MBTA erases vestiges of old Arborway Station
The Arborway section of the MBTA's Green Line, where trolleys stopped running nearly 20 years ago, is finally about to disappear.
The T is quietly erasing part of its history -- and acknowledging political reality -- with a $900,000 project to replace all 600 transit system maps posted in stations and another update of maps depicting the individual lines.
Some riders interviewed along the Green Line last week were puzzled why the abandoned section has remained on the charts.
''Why do they need to show the suspended service that's been gone for so long?" Cashmere Ryan of Jamaica Plain asked while awaiting a trolley at Park Street Station next to one of the outdated maps. ''It's weird, but it's so hard to change things in Boston."
Better Transit Without Trolleys, a Jamaica Plain group opposed to restoring the Arborway service, said the T is making progress by putting up information that won't mislead people into thinking the route still exists.
''It's about time that the maps reflect the service out there," said Paul Schimek, a founder of the antitrolley group. ''You don't want to confuse passengers."
Since Dec. 27, 1985, when the last E branch trolley served Forest Hills Station on the Arborway, a debate has been raging in Jamaica Plain about whether to restore service south of Heath Street. In 1990, the state committed to restarting the route as part of commitments to improve mass transit while the Big Dig upgraded Boston's major highways. But over the years, several studies came out questioning the feasibility. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority backed off the idea, and in May the state announced that it would seek to kill the project in favor of other transit improvements.
Throughout the years, one thing has stayed constant: The line remained on most T maps in some fashion.
At Copley Station, four system maps on the wall near the outbound platform all show the E branch of the Green Line running to Forest Hills Station, connecting there with the Orange Line. Another group of four maps illustrating the Green Line in detail contains a dotted line for part of the E route and the notation, ''Streetcar service is temporarily suspended between Heath Street and Arborway." Similar signs are posted in numerous stations and trains.
In addition to displaying the ghost of the 14-stop Arborway segment, many maps in T stations don't show the Silver Line ''rapid bus" that began running in 2002. They also display four stations on the Green Line's B branch that were eliminated last year.
The T's general manager, Daniel Grabauskas, ordered the replacements earlier this month after describing outdated, incorrect signage as one of his biggest irritations since taking over in May. Workers have modified about one-third of the 600 ''spider maps" that illustrate the Blue, Green, Red, Orange, and Silver lines plus commuter-rail and ferry routes.
Remaining system maps should be updated within the next month, said MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo. Crews will then frame the maps and install a plastic cover over them to prevent vandalism. That nine-month phase of work also includes replacing outdated maps of individual lines in stations and inside trains.
It costs $40 to produce each large decal depicting the current transit system, Pesaturo said. Most of the project's $900,000 cost is for labor and the covers.
Ellen McKeever, who moved to Boston from Philadelphia last year and lives near the E Line trolley stop at Mission Park, said the T shouldn't forget it has more cleanup to do along the former route. Tracks remain in the streets, and some stations appear active.
''Once I was waiting at Forest Hills for the Green Line because it's not just the map -- the sign's still up, the benches are still there," McKeever said. ''The stops are still there and they look very much alive."
Lucas Wall can be reached at lwall@globe.com. 
