Brattlecast #85 - Brattle on the MTA

Boston’s MBTA—iconic, idiosyncratic, and frequently vexing—features the oldest subway system in the United States, and probably the only one to have inspired a hit folk song about its fare hikes. Today we’ll take a look at MBTA ephemera, a big box of which has just arrived in the shop, and at train-related collecting in general. Collectors seek out antique subway signs, lovely frameable maps, evocative timetables of the vanished bus lines of their youth, and much more. Plus we’ll ask, in a time of looming climate change and increased social unrest around fare evasion, should public transportation be free?