The Labs Team builds tools that help the public understand vast MBTA-related data. Our flagship project, the Data Dashboard, offers insight into MBTA performance, ridership, and service quality. We also maintain our New Train Tracker, Regional Rail Explorer, COVID Recovery Dashboard, Shutdown Tracker, and the MBTA Pride Bus Tracker.
View a comprehensive snapshot of scheduled and completed shutdowns across the MBTA system. Get a full schedule and see an automatic analysis of the resulting rider experience.
FEATURES (v4.0):
Check out the all-new TransitMatters Data Dashboard version 4, offering at-a-glance views of MBTA performance & trends. Service, slow zones, speed, ridership, and trip analysis are a click away for transit advocates, media and the public. See our blog post for details on the release & data-centric advocacy.
FEATURES (v1.0):
See pre-covid ridership* compared to now on a daily basis & also view service levels and ridership* dating back to February 2020!
From the subway to the bus to the commuter rail, you can filter by line and access data from across the MBTA system. Data can be sorted in a variety of ways, with service kind, most ridership*, or most service cuts being just three of many options.
*Rapid Transit (Red/Orange/Blue/Green) ridership estimates represent gated station validations only. Bus ridership estimates are calculated using APCs (automated people counters) installed on a majority of buses.
FEATURES (v2.0):
Track where the MBTA’s newest Orange, Green and Red Line trains are and catch a ride on one!
“Was it worth it?” That’s what the group TransitMatters is asking about the past year of painful MBTA shutdowns.
Nik DeCosta-Klipa and Stevee Chapman | WBUR
Data collected by TransitMatters, a public transportation advocacy group, show trains are arriving more frequently and reaching their next stop more quickly, though to varying degrees depending on the subway line.
Will Katcher | MassLive
"The way the T has been operating is night and day,” said Devin Matté, co-lead of the TransitMatters lab, last week.
Sam Drysdale and Chris Lisinski | State House News Service
Service levels on the city’s subway system on average remain about a quarter below what they were pre-pandemic, according to data from TransitMatters.
Sri Taylor | Bloomberg City Lab
The Orange Line has been through a lot over the last few years. The line hit a particularly low point in the summer of 2022, with a highly-publicized fire in July that involved a train evacuation. Today, service is wildly different.
The goal going forward is to hold the T to the standard it set in January 2025. We want speeds to increase and service to improve, not stagnate or fall back.
It’s hard to say whether the shutdowns were “worth it” for each and every rider. However, on aggregate, and by looking at the data, the T was successful in its goals.
FEATURES (v1.0):
Compare trips on the current unreliable, infrequent dirty diesel Commuter Rail vs reliable, frequent, electrified Regional Rail! Select when you want to leave or when you want to arrive. Where will Regional Rail take you?