MBTA announces Commuter Rail Spring/Summer schedule starting May 22, expanded weekend pass program
The MBTA’s new 2023 Spring/Summer schedule will take effect on May 22, with the agency’s popular $10 Weekend Pass program expanded to include all federal holidays starting on Memorial Day.
According to the MBTA, the 2023 Spring/Summer schedule will continue the “clockface” service to offer more consistent service throughout the day.
Other adjustments take into consideration increased ridership, maintenance of strong on-time performance to ensure reliability for passengers, and improving the overall passenger experience, the MBTA said in a statement on Tuesday.
“We’re excited to expand the $10 Weekend Pass program to include federal holidays, allowing riders to utilize this popular pass throughout a three-day weekend, and to continue to offer our popular regional rail-style of Commuter Rail schedules,” MBTA General Manager and CEO Phillip Eng said in the statement. “Providing affordable alternatives to driving is important as we strive to reduce our carbon footprint. I want to express my appreciation to our partners at Keolis for collaborating with the T on these schedules, and continuing to improve Commuter Rail service and the customer experience. "
The Spring/ Summer schedule “will deliver the same excellent on-time performance as the previous Fall/Winter schedule,” the MBTA said.
“Commuter Rail on-time performance over the winter of 2022-2023 was the best Commuter Rail has seen since Keolis began operating the network nearly a decade ago, with more than 94% of trains arriving on time,” the MBTA said, adding that due to the winter weather preparedness measures that Keolis and the MBTA have implemented, this past winter saw a dramatic nearly 9% improvement in on-time performance from the comparable winter of 2019-2020.
Also in the spring and summer seasons, passengers will see the “new bi-level Rotem Coaches start to enter service, allowing increased capacity on trains that are seeing the highest ridership,” the MBTA said.
The 2023 Spring/Summer schedule will also bring regularly scheduled service back to some “flag stops.”
At a flag stop, due to typically low demand, a train only stops when customers are visible on the platform or when the conductor has been notified by a passenger that they plan on disembarking at that stop. Converting flag stops to regular stops means that trains will now operate normally and make that scheduled stop, improving the passenger experience, the MBTA said.
In the Spring/Summer schedule, the last train of the day for each line will no longer have any flag stops, making each scheduled stop. On the Fairmount and Lowell Lines, all Flag stops have been converted to regular stops, and several have been converted on the Newburyport/Rockport line. The remaining flag stop trains are denoted on the schedule with a purple “f”.
The popular $10 weekend pass program, which offers unlimited weekend trips for a flat fee of $10, will be expanded to include Federal Holidays on a pilot basis for six months. Starting on Memorial Day weekend, $10 weekend passes will be accepted for trips on all three days of Federal Holiday weekends. For Federal Holidays that are observed mid-week, passengers will now be able to purchase a $10 Holiday Pass for that holiday. $10 weekend passes are available for purchase at ticket offices, on board trains, or on the mTicket app.
For a full list of holidays and more information visit MBTA.com/weekendrail for a full list of holidays and more information.
Passengers can stay connected with Commuter Rail by calling customer service at 617-222-3200, following @MBTA_CR on Twitter or signing up for T-Alerts at www.mbta.com/alerts.
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