MBTA Plans Free Service Around MA New Year’s Eve Celebrations

BOSTON, MA — Anyone headed into Boston Saturday night will have the chance to utilize free MBTA transit service coinciding with New Year’s Eve celebrations this year.

The MBTA will offer fare free service after 8 p.m. on Saturday across all transit modes, as noted in the T’s holiday schedule.

Planned free transit rides come as organizers are expecting 2023 First Night celebrations in Boston to be the biggest such celebrations since before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Officials have urged First Night guests to avoid driving into the city, citing street closures and parking restrictions.

The T’s subway lines will run on a Saturday schedule through the day on Saturday, with increased service after 3 p.m. Subway service will then continue well past midnight, as the last trains on all lines except the Green Line E branch will leave the downtown area by 2:20 a.m. Green Line E trains are scheduled to depart by 2:12 a.m. Sunday morning.

The T’s bus and The Ride networks will run on a Saturday schedule on New Year's Eve while both the Commuter Rail and the Charlestown ferry will run on weekend schedules.

There will be no Hingham/Hull ferry service on Saturday.

All Commuter Rail lines except the Needham, Stoughton and Fairmont lines will hold their last trains out of Boston until after midnight, with trains scheduled to depart between 12:35 a.m. and 12:55 a.m. Sunday morning.

The T will run a Sunday schedule on the subway, bus and The Ride on New Year’s Day, with no ferry service offered. The Commuter Rail will be on a weekend schedule.

Monday will also see a Sunday schedule for the subway, bus and The Ride, with a weekend schedule for Commuter Rail and ferry service.

Outside of the MBTA, Massachusetts’ network of regional transit authorities elsewhere in the state are already offering fare free service through the end of 2022 as part of a holiday program backed by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT).