Benjamin Bouchat
Finding the Beauty: Boston Transit
The reason for making my map was to make a route based on the most engaging and beautiful route based on the data. Being new to the city, this made me inspired to go out and see the beauty of my new home. On my map, you can see crime rates in Boston, MBTA bus routes, T routes, and open/green spaces in Boston. The crime rates vary in shades of red—a darker red meaning highest risk of crime, and the lighter shades show lessened risk. The MBTA bus routes are in a lavender purple, and the train routes are in bold colors associated with their lines. The open/green spaces in Boston are shown through green areas. For my routes, the light blue squiggly line is my “Pretty Route” and the yellow dotted route is “Route #2”, meaning the less pretty route. The violet purple location dots along the Pretty Route are pictures and details about that part of the ride, whether it be open seating or things that weren’t photographed. The dark blue triangles along Route #2 are the same thing.
To make my map I started with the idea of finding the prettiest and safest ride in Boston. This idea evolved into what my map is now, a pretty route from around my house to about where I work, and another route that goes through less pretty parts of Boston. I designed two routes, and then went out and collected the data of how accurate my routes were. I rode bus 16 and 23 and one stop of the Orange Line for my pretty route. It went through Franklin Park, and I saw lots of greenery and many charming suburban neighborhoods. I made pop-ups to show pictures and in-depth explanations of how that part of the ride was, including seating availability, views, and my personal feelings about it. I used the same process with Route #2.
I hope any viewer of my map is encouraged to look for the more beautiful route to work, even if it’s outside of their comfort zone or takes a bit longer. I think my map is important in the fact that it shows the confines of only taking the T, even though it is more comfortable for a lot of people. The T ride not only was less engaging to look at but was a longer ride.