Template talk:Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

Silver Line
The words "Silver Line" should be to the left of the silver bar. There are several stations for which there is no page yet created. A good place to start to gather info would be.


 * "Silver Line" is to the right as it is a bus. --SPUI (talk) 6 July 2005 02:23 (UTC)


 * According to the MBTA it's part of the rapid-transit network, not part of the bus network. Isn't it original research to make up our own classifications?  This should be changed unless someone comes up with a better source to justify contradicting the MBTA's official classifications. --Delirium 04:03, 18 July 2006 (UTC)


 * The MBTA considers the Washington Street Silver Line part of the bus network, and the Waterfront Silver Line routes part of the subway network. Regardless of what the MBTA considers things to be, however, the American Heritage Dictionary, Britannica, and Wikipedia all define a subway as an underground urban railway.  Either we should follow MBTA usage, having the SL appear under the subway lines as well as the bus routes categories, or we should categorize the SL based on what it is, which is a collection of bus lines.  A problem with categorizing it as a subway is that readers unfamiliar with the MBTA will see the template and think the Silver Line is a subway, and thus we'll leave them with a false impression, as the template does not make it clear that the classification of lines is based on how the MBTA promotes the SL rather than on the kind of transportation that the SL is.  Readers are much more likely to assume that a subway is a subway and that a bus is a bus than that some buses are actually subways.  It's not original research to say that what no one denies is a bus is in fact a bus.  --Atemperman (talk) 12:35, 21 July 2008 (UTC)

I added the MBTA Police to the template. As a unit of the MBTA, it only seems natural that it should be linked. --AEMoreira042281 05:50, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

Urban Ring
i am just about to add the Urban Ring Project to the templet seeing as it is a future BRT line of the MBTA.--Found5dollar (talk) 14:47, 7 April 2009 (UTC)

Green Line E Branch streetcar in template
Where is the Lechmere (MBTA station) bound Green Line street car in this template? I've been debating whether or not I should add the Category:MBTA Railway station images to that image. DanTD (talk) 18:51, 2 March 2010 (UTC)


 * For the record, the streetcar I'm talking about is here. DanTD (talk) 03:37, 12 April 2010 (UTC)
 * I think that picture is somewhere near Brigham Circle (MBTA station) or Longwood Medical Area (MBTA station), but i could be wrong. The train does not appear to be in a station.--Found5dollar (talk) 03:52, 12 April 2010 (UTC)


 * I edited the file a few months back. It's actually at Brigham Circle; the inbound platform is behind the tram. Pi.1415926535 (talk) 18:27, 9 October 2011 (UTC)

Wikiproject MBTA being considered
A WikiProject for the MBTA is being considered at WikiProject_Council/Proposals/Massachusetts_Bay_Transportation_Authority. If you wish. please express your opinion there. — Lentower (talk) 01:52, 12 May 2015 (UTC) Dogru144 (talk) 05:54, 23 February 2022 (UTC)

Bloated
This template has become so bloated as to be overwhelming and unwieldy, undermining its purpose of aiding navigation. To that end I propose three things:

1)Severely curtail the over-use of color boxes. Seriously, not every entry needs a color box. Only the top level line/service articles should have them. 2)Trim the capital projects section. We really gong need to include a separate link to every section dealing with a relatively minor improvement. Renovations of existing stations do not belong in a template of this type. It's an aid to navigation, not a newspaper listing every dollar spent! 3)Spinning out from that, canceled projects that didn't get beyond the idea stage are probably too minor to include.

If anyone has any other ideas, this would be the place to raise them. oknazevad (talk) 14:13, 28 January 2018 (UTC)


 * I agree with most of this. Once I get a few more articles written, I'd like to separate the four lines into their own rows, which I believe should actually allow things to be organized more cleanly. For now, I've removed a few less important projects; I left some that are major current construction projects because they're more likely to be useful. Pi.1415926535 (talk) 06:10, 3 February 2018 (UTC)