MBTA Considers Selling Station Names

The cash-strapped MBTA could soon try selling naming rights to 11 prominent subway stations in Boston and Cambridge.

As the Associated Press reports:

The proposal presented on Tuesday to the finance committee of the T's Board of Directors would allow high bidders to attach their corporate names to the existing names of subway stations.

"We're always looking at ways to raise new revenues that aren't at the fare box," state Transportation Secretary Richard Davey told NECN Wednesday morning.

According to the Boston Globe, the T "could garner $18.4 million total a year if [the 11] stations found suitors. Over eight years, that would translate into $147 million."

Mark Boyle, the MBTA's assistant general manager for development, told the Globe that the funds could then be used for station and train upgrades.

Davey said that similar plans have been adopted in other large cities, such as Philadelphia and Chicago.

The corporate names would join, and not replace, the traditional station names. And Davey said the corporate sponsors would receive careful consideration.

"We want to be tasteful," Davey said on NECN. He joked: "You wouldn't see Yawkey Station sponsored by the New York Yankees, for example."

Here, from BostInno, are the 11 stations that could get altered names under the proposal:

- Airport
- Back Bay
- Boylston
- Copley Square
- Downtown Crossing
- Harvard
- Kendall
- North Station
- Park Street
- South Station
- State Street