Silver Line

A soon to be part of Boston's MBTA, the Silver Line will connect downtown Boston, and rest of the MBTA to Logan International Airport. This is apparently only a bus line, though the naming is similar to the Red/Blue/Orange/Green Lines, which are all subway/light rail lines.

I don't quite understand the logic, as there already is an Airport stop on the Blue Line. The other end of the Silver Line is supposed to go through some un-connected part of Boston.

You gotta support any increase in public transportation, though.

The Silver Line's name is somewhat ambiguous because it's a bus line that masquerades as a subway line. The website (allaboutsilverline.com) is a little bit dodgy in describing what the Silver Line actually is; they prefer to say that it "combines subway and bus technology." Thanks, guys.

The Silver Line, really, is an accordion-style bus that runs through "exclusive right-of-ways" in Boston. This means bus lanes, but it also means bus-dedicated tunnels; that's the cool part. They haven't implemented that yet.

There are three phases of Silver Line service. Phase I has been implemented, a bus lane down Washington Street from Downtown to Dudley Square by way of Roxbury and the South End.

Phase II is currently being built, and will run in a one-mile underground corridor from South Station to the World Trade Center, and onward to Logan or the Convention Center.

Phase III is another tunnel connecting the first two.

Washington St. Service (implemented)

• Chinatown
• Temple St.
• Boylston
• New England Medical Center
• Herald St.
• East Berkeley St.
• Union Park St.
• Newton St.
• Worcester Square
• Mass Ave.
• Lenox St.
• Melnea Cass Blvd.
• Dudley Square

Phase II Service (under construction)

• South Station
• US Courthouse
• World Trade Center

The buses now emerge from underground and split for:

• Boston Convention Center or
• Logan Airport (via Ted Williams Tunnel)

Phase III Service (still being designed)

• South Station
• Chinatown
• Boylston
• New England Medical Center

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Sources: mbta.com and allaboutsilverline.com