“She may ride forever ov’r the streets of Boston”: Exploring Boston’s Bus System

“She may ride forever ov’r the streets of Boston”: Exploring Boston’s Bus System

In order to learn more about the different neighborhoods of Boston, I decided to study the people taking various bus routes from Harvard and record their demographics as well as their interactions with each other. I ended up taking the 86 to Sullivan Square Station, the 73 to Waverly Square, the 71 to Watertown Square, the 77 to Arlington Heights, and the 66 through to Dudley Station. I found that although the demographics of each bus ride clearly depend on the time one takes it, it’s still possible to notice certain trends at any time. The racial composition of each bus ride was fairly reflective of what is indicated by official census records in each neighborhood. Gender did not appear to matter and SES was hard to estimate from simply observing people. However, I was surprised at just how much age mattered. Although it wasn’t always the best predictor of what neighborhood we were traveling through, it often indicated information about the purpose of one’s bus trip (e.g. younger students, older retired people with time to travel during work hours, etc.). Also age factored into what people did on the bus (e.g. young people were more likely to use their phone while older people read hard copies of books or newspapers). Interactions among passengers were much more limited than I had expected and I was surprised at the stark contrast of these experiences to the times I have taken the sociable and loud T. The routes the buses take are far more residential and thus more likely to be a solitary activity. The T also appears to be taken more for fun while, based on the number of grocery bags I saw, buses are used for chores in addition to work or school. These bus commutes are worth studying since they isolate many of the variables that may get lost in the more hectic and tourist-filled T system. By further studying the people who are taking the bus and why they are doing so, not only could we learn more about each neighborhood, we could learn more about how each neighborhood interacts with others.

Virginia Marcus