Massachusetts
| Name of System | Location | Date (From) | Date (To) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston: | ||||
| ♦Cambridge | 11 April 1936 | See Boston-area trackless trolleys. Four lines extend from Harvard station in Cambridge and do not serve the city of Boston proper. However, trolleybuses operate in Boston proper on the Silver Line (Waterfront). | ||
| ♦ Somerville - Medford - Arlington | 8 November 1941 | 31 March 1963 | ||
| ♦ Everett - Malden | 17 September 1933 | 31 March 1963 | ||
| ♦ East Boston - Chelsea - Revere | 5 January 1952 | 9 September 1961 | ||
| ♦ Dorchester | 25 December 1948 | 6 April 1962 | Not connected with remainder of the system. | |
| ♦ Arborway | 29 September 1951 | 1 October 1958 | Not connected with remainder of the system. | |
| ♦ South Boston Waterfront (MBTA's Silver Line – Waterfront) | 17 December 2004 | Dual-mode (diesel-trolley) buses use electric traction in the South Boston Waterfront tunnel and a short surface section, and diesel traction elsewhere. | ||
| Fairhaven | 16 October 1915 | 1 December 1915 | Experimental. | |
| Fitchburg | 10 May 1932 | 30 June 1946 | System also served Leominster. | |
| Nantasket Beach | 1887 | Demonstration. |
- Notes for Boston: The historic trolleybus ("trackless trolley") system had six groups of lines (Clarke). The Silver Line - Waterfront was added in 2004.
The historic system was built by the Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) and its successor, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) between 1936 and 1951 to replace tramway lines.
BERy was owned by private investors but came under public control from 1918. It served 13 municipalities of Greater Boston, including Boston proper (see Boston Elevated Railway). The MTA service area was limited to these municipalities (with the addition of Revere).
Following a change of management, MTA began replacing trolleybuses with motorbuses from 1958. Only four trolleybus lines remained after 1963 (see Boston-area trackless trolleys), based in Cambridge. MTA was succeeded by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in 1964. MBTA built the Silver Line (Waterfront), and that line's opening in late 2004 reintroduced trolleybus service in the city of Boston proper.
Read more about this topic: List Of Trolleybus Systems In The United States