The MBTA Wants You to Design Its New Fleet

Propose new designs for the Red Line. Renderings via MBTA

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority wants the public to pick the designs for the new Green, Orange and Red Line cars due to come into service in the not-to-distant future.

For two weeks the public will be allowed to vote on three possible new designs for each transit line here.

“In recognition of how important our customers are, and the importance of the role the T plays in the region, we are launching this contest to take this process one step further and let our customers have direct input on the final exterior design of the new vehicles,” said Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack in a statement.

The MBTA is scheduled to receive delivery of new cars in 2017, 2018, and 2019:

Delivery of the first of 152 new Orange Line cars is set to begin in 2018. The first of 24 new Green Line trolley cars will be delivered in 2017, and the delivery of the first of 132 new Red Line cars is scheduled to start in November 2019.

All of the new cars are expected to be delivered and in service by the spring of 2021.

The new Orange and Red Line cars are being constructed at a new Chinese-owned assembly plant in Springfield while the new Green Line cars, ordered in 2014, are being assembled in Elmira, New York by CAF USA, Inc.

“We’re moving another step closer to replacing some of the oldest cars on the T’s three busiest rapid transit lines,” said MBTA General Manager Frank DePaola in a statement.

The Orange Line has the oldest fleet in active service, as its cars date back back to 1979. The Red Line received new cars in 1994, while the Green Line added its new AnsaldoBreda trolleys in the early 2000s.

“As these new cars are introduced to the Green, Orange, and Red Line fleets, customers will experience improvements in both capacity and reliability,” said DePaola.