>>1166603On this subject, there used to be a ton of streetcar lines feeding into the subway and mostly turning around at Government Center. At the time, before they built City Hall there was a lot more tunnel capacity down there to let trams turn around.
Seriously, this is the all-time list from the peak in the 1920's:
- Sullivan Sq. (Charlestown) - Dudley Sq.
- 77, 87, 88 (Somerville lines going northwest from Lechmere to probably either Govt. Center or Park St.)
- East Boston routes - Govt. Center
- 48 Dudley Sq. - Govt. Center
- 92 and 93 Sullivan Sq. - Govt. Center in Charlestown
- 9 South Boston City Point - Park Street
- 43 Egleston - Park Street
- 69 (The A Branch)
And that was on top of all the routes that currently are still running.
As late as 1940, the subway had streetcars from South Boston, Roxbury, two lines in Charleston, plus the A, B, C, and E branches feeding into it for a total of 8 different lines all feeding in. Today, the subway can't even handle 4. There are a bunch of reasons for this, but ultimately it's because back in the day they were using PCC's the size of a bus, not these modern LRV's. If they upgraded to modern trams with low floor and higher capacity they could definitely increase capacity to allow for the reactivation of a branch or two (the most likely being something going down to Dudley Sq. along where the Silver Line is currently). They absolutely should consider this, but knowing the MBTA it will never happen, despite this being what people wanted instead of the Silver Line meme busses.
