Platform levels 2 Level 2 | Phone +1 617-222-3200 Platforms in use 2 | |
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Location Summer Street at Washington Street
Boston, Massachusetts Owned by Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Line(s) Orange Line
Red Line
Silver Line– SL5 Tracks 2 (Orange Line)
2 (Red Line) Connections MBTA Bus: 7, 11, 448, 449, 459, 501, 504, 505, 553, 554, 556, 558
Via Winter Street Concourse to Park Street:
Green Line
MBTA Bus: 43, 55 Address Washington Street & Sumner Street, Boston, MA 02110, USA Owner Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Similar Park Street, Ashmont, Braintree, Alewife, Forest Hills | ||
Downtown Crossing is a rapid transit station located in the Downtown Crossing retail district in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is the junction of the Orange Line and the Red Line as one of the quartet of "hub stations" on the MBTA subway system, as well as a major bus transfer location serving 13 MBTA Bus routes, including one Silver Line route.
Contents
Downtown Crossing station is two levels deep. The upper (Orange Line) level, opened in 1908, stretches from Temple Place to Franklin Street under Washington Street. The lower (Red Line) level, opened in 1915, reaches from Washington Street to Chauncey Street under Winter Street. Downtown Crossing is the second busiest subway station in the MBTA network (behind only South Station), with an average of 23,478 entries per weekday in 2013. The Winter Street Concourse (opened in March 1979) allows access to the Green Line at Park Street without leaving their common paid area.
History
The Washington Street Tunnel carrying the Main Line Elevated (later the Orange Line) opened on November 30, 1908. Stations on the tunnel were built in pairs with different names and separate entrances, an appeasement to merchants on the street who desired maximal pedestrian traffic. Stations were located at Summer northbound with entrances at Summer Street and Franklin Street, and Winter southbound with entrances at Winter Street and Temple Place.
The Dorchester Extension of the Cambridge Tunnel (now the Red Line) was built one level below the Washington Street Tunnel. Washington station opened on April 4, 1915, with additional entrances on Summer Street at Hawley Street and Chauncey Street.
As part of a systemwide rebranding by the newly formed MBTA, on January 23, 1967 the Orange Line platforms were renamed Washington as well. On May 3, 1987, the name was changed again to Downtown Crossing after the surrounding retail district.
Originally, the Orange Line level had an underground concourse with several direct access points to basement entrances of various stores in the district, such as Jordan Marsh (now Macy's) and the former Filene's department store. In 1979, the Winter Street Concourse was opened, connecting the upper level of Downtown Crossing station (inside fare control) to the upper level of Park Street station two blocks away, utilizing an existing but previously unopened section of the concourse. Both levels of the station were substantially renovated and accessibility was improved in the mid-1980s.
Silver Line service from Downtown Crossing to Dudley Square began on July 24, 2002.
CharlieCard Store
A ticket counter was formerly located on the mezzanine level of the station (outside fare control) under Winter Street east of Washington Street. On August 13, 2012, the MBTA combined customer services (formerly located in a booth at Back Bay station) into the Downtown Crossing location as the "CharlieCard Store". The store provides services including obtaining special passes for blind, senior, disabled, and other users; transferring value between fare media; and the purchase of regular passes (the last of which can also be done at any unmanned fare machine). Due to unreliable computer systems and high demand, the store experiences long wait times.
Bus connections
A number of MBTA bus routes have Downtown Crossing station as their downtown terminus. These include local routes to Charlestown, South Boston, and the North Shore, express buses which run via the Massachusetts Turnpike, and the bus rapid transit Silver Line to Dorchester.
Most routes stop on Otis Street at Summer Street, a short block east of the nearest subway entrance:
One route stops on Bedford Street at Kingston Street, an additional block to the south:
One Silver Line route serves Downtown Crossing at a midblock bus stop on Temple Place, half a block from the nearest subway entrance:
The 92 and 93 stopped at Downtown Crossing until they were cut back to Milk Street in August 2014.
Accessibility
Like all Orange Line and most Red Line stations, Downtown Crossing is fully handicapped accessible. Surface elevators are located at the Winter Street, Franklin Street, and Hawley Street entrances. An additional elevator - open business hours only - leads to the Roche Brothers store which connects to the Summer Street concourse. Because Downtown Crossing is an older station built at two different times in a dense urban area, transfers between the two lines are convoluted. There is no elevator between either of the Red Line platforms and the southbound Orange Line platform; passengers making such transfers must use the Winter Street Concourse and the Red Line elevators at Park Street. The Red Line elevators connect to the Summer Street concourse at its far east end; passengers transferring to and from the northbound Orange Line must leave fare control and one end of the concourse and reenter at the other end.
A $13.57 million project is under way to add two elevators connecting the southbound Orange Line platform to the Alewife-bound Red Line platform. Notice to proceed was given on February 18, 2016, and completion is expected by early 2018. Two future phases are expected to be needed to complete elevator connections for all transfers.