Fairmount Line
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The Fairmount Line is a MBTA commuter rail line system in Boston that runs from South Station to Readville, with 6 stations between them namely Newmarket, Uphams Corner, Four Corners, Talbot Ave, Morton Street and Fairmount, covering a total distance of 9.2 miles. The line runs through the neighborhood of Dorchester, Mattapan and Hyde Park. In order to determine the most suitable node for our proposed sustainable housing development, the 0.5 mile radius within each station from Newmarket to Readville were analyzed from the perspective of opportunity for equitable and physical development. The equitable development opportunity around the 0.5 mile buffer of the stations takes into consideration 5 different variables such as housing cost burdened owners, housing cost burdened renters, percentage of renters, population density per square mile and number of low income households, with an overall score given for each station based on the characteristics of the 5 variables above. Similarly, an overall score is also accorded to the physical opportunity of each station after taking into account 3 variables including amount of vacant land (public and private), opportunity gross square footage and opportunity ratio.
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In 1855, The Fairmount Line began operations as the Midland Railroad. This was one of Boston’s first passenger railroads that included 11 stations and served the residents in the fast growing surrounding communities. By the end of World War II, passenger service did not continue due to disinvestment that followed racial changes and the postwar movement of Boston’s citizens to the suburbs. The service had to be suspended also because of increasing concerns about the lack of proper grade crossings. Later on, 21 bridges were constructed to address these concerns.
Over the years, the predominantly African American, Latino, and Caribbean immigrant residents that continued living along the Fairmount corridor neighborhoods have had to take long bus rides with transfers to be able to go to work or study, taking as long as an hour and half to arrive to their final destinations, as rapid transit service has never been available in these neighborhoods.
By 1979, the MBTA restored service in two existing stations: Uphams Corner and Morton Street. The main purpose of this action was to reroute commuter trains during the reconstruction of the Southwest Corridor Orange Line reconstruction. Nonetheless, service was still limited and was not meeting the mobility needs of most of the residents living along the Fairmount Corridor.
In year 2000, the Grater Four Corners Action Coalition started a movement to construct new stations along the Fairmount corridor. The main objective in the fight was to enhance public transit alternatives for less served communities living along the Fairmount Line by building new train stations, guaranteeing affordable fares, and increasing service levels as a transportation line integrated into the MBTA rapid transit system.
In 2004, four Community Development Companies (CDC’s) from the Fairmount Corridor joined forces to fight and create new stations in the surrounding neighborhoods of Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan and Hyde Park to bring transit equity to people living in these areas. This movement created the Fairmount/Indigo Line CDC Collaborative, also known as “The Collaborative”. Having Transit Oriented Development as a key value in their agenda, the Collaborative aims to renew vacant and abandoned properties situated within a half mile radial distance from transit stations, transforming them into housing, commercial spaces, open space, and add more jobs and build a more vibrant community. Nowadays, the Collaborative keeps spearheading TOD development along the Fairmount line, as well as preventing other harmful development practices such as land speculation, gentrification, and the social displacement that usually comes with enhancements in transit infrastructure and service.
The MBTA and Philadelphia's Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) are the only U.S. transit agencies that operate all five major types of terrestrial mass transit vehicles: light rail vehicles (the Ashmont – Mattapan High Speed and Green Lines); heavy rail trains (the Blue, Orange, and Red Lines); regional rail trains (the Commuter Rail); electric trolleybuses (the Silver Line); and motor buses (MBTA Bus). The Fairmount Line is technically a commuter rail line, however, acts more like a bus route by providing service all day at 40-60 minute intervals depending on the time of day (Boston Foundation, 2017). All but one station are located within Zone 1A, which has the same single ride price as the MBTA subway lines, however, the monthly LinkPass sold by the MBTA and allows unlimited bus and subway rides and costs the same as the Zone 1A monthly pass is not valid on commuter rails. This means that those who have a monthly LinkPass and ride the Fairmount Line must purchase additional fare, resulting in few LinkPass holders to utilize the Fairmount Line. This is due to the fact that standard CharlieCards (reusable electronic fare cards that can hold both cash and passes) are not accepted on commuter rails because the conductor cannot visually inspect them.
Today, the Fairmount Line, about 9.3 miles long, is peculiar in the Commuter Rail system because it runs completely within the City of Boston, from Readville to South Station downtown through the neighborhoods of Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, and Hyde Park. However, as opposed to other MBTA rapid transit lines, the Fairmount Line has intermittent service and considerably high fares for residents to pay on a day-to-day basis. Normally the trains run every 30 minutes during peak hour times, every two hours at off-peak hours, without providing late evening services.
History
