Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district 1964-2021 By Jonathan Belcher with thanks to Richard Barber and Thomas J. Humphrey Compilation of this data would not have been possible without the information and input provided by Mr. Barber and Mr. Humphrey. Sources of data used in compiling this information include public timetables, maps, newspaper articles, MBTA press releases, Department of Public Utilities records, and MBTA records. Thanks also to Tadd Anderson, Charles Bahne, Alan Castaline, George Chiasson, Bradley Clarke, Robert Hussey, Scott Moore, Edward Ramsdell, George Sanborn, David Sindel, James Teed, and George Zeiba for additional comments and information. Thomas J. Humphrey’s original 1974 research on the origin and development of the MBTA bus network is now available here and has been updated through August 2020: http://www.transithistory.org/roster/MBTABUSDEV.pdf August 29, 2021 Version Discussion of changes is broken down into seven sections: 1) MBTA bus routes inherited from the MTA 2) MBTA bus routes inherited from the Eastern Mass. St. Ry. Co. Norwood Area Quincy Area Lynn Area Melrose Area Lowell Area Lawrence Area Brockton Area 3) MBTA bus routes inherited from the Middlesex and Boston St. Ry. Co 4) MBTA bus routes inherited from Service Bus Lines and Brush Hill Transportation 5) MBTA bus routes initiated by the MBTA 1964-present ROLLSIGN 3 5b) Silver Line bus rapid transit service 6) Private carrier transit and commuter bus routes within or to the MBTA district 7) The Suburban Transportation (mini-bus) Program 8) Rail routes 4 ROLLSIGN Changes in MBTA Bus Routes 1964-present Section 1) MBTA bus routes inherited from the MTA The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) succeeded the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) on August 3, 1964. The service area of the MTA consisted of the following fourteen cities and towns: Arlington, Belmont, Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Medford, Milton, Newton, Revere, Somerville, and Watertown. The creation of the MBTA expanded the transit agency's service district to 78 cities and towns, with the addition of the following 64 communities to the transit district: Ashland, Bedford, Beverly, Braintree, Burlington, Canton, Cohasset, Concord, Danvers, Dedham, Dover, Duxbury, Framingham, Hamilton, Hanover, Hingham, Holbrook, Hull, Lexington, Lincoln, Lynn, Lynnfield, Manchester, Marblehead, Marshfield, Medfield, Melrose, Middleton, Millis, Nahant, Natick, Needham, Norfolk, North Reading, Norwell, Norwood, Peabody, Pembroke, Quincy, Randolph, Reading, Rockland, Salem, Saugus, Scituate, Sharon, Sherborn, Stoneham, Sudbury, Swampscott, Topsfield, Wakefield, Walpole, Waltham, Wayland, Wellesley, Wenham, Weston, Westwood, Weymouth, Wilmington, Winchester, Winthrop, and Woburn. The town of Maynard would later join the district as the 79th community. Maynard later became the only community allowed to leave the MBTA district. In 1999, as part of "forward funding" legislation, the MBTA district was expanded to 175 cities and towns by an additional 97 communities as follows: Abington, Acton, Amesbury, Andover, Ashburnham, Ashby, Attleboro, Auburn, Ayer, Bellingham, Berkley, Billerica, Boxborough, Boxford, Bridgewater, Brockton, Carlisle, Carver, Chelmsford, Dracut, East Bridgewater, Easton, Essex, Fitchburg, Foxborough, Franklin, Freetown, Georgetown, Gloucester, Grafton, Groton, Groveland, Halifax, Hanson, Haverhill, Harvard, Holden, Holliston, Hopkinton, Ipswich, Kingston, Lakeville, Lancaster, Lawrence, Leicester, Leominster, Littleton, Lowell, Lunenburg, Mansfield, Marlborough, Maynard (2nd time joining), Medway, Merrimac, Methuen, Middleborough. Millbury, Newbury, Newburyport, North Andover, North Attleborough, Northborough, Northbridge, Norton, Paxton, Plymouth, Plympton, Princeton, Raynham, Rehoboth, Rochester, Rockport, Rowley, Salisbury, Seekonk, Shirley, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Sterling, Stoughton, Stow, Sutton, Taunton, Tewksbury, Townsend, Tyngsborough, Upton, Wareham, West Boylston, West Bridgewater, Westborough, West Newbury, Westford, Westminster, Whitman, ROLLSIGN 5 Worcester, Wrentham. The additional communities added were those cities and towns not within the former MBTA district boundaries but which receive commuter rail service or are directly adjacent to a community with commuter rail service. The MBTA did not assume the responsibility for local transportation in the additional communities. Background Data: Routes Discontinued between 1959 and 1964 1) Special "Owl" bus routes (which operated from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m.) were discontinued in June 1960. The routes were: Haymarket-Wonderland via Orient Heights Haymarket-Wonderland via Chelsea Haymarket-Everett/Malden loop Haymarket-Medford/Somerville loop Haymarket-Watertown/Waverley loop Haymarket-Harvard Haymarket-Central Sq., Cambridge via Lechmere Haymarket-Watertown via Kenmore Haymarket-Cleveland Circle/Commonwealth loop Haymarket-Arborway Haymarket-Egleston Haymarket-Mattapan Haymarket-Ashmont Haymarket-Neponset Sullivan-Harvard via Arlington Center Central Sq. Cambridge-Cleary Sq. via Dudley Egleston-Grove & Washington Loop Egleston-Mattapan The MBTA resumed operating owl service Fridays and Saturdays beginning in September 2001. See the MBTA-initiated routes section for details. 2) Regular Routes discontinued 1959-1964: -Route 12 Savin Hill-Andrew was merged into Route 18 Ashmont-Uphams Corner in late 1962 (see Route 18 listing for information). -In Spring 1961, the MTA merged Route 37 Independence Drive & VFW Parkway-Roslindale Sq. into Route 51 Cleveland Circle-Roslindale Sq. The merger resulted in no loss of service area, but increased the trip time for Route 51. -In October 1961, after the elimination of free transfers, Route 81 Arlington Center-Clarendon Hill was merged with Route 89 Clarendon Hill-Sullivan, but 6 ROLLSIGN in 1963 was changed and merged with 87 Clarendon Hill-Lechmere as 87A Arlington Center-Lechmere -In December 1960 Route 84 Sacramento St-Kendall via Hampshire was discontinued. Most portions of Route 84 already received service from Routes 83 Porter-Central and 85 Spring Hill-Kendall. The Route 84 number slot was then used to renumber Route 78A (Arlmont-Harvard). -Route 103 Malden-Everett Station via Main St. was discontinued after 1963, as through routed buses from Routes 97, 99, 107, and the already existing Route 106 covered the same territory. -The MTA also discontinued a low-frequency route in Dorchester: Codman Sq.- Uphams Corner. This route was not displayed in system maps, and had no public number assigned to it. -By 1961, the MTA discontinued special charter service to Raytheon in Watertown, this had operated since the Second World War. 3) In late 1963/early 1964, the Mass Transit Commission (MTC) conducted a large number of experiments throughout Massachusetts, to see what types of service changes could increase public-transit ridership, and at what cost. Most of these experiments involved headway and fare changes, but several involved experimental new bus routes including (for the MTA): E2 North Station-Kendall Sq./MIT operated June-December 1963 E3 Sullivan-Dudley operated June-November 1963 (a combination of current Routes 66 and 86) E5 Ashmont-Harvard Sq. via Reservoir and Forest Hills operated June- December 1963 for the entire length, cut-back to: E6 Reservoir- Ashmont in December 1963, operated as E6 to March 1964. (The route was a combination of portions of current Routes 86, 51, and 21) E9 Boston College-Kenmore via Commonwealth Ave. supplemental service to the streetcar line, began in September 1963 E8 Fresh Pond drive-in to Harvard Sq. express bus park & ride service, operated September-December 1963 E10 Neponset drive-in to South Station (via Southeast Expressway) express bus park & ride service, operated September 1963-March 1964 E11 Revere drive-in to Haymarket express bus park & ride service, operated September-November 1963 The only routes to last beyond early 1964 were the Ashmont-Forest Hills portion of the Ashmont-Harvard line (Route 21), and the Boston College supplemental bus service. ROLLSIGN 7 Map number renumbering The version of the system route map introduced in 1969, as well as the color-coded destination signs used on the 6000 series GMC fishbowls used a public route numbering system which was slightly changed from those inherited from the MTA. Listed below are routes which were renumbered between late 1966 and 1968. Old number, New Number, Route 1, Red Line, Harvard-Ashmont 2, Orange Line, Everett-Forest Hills 3, Blue Line, Wonderland-Bowdoin 4, Green Line-D, Riverside-Lechmere 5A, 3, South Sta.-Haymarket 24, 12, Hallet Sq.-Ashmont 28, Red Line-M, Mattapan-Ashmont High-Speed Line 31A, 24, Wakefield & Truman Highway-Mattapan 30A, 28, Mattapan-Arborway via Cummins 39, Green Line-E, Arborway-Park St. 47, 1, Harvard-Dudley 53, 2, South Sta.-North Sta. 57, Green Line-E, Heath St.-North Station 61, Green Line-C, Cleveland Circle-North Station 62, Green Line-B, Boston College-Government Center 69, Green Line-A, 57, Watertown-Park St. (streetcar, converted to bus in 1969) 77, 69, Harvard-Lechmere 79, 77, Arlington Heights-Harvard 81, 87A, Arlington Center-Lechmere 82, 77A, North Cambridge-Harvard (Trackless Trolley) 103A, 115, Medford Sq.-Malden Sq. By December 1969, the public numbers used for schedules and maps were identical to the internal numbers being used by the MBTA computer for cost- allocation and run picking. Prior to 1969, the internal numbers used by the MTA and the MBTA were four-digit codes which bore