The
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, often referred to as the
MBTA or
The T, is the public operator of most
bus,
subway,
commuter rail, and
ferry routes in the greater
Boston,
Massachusetts area. Officially a "body politic and corporate, and a political subdivision" of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, it was formed in 1964. Its immediate predecessor, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), was immortalized by
The Kingston Trio in the popular folk-protest lament "
M.T.A." Locals call it "The T", after its logo, the letter
T in a circle, adopted in the 1960s and inspired by the
Stockholm metro. In 2008, the system averaged 1.3 million passenger trips each weekday, of which the subway averaged 598,200, making it the
fourth busiest subway system in the
United States. The
Green Line and
Ashmont–Mattapan High Speed Line comprise the
busiest light-rail system in the U.S., with a weekday ridership of 255,100.