Tonight: MBTA Promotes New Late-Night Service With Free Rides After 9 PM

The following is a edited version of an MBTA press release.

To help encourage riders to try out its new extended service hours, which includes an extra hour of late-night service on the subway system and on key bus routes, the T will offer free transit service after 9 pm for the next five Fridays and Saturdays, starting tonight.

The later night service is part of the T’s fall service adjustments, which also added additional bus service to bring six new routes to the T’s new “frequent-service” standard, where buses will arrive every 15 minutes or less, all day, 7 days a week.

On five frequent-service bus routes – the 23, 28, 57, 111, and 116 – the T expanded late-night service hours to all seven days of the week, not just weekends.

All subway lines, bus routes, ferries, commuter rail, and the RIDE trips will be free on Fridays and Saturdays from 9 PM through the end of service on September 5 and 6, September 12 and 13, September 19 and 20, September 26 and 27, and October 3 and 4. 

The T strongly encourages riders to check schedules in advance and use the MBTA’s Trip Planner and the MBTA Go app to avoid missing the last train or bus of the night.

Details on extended late-night service, by mode

• Subway: Service for the Red, Orange, Blue, and Green lines will be extended by about one hour on Friday and Saturday nights, with the last trains for the night generally departing between 1 and 2 am on each line. Frequency during the hour of extended service will be about every 30 minutes on the Ashmont and Braintree branches of the Red Line and each of the Green Line branches, and about every 15 minutes between Alewife and JFK/UMass on the Red Line, on the entire Orange Line, and on the entire Blue Line. 

• Bus: Service on routes 1, 22, 39, 66, 110, SL1, SL3, and SL5 will extend by about one hour on Friday and Saturday nights. Frequency during the hour of extended service will be approximately every 30 minutes. 
• Bus: Service on routes 23, 28, 57, 111, and 116 will be extended by about one hour every day of the week. Frequency during the hour of extended service will be approximately every 30 minutes. 

• Ferries: Service for some ferry lines will extend by one to two hours with additional trips on Fridays and Saturdays beginning Friday, August 29, through Saturday, September 27. 

• On Fridays: Hingham/Hull Ferry: An additional Hingham/Hull Ferry roundtrip will be added to the schedule departing about one hour later than current schedules. This trip departs Hingham to Long Wharf at 10:15 pm; the trip departs Long Wharf to Hull and Hingham at 11 pm (the former last departure from Hingham was at 9:15 and the last departure from Long Wharf was at 9:55). 

• On Fridays and Saturdays: East Boston Ferry: Additional East Boston Ferry trips will be added to the schedule with service extended to 10 pm. The last trip from East Boston to Long Wharf will depart at 9:30 pm; the last trip from Long Wharf to East Boston will depart at 9:45 pm (the former last departure from East Boston is at 7:30 on Fridays and 8:30 on Saturdays, and the last departure from Long Wharf was at 7:45 on Fridays and 8:45 on on Saturdays). 

• On Fridays and Saturdays: Charlestown Ferry: Additional Charlestown Ferry trips are being added to the schedule with service extended to 10 pm. The last trip from Charleston to Long Wharf will depart at 9:30; the last trip from Long Wharf to Charlestown will depart at 9:45. 

• Lynn, Winthrop, and Quincy Ferries: The last trip for these routes will remain unchanged.

• Updated Ferry schedules will be available soon at mbta.com/Ferry.