It would be great if providing 24-hour subway service was as easy as hiring some extra conductors (‘Boston needs 24-hour subway,’ Feb. 18, pg. 8). Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Not every subway system can handle trains all night. Repairs are often made to the tracks at night, when no trains are running. Systems like the one in NYC have at least four tracks per line, so that trains can be rerouted at night and repairs can be made to the tracks. Boston only has the bare minimum two tracks per line, meaning that to keep the tracks free for four hours each night for repairs, the trains must be shut down.

To upgrade the Red Line from Alewife to Downtown Crossing for 24-hour service would mean massive building of new tracks and tunnels. To do so on the Green Line from Boston College to Government Center would additionally mean permanently sacrificing one or two lanes of Commonwealth Avenue, or alternatively running late night trains streetcar-style in traffic lanes. Meanwhile, there are other construction projects already being prepared. For example, the MBTA plans to extend the Blue Line up to Lynn or Salem, bringing rapid transit services to places that are currently economically depressed, and also to build a North-South Rail Link that will not only link Boston’s north side and south side commuter rail system’s together, but will for the first time allow direct service from Portland to Washington. And Boston already has limited 24-hour service in the form of Night Owl buses.

Should a world-class city like Boston, where one in five residents is a student, have a world-class 24-hour subway system? Should the MBTA have enough money to complete the North-South Rail Link, extend the Blue Line and still be able to build new tracks for late-night service? Certainly. But for now, that money isn’t available. Some projects are more important than others. As long as communities like Lynn and Salem suffer, BU will simply have to wait.

Aleksandr Bromfield BUA ’06