The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) system is mostly but not fully accessible. Like most American mass transit systems, much of the MBTA subway and commuter rail were built before wheelchair access became a requirement under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The MBTA has renovated most stations to be compliant with the ADA, and all stations built since 1990 are accessible. The MBTA also has a paratransit program, The Ride, which provides accessible vehicles to transport passengers who cannot use the fixed-route system.
Wheelchair user entering a Red Line car at Harvard station
A Type 8 low-floor LRV at Park Street, which has raised platforms
Accessible "mini-high" platform at Highland station on the Needham Line
Tactile strip on the edge of a Green Line platform
The Orange Line is a rapid transit line operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) as part of the MBTA subway system. The line runs south on the surface from Oak Grove station in Malden, Massachusetts through Malden and Medford, paralleling the Haverhill Line, then crosses the Mystic River on a bridge into Somerville, then into Charlestown. It passes under the Charles River and runs through Downtown Boston in the Washington Street Tunnel. The line returns to the surface in the South End, then follows the Southwest Corridor southwest in a cut through Roxbury and Jamaica Plain to Forest Hills station.
A southbound Orange Line train at North Station in 2024
The Charlestown El running over the Charlestown Bridge
Rowes Wharf station on the Atlantic Avenue Elevated in 1942 – four years after closure – just before being demolished
Station sign at Boylston Street (now Chinatown) station in 1914. In 1967, the station was renamed Essex to avoid confusion with the preexisting Green Line station a block away.
