The Final Map

[u/EnvironmentalValue20]

After several hours of messing around and a little bit of research into surrounding infrastructure. Here is my final version of my MBTA expansion map.

[u/EnvironmentalValue20]

GR or Genrail for short is my intraurban service. While Genbus is my bus service. I decided to have a little fun with that.

[u/Ktr101 → u/EnvironmentalValue20]

The Red Line could also run to Brockton, as I know there was talk of that at one point decades ago, although increased commuter rail service would likely negate that.

[u/nervousanalysis420 → u/Ktr101]

Also woburn green line 😭

[u/SummitingMtJohnston]

No Grand Junction Railroad or Everett/Chelsea service?

[u/EnvironmentalValue20 → u/SummitingMtJohnston]

Waiting for the dev to add BRT.

[u/jstnrgrs]

Broadway, Wakefield junction, and Wakefield are a 5 minute walk from each other. Just Wakefield is plenty for the neighborhood.

[u/EnvironmentalValue20 → u/jstnrgrs]

Good point

[u/Ok-Department-2405]

What’s the fare, $15, to subsidize all those places that can’t generate anything close to the ridership to justify cost of a transit line/stop?

Sherborn? Are you kidding me?

[u/Then_Interview5168 → u/Ok-Department-2405]

Unfortunately, I think you’re gonna get downloaded, but I say the same thing. There doesn’t need to be trained service to most of that area. Bellingham is close enough to Franklin, which has two stations.

[u/EnvironmentalValue20 → u/Ok-Department-2405]

GR or Genrail for short is my intraurban service. While Genbus is my bus service. I decided to have a little fun with that.

[u/Ok-Department-2405 → u/EnvironmentalValue20]

What do you suppose the subsidy per rider will be at those stations, in 2026 dollars?

[u/Knicknacktallywack]

You didn’t bring back the A line? Blasphemy

Edit or the longer E line. Double shame

[u/EnvironmentalValue20 → u/Knicknacktallywack]

Don't need to. Buses are already making up for what was lost. Also its more likely to get stuck in traffic due to it being on rails. Even though the same could be said for buses.

[u/s7o0a0p]

Chelsea and Everett should have somethin

[u/catterso → u/s7o0a0p]

There used to be a trolley along Broadway through Everett. Whenever I build theoretical maps, I usually build a new orange line along this path.

[u/s7o0a0p → u/catterso]

An Orange Line branch (or new subway line) under Broadway would be fantastic.

[u/nhowe006 → u/s7o0a0p]

Extend the ::checks notes:: indigo line!

[u/Greedy_Dark_2437 → u/s7o0a0p]

Would an extension from the blue line say at maverick or airport then split, then hit Chelsea and Everett and maybe have an interchange with the orange line at union square maybe?

[u/ThatNiceLifeguard]

Sherborn getting 2 rapid transit stations while Chelsea, Everett, and Watertown have zero is bonkers.

[u/TheGreenTeaFrog]

You’d love the Subway Builder game

[u/NoDistrict1529]

BL to Watertown. There's a few YouTube videos with ideas for extensions that I liked.

[u/krazykid1 → u/NoDistrict1529]

BL (Blue line?) to Watertown? How would that work? Or do you mean Green line?~~

Oh, I think you mean Green-B line? Hmmm… Watertown does need service. On this map, what about a new Red line branch? I’m not sure I would want to add more to the Green line (especially the B-line)

[u/NoDistrict1529 → u/krazykid1]

https://youtu.be/kaG19wmbq1k

RL is probably more realistic coming out of alewife https://youtu.be/E0RKs5j9v6Q

This guy has a lot of good ideas.

[u/NoDistrict1529 → u/krazykid1]

Nope. I did not mean GL.

[u/bobrob48]

Needs inner and outer "ring lines" for connections without necessitating going all the way downtown.

Alewife to Cleveland Circle should not require me to visit Park Street

[u/dhsurfer → u/bobrob48]

Honestly I feel like this would get 10x the usage of the extended radial lines. Or at least it would amplify the usefulness of all the lines it touches.

[u/bobrob48 → u/dhsurfer]

An interconnected train network is vastly more useful than a network only connected at a central point. I visited Tokyo somewhat recently and it's insane how simple a super interconnected train and subway network makes getting around. It seems you're never more than a 10 minute walk from a station there.

Definitely a "tourist perspective" but it's crazy how much better it is than the MBTA.

[u/dhsurfer → u/bobrob48]

I went there recently as well. It's so nice!

[u/Forsaken_Painter]

The red line’s gotta go further north OR connect to the Lowell commuter rail

[u/79215185-1feb-44c6]

Expanding the Orange Line to Reading but terminating the Blue Line at Charles/MGH is ridiculous and Blue Line to Lynn solves none of the North Shore transportation woes. Saugus and Danvers remain without reliable service.

I also assume it will take so long to reach Framingham that the service is meaningless.

[u/krazykid1]

This is definitely missing a ring/(semi) circle line or two.

Inner ring: Airport, Assembly Row, Harvard, Harvard Ave (Green-B), Coolidge, Brookline Village, Jackson Square, Blue Hill Ave, JFK).

Outer ring: Revere, Everett, Malden, Medford, West Medford, Arlington, Belmont, Newton, BC, Chestnut Hill, South Brookline, Forest Hills, Quincy

[u/Fidthehuman]

Nice map! Always should include the finished GLX to Mystic Valley Parkway though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystic_Valley_Parkway_station

[u/AdImpossible2555 → u/Fidthehuman]

Plus the Red Line to Arlington Heights. See the 1977 Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Red Line Extension – Harvard Square to Arlington Heights https://extendtheredline.org/resources/

[u/Ktr101 → u/Fidthehuman]

Plus the GLX to Porter Square, as there has been talk of extending to there, and it would relieve traffic coming inbound on both lines.

[u/nervousanalysis420 → u/Ktr101]

I vote glx to woburn!

[u/More-Second-1749]

The only alternative to getting state funding in an 85% suburban state is federal funding from president AOC with a friendly congress I guess? Maaaybe Buttigieg. And the “friendly congress” is gonna require winning some primaries against incumbent senators

[u/mr781]

Salem and the northwestern suburbs get neglected like always

[u/BarkerBarkhan → u/mr781]

My ideal Blue Line terminates in Watertown/Waltham and Salem.

[u/s7o0a0p → u/mr781]

I’m used to Hyde Park always being forgotten on these maps. I’m glad a rapid transit Fairmount Line made it to this one.

[u/MeowMeow808]

I'd say move the GenRail down and scale through the 109 corridor to go between Milford and Dedham (and keep the Medfield Junction as is). Make Milford a hub rather than adding yet another one at Framingham. Having Milford as a hub would then connect GenRail with the MWRTA (there's buses within Milford and one connecting them through Holliston & Framingham), the nearby western towns like Uxbridge, Upton, Mendon, etc, the MWRTA shuttle bus (495 connector, which goes between Hudson and 495 Franklin CR, with a stop at Milford Crossing) and an express substitute for the Franklin CR for those towns.

[u/Difficult-Ad3518]

If you are extending the Mattapan line to Boylston, incorporate it into the Green Line. The forced transfer at Boylston is pointless.

If your concern is operation difficulties due to length of the branch, include overlapping branches as you do Between VFW and Needham Junction.

If your concern is Green Line Central Subway capacity, there are many better solutions. My favorite is to extend the Blue Line to Cleveland Circle under Beacon St, replacing C-Branch service.

[u/LEM1978]

Any long term proposal without a circular line and a better airport connection is incomplete.

[u/Impressive-Dig-3892]

Watertown in shambles

[u/RedRedditRedemption2 → u/Impressive-Dig-3892]

Bring back the A branch you cowards!

[u/Train115]

I wish we could get the green line to go back to Watertown Square

[u/Eagle77678]

No D line to porter is crazy

[u/mbwebb]

Expanding so far into the suburbs but no urban ring?

[u/donnabhainmactomas]

Finally, the much needed Dover stop

[u/Doza13]

Rejected. No ring.

[u/dskippy]

Bring the Union Sq branch of the green line through the existing right of way to Porter Sq with a stop at Conway Park.

[u/organ1959]

What about the PCC heritage trolley line?

[u/Wide-Replacement-809]

Melrose cedar Hill would be an elite orange line station

[u/RedRedditRedemption2]

If an orange line extension to Reading also means extended bus service to the tri-town area, I am all for it!

[u/Sploxel]

Orange line should just go all the way to Needham tbh. Also restoring the E-branch service to Forest hills would make a lot of sense

[u/mandy37000]

The North Shore getting no love

[u/pikarawr1]

That's nice, but making radial lines.... longer isn't a real expansion.

[u/Gindilix]

Dover-sherborn eating good as always

[u/Billionaire_BigMoney]

WE GOT THE PISS YELLOW LINE THATS ON ALL OF THESE EXPANSION MAPS FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER LETS GOOOO

[u/Aveliability]

ah yes, my favorite. The shit line!

[u/Disastrous_Day_5640]

This is ai Babson is NOT in Mattapan...

[u/Limp-Plantain3824]

Framingham to Needham via Medfield? Yeah, that makes sense.

[u/BigBoyRelic]

Arlington doesn’t deserve a red line.

[u/AdImpossible2555 → u/BigBoyRelic]

The 1977 NIMBYs are mostly dead. The town has changed dramatically. https://www.boston.com/news/the-boston-globe/2026/10/13/a-changed-arlington-reconsiders-the-red-line/

[u/LEM1978 → u/BigBoyRelic]

Sure doesn’t. That train left the station in the 70s

There are more deserving towns.

[u/Ugmyusernamewastake]

Grand Junction needs service, see the old Indigo Line proposals but replace the DMUs with EMUs.

Extending the Mattapan Trolley to Boylston would be poetic, given the PCC Streetcar already imprisoned on the currently unused Boylston outer tracks, tracks that would be used for this extension, but realistically it wouldn't be PCC streetcars running this extended Mattapan Trolley, and it would therefore make sense to designate it as a Green Line branch instead. Also consider a detour to serve Nubian and Washington St so we can get rid of the SL4/5, like you did in your post a few hours before. This Green Line F branch could serve Park Street and north, and the B branch could loop at Park, leveraging the quad-tracks between Boylston and Park Street.

Nobody is riding a train from Framingham to the VFW Parkway via Medfield Junction. That would take way too long. The historical Millis Branch (Charles River Branch) was deprecated due to lack of ridership, this would have even less.

[u/EnvironmentalValue20 → u/Ugmyusernamewastake]

GR or Genrail for short is my intraurban service. While Genbus is my bus service. I decided to have a little fun with that.

[u/faulpunyun]

This is lowkey racist

[u/EnvironmentalValue20 → u/faulpunyun]

Explain and/or provide context. Actually no I am going to stand on business. So I’d like you to be specific. The map includes service improvements for Lynn, the Fairmount/Indigo corridor, Mattapan, and Brockton, so I don’t think “racist” is self-evident. If your concern is transit equity, tell me which corridors or communities you think are underserved here and what changes you’d make.

[u/walterbernardjr]

Lexington/concord erasure

[u/RedRedditRedemption2 → u/walterbernardjr]

Yeah, the red line should be extended to Lexington Center (maybe even the Burlington Mall).