more recently, the Ted Williams Tunnel.

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