Boston’s Transportation Future: Safety, Enforcement, and Equity

The Fall 2022 City Planning studio set in Boston, MA, focused on filling gaps in safety, equity, and enforcement, in Boston's transportation system. Students worked in 4 smaller groups to address distinct aspects of different transportation modes. These included, "Go on the Go", a proposal to improve bathroom access on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), "Bluebikes", which looked at increasing transportation equity through improvements in the accessibility of Boston's bike-sharing system, "Charles Street", and a "Bus Equity Dashboard". 

The team for "Go on the Go" developed a program that leverages existing resources to dramatically increase restroom access for Bostonians who ride the T. With the city's Age Strong Commission as our client, we adopted a successful public-private partnership model developed in London for the Boston context using GIS analysis, signage, and wayfinding design, and program timelines to recommend an easy-to-implement pilot program that would ensure restroom access would not be a barrier to transportation for Boston's most marginalized populations.