T / subway, Boston

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You can purchase different types of passes. But if you only want a few rides, the CharlieCard or CharlieTicket can be used. You save money with a FREE CharileCard, read on for more info.

CharlieCard will cost $1.70 per subway rides while the CharlieTicket will cost $2.00 per rides. It is only a savings but 30 cents per ride per persion, but why not, the CharlieTicket is free!

For buses, it is $1.25 for Charlie Card and $1.50 for Charlie Ticket. The Charlie Card also helps with transfers. Again, a savings of 25 cents per ride per persion.

You get a Charlie Ticket by putting money or credit card into the machines at the stations, then use the Charlie Ticket to enter the station.

You get a Charlie Card by asking the attendant for a FREE one, then you add money to the card using the same machines used to buy Charlie Tickets. Then you use the Charlie Card to enter the station.

So the Charlie Card is a better deal.

1 Day Unlimited Travel Pass $9.00. Recommended if you take 6 or more rides in one day.

7 Day Unlimited Travel Pass $15.00. Recommended if you take 9 or more rides in a week.

Children 11 and under ride free with a paying adult.

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It's a fairly well known fact that driving in downtown Boston can drive even the most patient driver completely mad. The best way to get around this problem is to leave your car behind and ride the "T", the oldest subway system in North America. It's by far the most convenient, simple and unexpensive way to get around Boston - and an added bonus is that you'll get to mingle with Bostonians!

Tickets and passes can be purchased at every station, with cash or credit cards. A single fare costs $2, and you can also buy a weekly pass for $15.

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HERE IS THE OFFICIAL SUBWAY ("T") MAP. COPY IT, STUDY IT, LEARN IT BELIEVE IT, LIVE IT. GREEN LINE, ORANGE LINE, BLUE LINE, RED LINE, INBOUND, OUTBOUND, CHARLIE PASS, CHARLIE CARD, GET POOR CHARLIE OFF THE MTA! WHEW!

The Boston subway isn't quite as easy to navigate as the Metro in Washington, D.C., but you will catch on. They need some help in their signage, it is often confusing or inadequate. For example, several stops on the map are not even labeled. You have to figure it out.

Its a bargain, though. For $2.00 you can go anywhere in the city that the tracks go. If you change trains you do not have to pay again to continue your ride. Only if you leave the subway system do you have to repay.

However the subway would quickly become a daily grind to us if we lived there. Everyone avoids eye contact, rarely is a friendly greeting exchanged, and people's expressions range from utter boredom to bare toleration of the circumstances. From our rural midwestern perspective, thats no way to live.

It been a long time since the Kingston Trio sang about getting "Poor Charlie off the MTA".

Boston is know as a walking city, and you can walk to just about any of the most popular landmarks. When you do need to travel a bit faster or when you go longer distances, I can't recommend the subway highly enough.

There are dozens of stations located conveniently throughout the city, and the system is easy to get the hang of with plentiful, easy to read maps. Expect large crowds during morning and afternoon rush hours, but the trips are short enough to make this only a minor drawback. A trip from my hotel to Fenway Park, which are on opposite sides of the city, was about 35 minutes including the walk.

Buy a week-long pass (or a month pass, depending on the length of your stay), as it will be much cheaper in the long run. One trip by subway is about $2.00, regardless of where you go, and those numbers add up quicker than you think.

Passes, called "Charlie Cards" are available at any station and can be purchased with cash or credit/debit cards from attendents or automated machines.

The T is the nickname for the MBTA subway system. The T also refers to busses, commuter rails and ferries, but most commonly the subway. The T is one of the most simple and convinient subway systems I've ridden. T fares are on Charlie tickets which you can purchase from a machine at any underground station. Each ride costs $1.25. You can purchase a ticket with any amount of money on it from these machines. They are relatively simple to use, but I have witnessed many baby-boomers befudle themselve while trying to purchase tickets. The T consists of four subways (red, orange, green, and blue), and one wiered subway/bus hybrid (silver line). All lines go downtown and cover a seperate area outside downtown. The redline and greenline each seperate into seperate lines on one line. The redline simply seperates into the Ashmont or Braintree line, whereas the greenline seperates into B,C,D,E. The redline goes through Camebridge, across the Charles, into Downtown Boston and then into South Boston where one line goes through Dorchester to Ashmont, and the other through Quincy to Briantree. The Greenline goes from Lechemere Square in the eastern corner of Cambridge, through the North End, to Downtown. From there it goes through the back bay into Brookline, Brighton, and Newton to the West. The Orange line starts in Malden, a subburb to the north and runs through Charlestown and the North End into Downtown. It then heads through the Back Bay into Jamaica Plain. The Blueline starts in Revere, a city to the East. From there it runs through the neighborhood of East Boston to Logan Airport, then goes under Boston Harbor to Downtown. The blueline unlike the others ends downtown. The silveline has two parts. One goes from Dudley square in Roxbury, a neighborhood south of downtown, to Downtown. One goes from Downtown to Logan through South Boston and the City Point. The T goes almost everywhere you would possibly want, there is no reason to drive. Driving in Boston is frustrating and dangerous.

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It is claimed that Boston has the oldest subway in the United States. This shocked me because I thought that New York's was older. For sure it is certainly creeky if efficient. Many of the stations such as Copley, which I frequently used, are being renovated. This is a good thing because I found that the lighting was wanting and unless you are familiar with you surroundings, you might find the T a little threatening.
The service is run by the Massachusett Bay Transport Authority. The T is rather simple to use. Recently they have installed ticket dispensing machines that dispense a "CharlieTicket". You can purchase as many rides as you need this way for an average of $2.00 a ride. There are four subway lines altogether each represented by colour, Red, Blue, Orange and Green. There is a fifth Silver line that is more a commuter service. They spread out through the city so that anywhere you need to get to as a tourist can be reached by way of the T. Many of the subway trains are in fact trolleys and they really squeek loudly. The T runs from 5am to 12:30pm.

Use the T if you need to get around Boston and surrounding areas. Driving and parking in the city is very difficult and expensive.

The T is still the least expensive mass transit system in the US and it's safe and easy to use.

They just started using a new fare system (Charlie tickets), so no more tokens.

Go go their website for more information and ride the oldest subway in America.

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Bostonians make T Bashing a daily passion. I'm just a lowly tourist and I come from South Florida where there is no such thing as even semi reliable public transportation. Metrorail does not count and the city bus....forget it. So the T looks mighty good to me. Well ok there was that one sweaty incident on the Greenline. But for the most part, I like the T. There I've said it. The trains get you where you want to go relatively cheaply and quickly. I prefer the tokens to the Charlie Cards but it still beats having nothing at all and being trapped in a car. While you're waiting for the train, you can listen to the many street musicians. Some of them are pretty good.