Hub and Spoke Report

Report Summary: Transit-oriented development (TOD), which concentrates homes and businesses near T stations and encourages transit use, has helped fuel ridership growth in Boston. The T’s “hub and spoke” travel pattern concentrates ridership—and congestion—in the core of the system, so the success of TOD anywhere along the commuter rail and rapid transit lines depends on the capacity of the MBTA to accommodate additional riders in the core. ULI Boston prepared this report in order to better understand core transit capacity and congestion in the MBTA system in anticipation of development trends and ridership growth.