They rode the T to every single station in one fell swoop

How long could you spend riding the MBTA? One hour? Two?

While most T riders tap out after getting from Point A to Point B, a handful set their sights on a loftier goal: Traveling across all of the agency’s subway lines in a single day and hitting each and every station. 

Adam Oppenheimer and Charles Jessup Franklin are two of the latest Boston-area residents to undertake this challenge, completing their marathon last Sunday and clocking in at a staggering 10 hours and 3 minutes. 

Oppenheimer, a recent college graduate who’s new to the area, said he was inspired by others who had undertaken their own “transit speedruns” in Boston and other cities. 

“I’ve been loving exploring Boston, and this is just another opportunity to,” he explained in an email interview.

About 10 people total participated in at least one leg of the journey, most joining for just one or two subway lines, according to Oppenheimer. By day’s end, he and two others had completed the entire challenge, setting out from Alewife shortly after 8:30 a.m. and arriving at their last station — Union Square — at 6:36 p.m.

Franklin, a Cambridge political activist and software engineer, said he’d heard of the “MBTA Iron Man” or “The T Challenge” long before joining Oppenheimer for Sunday’s ride. 

“When I first heard of it several years ago people doubted whether it could even be done in one day because the T was in such shambles,” he noted in an email interview. “But with the T now back on track thanks to [MBTA General Manager] Phillip Eng and company,” Franklin said, “I decided to hop on the idea.”

Indeed, the MBTA has made sizable gains under Eng’s tenure, with crews eliminating a historic number of speed restrictions and addressing a backlog of repairs. 

When masters students from the MIT Transit Lab set out to ride each of the T’s rapid transit lines from end to end in 2013, it took them more than 12 hours with occasional breaks and bus connections — and that was before the Green Line Extension added a handful of stops in Somerville and Medford.

According to TransitRuns, a global database of transit speedruns, the time to beat on the MBTA is now just over 7 hours and 21 minutes, a record set in 2025. 

Oppenheimer’s group took about an hourlong break for lunch, and he estimated they could have shaved off another 40 minutes to an hour in wait times had they “hustled a bit more.” Still, he said the day “just flew by,” with few delays and an “exceptionally smooth” ride. 

He organized themed, color-coordinated snacks for the trip and spent some time chatting with strangers on the train, including a Braintree-bound rider carrying a sousaphone. Reflecting on their journey, both Oppenheimer and Franklin pointed to the Mattapan Line as personal favorites.

“I had never been on the Mattapan Line before, so riding the virtually indestructible PCC cars was fun. It felt like I was riding a bus from history class,” Franklin explained. “It was also pretty exciting to see the Red and Orange lines operate at 50+ MPH.” 

Franklin praised the Orange Line’s speed and the views from the Red and Blue lines, as well as the forward-facing seats on the Green Line’s older model Type 7 cars. 

His advice for others looking to hit each of the MBTA’s subway stations? 

“Bring friends, enjoy the view, and don’t get stressed about just barely missing that train,” Franklin said. “There will be another one.”

Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.