Quincy Center (MBTA station)

QUINCY CENTER QUINCY CENTER
File:Quincy Center MBTA station, Quincy MA.jpg Quincy Center MBTA station is combined with a now-closed parking structure
Location	1300 Hancock Street at Washington Street Quincy, MA 02169
Coordinates
Owned by	Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Line(s)
Platforms	1 side platform (Commuter Rail) 1 island platform (Red Line)
Tracks	1 (Commuter Rail) 2 (Red Line)
Construction
Parking	872 spaces ($5.00 fee) 16 accessible spaces
Bicycle facilities	20 spaces
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	1 (Commuter Rail) (Exit fare zone on Red Line until 1980)
History
Opened	September 1, 1971
Traffic
Passengers (2013)	8,655 (weekday average boardings)
Services
Preceding station   MBTA   Following station Wollaston toward Alewife Red Line Braintree Branch Quincy Adams toward Braintree JFK/UMass toward South Station Greenbush Line Weymouth Landing/East Braintree toward Greenbush Kingston/Plymouth Line Braintree toward Kingston or Plymouth Middleborough/ Lakeville Line Braintree toward Middleborough / Lakeville

Quincy Center is an intermodal transfer station located between Hancock Street and Burgin Parkway in the Quincy Center district of Quincy, Massachusetts. It serves as a station stop on the Red Line subway and the Old Colony Lines and Greenbush Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail, as well as a major terminal for MBTA Bus routes in the Quincy area. Opened in 1971, the station is covered by a large parking garage which was closed in 2012 due to structural problems.

Quincy Center station is partially handicapped accessible – all buses and trains are accessible from the Hancock Street entrance, but due to the garage closure the Burgin Parkway entrance is no longer accessible.

History

Old Colony Railroad

File:Quincy station on 1911 postcard.jpg

Quincy station in 1911

The Old Colony Railroad opened its main line from South Boston to Plymouth on November 10, 1845. Quincy station was located at Quincy Square behind the town hall. The station was rebuilt in the late 1890s; that iteration consisted of a low brick building with two side platforms (very similar to the extant building at Norwood Center) with shelters serving the line's two tracks. Service on the former Old Colony lines, operated by the New Haven Railroad since 1893, ended on June 30, 1959. The Quincy depot was later demolished.

Red Line

The 1926 Report on Improved Transportation Facilities and 1945–47 Coolidge Commission Report recommended the Cambridge-Dorchester Line receive a branch to Braintree along the Old Colony right-of-way. In May 1966, the MBTA began construction on the South Shore Line branch of the Cambridge-Dorchester Line (which was renamed the Red Line in 1967).

File:Red Line platform at Quincy Center, October 2015.JPG

The Red Line platform facing south

The line was intended to be completed to Braintree by May 1969. Although the South Shore Line was planned to extend to Braintree and possibly even to Holbrook or Brockton, it was temporarily terminated at Quincy Center due to disagreements about station locations and other issues.

North Quincy, Wollaston, and Quincy Center stations opened on September 1, 1971. The other two stations had large surface lots, but due to limited land availability, Quincy Center station included a 5-story parking garage located over the two tracks and single island platform, with 700 spots for Red Line riders and 200 spots for local shoppers. The $5.877 million station, located a block north of the Old Colony station site, was designed Samuel Glaser Associates and built by J.F. White. The new stations required a double fare to be paid on entry and an exit fare upon leaving; this was also briefly put in place on the north end of the Haymarket North Extension.

Further construction began in 1977, and the line was extended to Braintree on March 22, 1980. The exit fare was abolished from Quincy Center north at this time, though Braintree and Quincy Adams had the double fare until 2007.

Commuter Rail

File:MBTA 1806 and Quincy Center garage ramps, October 2015.JPG

An outbound commuter rail train at Quincy Center

In 1990, the MBTA began construction on the restoration of parts of the former Old Colony system. A single commuter rail track was built through the west side of the station, with a full-length high-level side platform attached to the station. Service began on the Middleborough/Lakeville Line and Plymouth/Kingston Line on September 29, 2007. The Greenbush Line opened on October 31, 2007, with some of its trains stopping at Quincy Center as well.

Some seasonal CapeFLYER trains stopped at Quincy Center in 2013 and 2014, but did not in 2015 due to schedule changes.

Garage closure

On July 4, 2012, the Quincy Center parking garage was closed indefinitely due to structural issues. From its construction date in 1970-71, the garage is the oldest anywhere on the MBTA system. Red Line, MBTA Commuter Rail, and MBTA Bus service to the station continue as normal; however, the Burgin Parkway entrance is no longer handicapped accessible.

Bus connections

File:MBTA route 238, 222P, and 216 buses at Quincy Center, October 2015.JPG

Buses on routes 238, 222, and 216 boarding at Quincy Center

Buses on routes 214, 230, and 211 buses laying over at Quincy Center

Through the first half of the 20th century, Quincy was served by a number of Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway streetcar and bus lines, with both local routes and through service as far as Providence, Rhode Island. Some routes continued through Quincy to Fields Corner via Hancock Street and Neponset Avenue. After a legal battle, the MBTA acquired the remaining Eastern Mass lines on March 30, 1968. When Quincy Center opened in 1971, most of the Fields Corner routes were cut back to the new terminus.

Quincy Center is now the terminal of 15 MBTA Bus routes which provide local and intercity service. All routes loop through the surface parking lot and into a dedicated busway on the Hancock Street side of the station; there is no bus service on the Burgin parkway side.

• 210 Quincy Center Station - North Quincy Station or Fields Corner Station via Hancock Street & Neponset Avenue
• 211 Quincy Center Station - Squantum via Montclair & North Quincy Station
• 212 Quincy Center Station - North Quincy Station via Billings Road
• 214 Quincy Center Station - Germantown via Sea Street & O'Brien Towers
• 215 Quincy Center Station - Ashmont Station via West Quincy & East Milton Square
• 216 Quincy Center Station - Houghs Neck via Sea Street
• 217 Quincy Center Station - Ashmont Station via Beale Street, Wollaston, & East Milton Square
• 220 Quincy Center Station - Hingham Center via Fore River Bridge
• 221 Quincy Center Station - Fort Point via Bicknell Square
• 222 Quincy Center Station - East Weymouth via Bicknell Square
• 225 Quincy Center - Weymouth Landing via Quincy Avenue & Shaw Street or Desmoines Road
• 230 Quincy Center Station - Montello Commuter Rail Station via Holbrook & Braintree Station
• 236 Quincy Center Station - South Shore Plaza via East Braintree & Braintree Station
• 238 Quincy Center Station - Holbrook/Randolph Commuter Rail Station
• 245 Quincy Center Station - Mattapan Station via Quincy Hospital & Pleasant Street

Station layout

File:Quincy Center station entrance from Burgin Parkway, October 2015.JPG

Entrance from Burgin Parkway in October 2015

Parking garage	-	Parking garage (closed since July 2012)
G	Street Level	Exit/Entrance
P Platform level	Inbound	← Red Line toward Alewife (Wollaston)
	Island platform, doors will open on the left
	Outbound	→ Red Line toward Braintree (Quincy Adams) →
	Commuter rail platform	← Commuter rail lines → ← CapeFLYER does not stop here →
	Side platform, doors will open on the left/right

External links

• MBTA - Quincy Center Station
• Burgin Parkway entrance from Google Maps Street View