[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 144 (Thursday, October 23, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S11164]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF BOSTON'S SUBWAY

   Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I rise to call attention today to 
the centennial of the first subway in the United States. On September 
1, 1897, the first ride took place from Boylston Street to Park Street 
in Boston, MA.
  Anyone who has ever lived in Boston has experienced the excellent 
service that this subway system provides. Students in the higher 
education capital of the United States--if not of the entire world--
have long utilized the subways. Just to cite several examples: the 
Green Line goes to Boston College, Boston University, and Northeastern 
University; and the Red Line has stops at or near Harvard University, 
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Tufts University. In 
fact, the Red Line derives its name from the Crimson of Harvard 
University.
  Green is not only a color of a line in the Boston subway system, but 
an important symbol of the benefits of public transportation--namely 
community revitalization, economic development, and environmental 
protection. This historic occasion makes this a propitious moment to 
take a look at how these benefits have played out over the past 
century.
  Greater Boston faced a choice of continuing to build highway arteries 
through the living heart of the city or to improve mass transit systems 
out to what we called the ``subway suburbs.'' We in Massachusetts made 
the right choice by developing the new Orange Line along the Southwest 
corridor in the 1980's and reviving the Old Colony commuter rail line 
in this decade. These choices preserved communities, led to new 
economic growth, and minimized the environmental damage caused by 
automobiles stuck in rush-hour traffic.
  These choices have not come, however, without incurring significant 
costs. For example, fares have increased from a nickel a century ago to 
a dime in 1919, a quarter in 1968, and a half-dollar in 1980. Today, a 
subway ride costs $0.85, although monthly commuters can travel more 
cheaply.
  Looking at the cost issue in a larger sense, in 1897, the subway 
system cost $4.4 million. On September 25 of this year, I announced 
Senate committee approval of a 6-year reauthorization of mass transit 
programs that will bring more than $300 million in additional ISTEA 
transit funds to Massachusetts. I am pleased that Massachusetts 
received its fair share of transit spending; I look forward to working 
with all of my colleagues to ensure that my State and others will 
receive their fair shares of highway funds as well.
  This is an extraordinarily exciting time for mass transit in 
Massachusetts. While everyone knows about the Central Artery Project 
that will revolutionize automobile travel in Boston, other cities in 
Massachusetts, like Worcester and Springfield, are rebuilding their 
historic train stations, creating true multimodal centers to restore 
available, efficient, and flexible transportation for working people. 
The Federal commitment to transit that was announced last month will 
ensure improved services are available for years to come not only for 
Boston, but also for cities around the Commonwealth and across our 
country.
  Mass transit systems like Boston's are also important for enhancing 
the lives of individuals with disabilities. I am pleased with the 
recent reauthorization of an initiative of mine called Project Action, 
which helps disabled people gain access to public transportation by 
working with transit operators and the disabled community to implement 
the transportation provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 
Project Action has increased accessibility to buses and trains 
nationwide.
  Excellent mass transit systems like the one that we are fortunate to 
have in Boston play critical roles in the welfare reform effort. As we 
attempt to create more jobs so that welfare recipients can enter into 
the working world, we must not lose sight of the fact that these 
employees will need an affordable and reliable means of transportation 
so that they can get to their jobs. Those who took part in the first 
subway ride a century ago could not have envisioned the important 
economic role that the subway system would play; those of us who know 
about this need today must remain ever vigilant against attacks that 
would cut Federal support for mass transportation.
  If Washington did cut transit funding, then how would Charlie ever 
get out of the subway? Almost 40 years ago, passengers who switched 
from subway to trolley lines had to pay another nickel to exit the 
system. The Kingston Trio popularized the plight of a Boston subway 
passenger in their song ``The MTA.'' Its lyrics include the following 
verse:

     Charlie's wife goes down to the Scollay Square Station,
     Every day at a quarter past two.
     And through the open window she hands Charlie a sandwich,
     As the train comes rumbling through.

  Mr. President, Scollay Square Station is now Government Center at 
Scollay Square, but the Boston subway system continues to thrive. I 
urge all of my colleagues to join me today in hailing all of the women 
and men who, over the last 100 years, have worked and traveled on 
Boston's subway system. Even now, the subway is more than a historical 
landmark; rather, it is the lifeblood of the historic and vital 
metropolis that is Boston.

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