Trolleybuses in Greater Boston

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Boston-area trolleybus system
A trolleybus on route 71 leaving the Harvard bus tunnel in 2006
Operation
LocaleGreater Boston, Massachusetts, United States
OpenApril 11, 1936 (1936-04-11)
CloseJune 30, 2023 (2023-06-30)[a]
Operator(s)1936–47: Boston Elevated Railway;
1947–64: Metropolitan Transit Authority;
1964–2023: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA)
Infrastructure
ElectrificationParallel overhead lines, 600 V DC

The Boston-area trolleybus (or, as known locally, trackless trolley) system formed part of the public transportation network serving Greater Boston in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It opened on April 11, 1936,[2][3] with a large network operating for the next quarter-century. Measured by fleet size, the Boston-area system was the second-largest trolleybus system in the United States at its peak (end of 1952), with only the Chicago system having more trolleybuses than Boston's 463 (with the Atlanta system being close behind Boston, with 453).[2][4] After 1963, the only remaining portion was a four-route cluster operating from the Harvard bus tunnel at Harvard station, running through Cambridge, Belmont, and Watertown. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority took over the routes in 1964.

The system was expanded by the Silver Line (Waterfront), a 2004-opened bus rapid transit network using dual-mode buses which ran as trolleybuses in a tunnel in the Seaport District of Boston before switching to diesel power to serve other destinations. The Harvard lines were converted to diesel hybrid buses in 2022, followed by the Silver Line in 2023.

History

North Cambridge Carhouse
in 1967
Map showing the Greater Boston trolleybus network as of 1960 in black and dark red; lines in dark red survived until 2013. Segments abandoned before 1960 shown in yellow and subway lines as of 1960 shown in their modern colors.

The first trackless trolley line in the Boston transit system was opened by the

motor bus lines.[3] In 1947, the BERy was succeeded by the public Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) as the operator of Boston's urban transit system,[3] and in 1964, the MTA was replaced by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), which remains the system's operator today.[6]

The BERy was owned by private investors, but came under public control from 1918. It served 13 municipalities of

Boston proper. The MTA's service area was limited to these municipalities (with the addition of Revere). Following a change of management, the MTA began replacing trolleybuses with motorbuses, starting in 1958. Only four trolleybus lines remained after 1963, all based in Cambridge. Four decades later, the MTA's successor, the MBTA, built the Silver Line (Waterfront)
, and that line's opening in late 2004 reintroduced trolleybus service in Boston proper.

At the trolleybus system's peak, the maximum number of trolleybus routes in operation was 37, with most routes running in the near north suburbs of Boston. In addition, there were the disconnected Dorchester and Arborway networks.

Prior to the opening of the Silver Line, a total of 43 trolleybus lines had historically existed, but not all concurrently,[6] making the all-time total 44 (counting the Silver Line trunk as one route) as of 2022.

Table of former trolleybus routes

Number[7][8] Termini[7][8] Major streets served[7][8][9] Date begun[9] Date ended[9][10]
15
 Kane Square Dudley station Hancock St, Dudley St December 25, 1948 April 5, 1962
16
Franklin Park
 Andrew station Columbia Rd December 10, 1949 April 5, 1962
17
 Fields Corner station Andrew station Geneva Ave, Bowdoin St, Hancock St, Columbia Rd February 12, 1949 April 5, 1962
19
 Fields Corner station Dudley station Geneva Ave, Warren St January 8, 1949 April 5, 1962
20 Fields Corner station Neponset Neponset Ave January 8, 1949 April 5, 1962
22
 Ashmont station Dudley station Talbot Ave, Blue Hill Ave, Warren St January 8, 1949 April 5, 1962
23
 Ashmont station Dudley station Talbot Ave, Washington St (Dorchester), Warren St January 8, 1949 April 5, 1962
32
 Cleary Square Forest Hills station Hyde Park Ave April 25, 1953 September 30, 1958
34
 Dedham line Forest Hills station Washington St November 22, 1952 September 5, 1958
36
 Charles River Loop, West Roxbury Forest Hills station Spring St, Centre St, Belgrade Ave, Washington St November 22, 1952 September 5, 1958
44
 Seaver St Dudley station Humboldt Ave January 29, 1949 March 31, 1961
45
 Grove Hall Dudley station Blue Hill Ave, Dudley St December 25, 1948 April 5, 1962
70
Watertown Square
 Central Square, Cambridge Arsenal St, Western Ave June 17, 1950 March 30, 1963
71
Watertown Square
 Harvard station Mount Auburn St September 6, 1958 March 12, 2022
72
 Aberdeen Ave & Mount Auburn St Harvard station Aberdeen Ave, Huron Ave, Concord Ave April 2, 1938 March 2013
73
 Waverley station Harvard station Trapelo Rd, Belmont St, Mount Auburn St September 6, 1958 March 12, 2022
76 Harvard station Massachusetts station Massachusetts Ave April 22, 1950 March 31, 1961
77 Harvard station Lechmere station Cambridge St (Cambridge) April 11, 1936 March 30, 1963
80
 Arlington Center Lechmere station Medford St (Arlington), Boston Ave, College Ave, Broadway (Somerville), Medford St (Somerville), McGrath Highway September 30, 1958 March 30, 1963
81 Arlington Center
Clarendon Hill
 Broadway (Arlington) September 12, 1953 March 30, 1963
82/
77A
 North Cambridge carhouse Harvard station Massachusetts Ave September 6, 1958 March 12, 2022
87
Clarendon Hill
 Lechmere station Somerville Ave, McGrath Highway November 8, 1941 March 30, 1963
88
Clarendon Hill
 Lechmere station Highland Ave, McGrath Highway November 8, 1941 March 30, 1963
89
 Arlington Center Sullivan Square station Broadway (Arlington/Somerville) December 7, 1946 March 30, 1963
90
 Davis Square Sullivan Square station Highland Ave, Cross St (Somerville), Broadway (Somerville) September 13, 1947 December 14, 1956
101
 Salem St & Fellsway, Medford Sullivan Square station Salem St, Main St (Medford), Broadway (Somerville) April 19, 1947 March 15, 1959
102 Faulkner, Malden Malden Square Cross St (Malden), Main St (Malden) June 17, 1939 March 30, 1963
103 Malden Square Everett station Main St (Malden) September 11, 1937 March 30, 1963
104
 Malden Square Everett station Ferry St, Broadway (Everett) December 31, 1938 March 30, 1963
105
 Faulkner, Malden Everett station Cross St (Malden), Main St (Malden) September 11, 1937 March 30, 1963
106
 Lebanon, Malden Everett station Lebanon St, Salem St, Main St (Malden) December 31, 1938 March 30, 1963
109
 Linden, Malden Everett station Eastern Ave, Broadway (Everett) November 28, 1936 March 30, 1963
110
 Broadway & Park Ave, Revere
(Woodlawn before September 7, 1940) 		Everett station Park Ave, Elm St, Ferry St, Chelsea St (Everett), Broadway (Everett) June 19, 1937 March 30, 1963
112 Malden Square Chelsea Square Ferry St, Broadway (Everett), Chelsea St (Everett), Everett Ave December 11, 1937 June 23, 1961
113 Malden Square Chelsea Square Ferry St, Chelsea St (Everett), Everett Ave December 11, 1937 June 23, 1961
114
 Woodlawn Maverick station Washington Ave, Pearl St (Chelsea), Meridian St 1954 March 31, 1961
115 Woodlawn Wood Island station Central Ave (Chelsea, Chelsea St (East Boston) January 5, 1952 1954
116
 Wonderland station Wood Island station Ocean Ave, Revere St, Broadway (Revere), Central Ave (Chelsea), Chelsea St (East Boston) January 5, 1952 March 31, 1961
117
 Wonderland station Wood Island station Ocean Ave, Beach St, Broadway (Revere), Central Ave (Chelsea), Chelsea St (East Boston) January 5, 1952 March 31, 1961
118 Revere carhouse Orient Heights station Broadway (Revere), Revere St, Ocean Ave, Bennington St January 5, 1952 June 18, 1955
120
 Orient Heights station Maverick station Bennington St, Meridian St January 5, 1952 September 8, 1961
121
 Wood Island station Maverick station Lexington St, Meridian St January 5, 1952 September 8, 1961

Harvard-based routes

History

Flyer
trolleybus in the upper level of the Harvard bus tunnel in 2003

What became the Harvard-based trolleybus system began as branches of the

street railway that opened in 1856. Lines from Harvard Square to Mount Auburn via Brattle Street and Porter Square opened soon after the Harvard Square–Bowdoin Square route.[11][12] The connecting Watertown Horse Railroad opened on April 27, 1857.[13] The Porter Square branch was extended to the border of West Cambridge (now Arlington); there it met the West Cambridge Horse Railroad, which opened on June 13, 1859.[12][14] In 1880, the Watertown line was extended south on Galen Street to Nonantum Square.[15]

The Harvard–Arlington line was electrified on July 1, 1889 – one of the first lines converted by the West End Street Railway.[16] Electric service between Watertown and Mount Auburn began on December 12, 1893; the line was double-tracked later in the decade.[17][18] Residents of Brattle Street objected to the construction of electric lines; in October 1893, the Board of Railway Commissioners denied the West End permission to run electric streetcars on Brattle Street.[11][19][20] That November, a compromise was worked out where the West End would instead build on Mount Auburn Street (which had been considered in 1891[21]); a parallel line on Concord Avenue and Huron Avenue (ending at Aberdeen Avenue and Mount Auburn Street) would be opened within eight months, and the Brattle Street horsecar tracks removed in the same time frame.[22] The Mount Auburn line opened in April or May 1894, with the Concord/Huron line opening later in the year.[23][24][25]

A branch from Mount Auburn Street to Waverley Square in Belmont opened on October 1, 1898, despite Watertown's opposition earlier than year to widening Belmont Street.[26][27] A branch to Belmont Center opened on June 30, 1906; it was replaced by buses in August 1928 and was never a trackless trolley route.[28][29][30]

On April 1, 1938, trackless trolleys replaced streetcars on the Harvard–Aberdeen Avenue line (72). In 1955 the Harvard–Arlington Heights line was converted from streetcars to diesel buses, but streetcars continued to provide short-turn service between Harvard and North Cambridge.[9] Starting in 1957, trackless trolleys provided short-turn service from Harvard to Benton Square on the route to Waverley.[31] The Harvard–Watertown Square (71), Harvard–Waverley (73), and Harvard–North Cambridge (82, renumbered 77A c. 1967[10]) lines were all converted from streetcars to trackless trolleys on September 6, 1958.[9]: 220 

These four Harvard-based trackless trolley routes remained long after the rest of the bus system had converted to diesel and existed, in part, because of a desire to limit the number of diesel buses in the

environmentalist movement of the 1970s.[33]
)

In January 2005 most route 77A (Harvard–North Cambridge) service was eliminated; the only remaining trips were pull-ins and pull-outs to take 71 and 73 buses to or from the carhouse.[10] In March 2013, route 72 trackless trolleys were replaced with diesel buses to permit roadwork on Huron Avenue and reconstruction of the Conductor's Building in Bennett Alley.[10] It was planned that route 72 would return to electric operation when construction was complete, but service was reduced to peak-only in December 2019 (in conjunction with improvements to routes 74 and 75 which also run on Concord Avenue),[34] and all route 72 service was suspended indefinitely in December 2020.[35][36]

In 2021 the MBTA announced plans to renovate the

North Cambridge Carhouse facility by 2023 to accommodate battery electric buses, eliminating trolleybus operations on all Harvard-based routes.[37][38] This included shifting the North Cambridge routes to another, unelectrified garage in 2022 to permit rebuilding of North Cambridge to begin unimpeded by active operations.[39] Trolleybus service on the last two surviving routes, 71 and 73, ended on March 12, 2022.[40][41] Multiple utility and road-rebuilding projects beginning in early 2022 led MBTA to decide to substitute diesel hybrid buses for trolleybuses at that time.[42]

Vehicles

Flyer E800 trolleybus at Cambridge Common
, followed by the newer Neoplan AN-440LF trolleybus

In the lower/westbound tunnel, the loading platforms are located on the left side of the roadway, and for this reason the trolleybuses serving this station were equipped with left-side doors, in addition to the normal righthand doors, to avoid the need to board passengers from doors facing the wall rather than the platform. Diesel buses serving the tunnel are not equipped with left-side doors, and passengers boarding or deboarding at the westbound stop must cross the roadway to reach the buses' doors.

Americans with Disabilities Act standards (see MBTA accessibility
).

Operations

The vehicles for Harvard-based routes were all stored overnight and maintained at the

North Cambridge Carhouse, the northern terminus of the 77A route. Trackless trolleys did not run on Sundays; instead, diesel buses covered the routes.[31]: 18  This was the case since 1963.[43]

To expedite passenger boarding through a left-side door in the southbound Harvard bus tunnel, the 71 and 73 trackless trolley routes allowed free entry for outbound trips, collecting fare upon later passenger exit from the vehicle.

Silver Line

Main article: Silver Line (MBTA)
Dual-mode bus in electric mode at the top of the Silver Line tunnel ramp
A Silver Line dual-mode bus changes from diesel to electric mode at Silver Line Way.

The

Motor buses are not permitted to operate inside the South Boston Waterfront tunnel due to insufficient ventilation. Four routes ran in the electrified Silver Line tunnel: SL1 to Logan Airport, SL2 to Design Center, SL3 to Chelsea, and a shuttle route which short turns
at Silver Line Way.

Until February 2006, the Silver Line also used 12 of the then-new

North Cambridge Carhouse.[47]

Following the testing of a small number of battery buses on the line starting in July 2019,[48] MBTA placed an order in November 2020 for 45 articulated "extended-range" diesel hybrid buses to replace the 32 dual-mode buses used on the Silver Line.[35] Those new hybrid buses began to enter service in January 2023, and over the next several months they gradually replaced the dual-mode buses.[49] The last day of service for any dual-mode buses, and the last day of use of the overhead trolley wires, was June 30, 2023 (with the only bus in service on that date making its last trip shortly after midnight, in the first hour of July 1).[1] This development marked the permanent closure of the Boston trolleybus system and was the first abandonment of a U.S. trolleybus system in more than 50 years—since the closure of the Chicago system in March 1973.[1]

Fleet

Boston's first trolleybuses were built by

ACF-Brill
trolleybuses built in 1950 were the only other purchase of non-Pullman trolleybuses until 1976. With several route closures in 1964, the Twin Coaches and the oldest Pullmans were retired, leaving only Pullmans built in 1947–51 in service.

These were all replaced in 1976–77 by a fleet of 50

Flyer E800s (4000–4049),[32] the first of which arrived in February 1976 and entered service in April.[50] The last Pullman-Standard trolleybuses were retired in August 1977.[51] The Flyers were, in turn, replaced by new trolleybuses over the period 2004–06. Regular use of Flyers ended in June 2006, but a small number remained active and used very sporadically until March 2007.[52] The only subsequent – and the final – use occurred on December 21, 2007, when the last two active Flyers (4006 and 4016) entered service briefly after all-night sleet-cutting duty (scraping ice off of the overhead wires).[52]

In its final years the network that served Cambridge and vicinity used a fleet of 28 40-foot (12 m) vehicles. The order for these was placed in December 2000, in a single contract with the vehicles for the Silver Line,[53] but the first vehicle (4101) was not completed and delivered until 2003.[54] Except for the first unit, these trolleybuses (numbered 4101–4128) were delivered in 2004 and were the first low-floor trolleybuses in North America.[54][55] The first day of service for trolleybuses in this series was June 4, 2004.[56]

The Silver Line fleet consisted of 32 60-foot (18 m) low-floor, articulated dual-mode buses (numbered 1101–1132). These were built by Neoplan USA and fitted with Škoda electrical equipment, and delivered in 2004–2005. Eight of the buses (1125–1132) were funded by Massport and came equipped with luggage racks for airport passengers (and fewer seats than the other buses, 38 instead of 47), for use on route SL1, which serves Logan International Airport.[57] In January 2011, four more buses (1121–1124) were also equipped with luggage racks in place of some seats.[58]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The last vehicle in service operating as a trolleybus made its final trip in the first hour of July 1, at the end of the June 30 service day.[1]

References

  1. ^
    OCLC 62554332
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 0-904235-18-1
    .
  3. ^
    LCCN 74020367
    .
  4. ISSN 0739-117X
  5. ^ "Council Can't Raise Salaries". Boston Globe. February 26, 1930. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  6. ^
    ISSN 0162-9689
    .
  7. ^ a b c "System Route Map". Boston Metropolitan Transit Authority. 1952. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
  8. ^ a b c "System Route Map". Boston Metropolitan Transit Authority. 1956. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
  9. ^ a b c d e Humphrey, Thomas. "Origin and Development of the Fixed-Route Local Bus Transportation Network in the Cities and Towns of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority District" (PDF). Retrieved December 1, 2022.
  10. ^ a b c d Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). Boston Street Railway Association.
  11. ^ a b "Cambridge Row". Boston Globe. September 15, 1893. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  12. ^ a b "Streetcar Barns" (PDF). Cambridge Historical Commission. 2000.
  13. ^ "Miscellaneous Items". New England Farmer. May 2, 1857. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  14. ISBN 9780738590431
    – via Google Books.
  15. ^ "Street Railways". Eighteenth Annual Report of the City Engineer for the Year Ending December 31, 1898. Graphic Press. 1899. p. 96 – via Google Books.
  16. ^ "Increase of $4,500,000". Boston Globe. July 26, 1889. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  17. ^ "Joined By Electric Bands". Boston Globe. December 12, 1893. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  18. ^ "To Widen Mt Auburn Street". Boston Globe. December 10, 1894. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  19. ^ "Cambridge". Boston Globe. June 22, 1893. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  20. ^ "Objectors Win". Boston Globe. October 31, 1893. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  21. ^ "Electrical Road Extension". Boston Globe. July 22, 1891. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  22. ^ "Granted Mt Auburn St". Boston Globe. November 29, 1893. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  23. ^ "All Unruffled". Boston Globe. March 31, 1894. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  24. ^ "Settled the Controversy". Boston Globe. May 23, 1894. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  25. ^ "Squirmed and Twisted". Boston Globe. May 19, 1894. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  26. ^ "Waverley Celebrates". Boston Globe. October 2, 1898. p. 17 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  27. ^ "Watertown Indignant". Boston Globe. June 20, 1898. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  28. ^ "Belmont Electrics". Cambridge Chronicle. June 30, 1906. p. 14 – via Cambridge Public Library. Open access icon
  29. ^ "Belmont Bus Service to be Continued". Cambridge Chronicle. August 25, 1928. p. 2 – via Cambridge Public Library. Open access icon
  30. ^ "Buses Take Place of Belmont Car Line". Cambridge Chronicle. August 10, 1928. p. 7 – via Cambridge Public Library.
  31. ^
    LCCN 74014950
    .
  32. ^
    ISSN 0266-7452
    .
  33. ISSN 0194-4363
    .
  34. ^ "Changes to Bus Route 72". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. December 2, 2019.
  35. ^
    OCLC 62554332
    .
  36. ^ "Alerts – bus". MBTA. Archived from the original on December 21, 2020. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
  37. ^ "T lays out bus electrification plan". CommonWealth Magazine. April 27, 2021. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
  38. ^ "Bus Electrification". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
  39. OCLC 62554332
    .
  40. ^ Seay, Bob (March 11, 2022). "Cambridge trackless trolleys to retire this weekend as the technology nears extinction". News. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  41. ^ Barnacle, Sarah (March 11, 2022). "MBTA Trolley Buses Take Their Last Ride This Weekend". WBZ NewsRadio 1030. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  42. ^ "Beginning March 2022, MBTA Routes 71 and 73 Trolley Buses To Be Replaced with Diesel-Hybrid Buses due to Roadway Projects on Mt. Auburn Street, Belmont Street, and Huron Avenue in Cambridge and Watertown" (Press release). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. January 27, 2022.
  43. ^
    OCLC 62554332
    .
  44. OCLC 62554332
    .
  45. OCLC 62554332
    .
  46. OCLC 62554332
    .
  47. OCLC 62554332
    .
  48. OCLC 62554332
    .
  49. OCLC 62554332
    .
  50. OCLC 62554332
    .
  51. OCLC 62554332
    .
  52. ^
    OCLC 62554332
    .
  53. OCLC 62554332
    .
  54. ^
    OCLC 62554332
    . The prototype Neoplan/Škoda two-axle trolleybus, the first new trolleybus for the system for 26 years and the first low-floor trolleybus for any North American system, was delivered on 23rd April.
  55. ISSN 0266-7452
    .
  56. ^ Trolleybus Magazine No. 257 (September–October 2004), p. 123.
  57. OCLC 62554332
    .
  58. OCLC 62554332
    .
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