Xander’s JRPS Project

“How has the MBTA affected low-income communities since 1975?” focusing mainly on the racist and classist problems of the system. This question guided my research, and later my literature review, with the thesis being: “MBTA access greatly aids the movement of persons specifically who have no other means of transportation which allows said people to have more opportunities. On the other hand, the history of institutionalized racism and classism, as well as chronic underfunding, created the lack of infrastructure found in many communities which inhibits ease of mobility through the broader system. Looking forward, advances are being made to aid those who struggle with getting to the subway system, by the use of buses, while also improving the lives of frequent riders, by decreasing wait times and increasing speeds across the entire system.” I organized my research and further writing in subsections of: history and function of the system, problems sorted (race, class, and underfunding), causes of problems, looking forward, and finally, what's happening right now.

The final project focused on creating a video including interviews of everyday riders on the subway and bus and interweaving history and connections from my research. I started conducting interviews initially thinking that everyone on the subway would want to talk to me and would have complaints about the MBTA. I had a sign that read “tell me about your problems with the MBTA” and stood on train platforms all across Boston.

This project was a huge learning experience for me, not only surrounding the MBTA, but also how I approach interviews and researching for a topic. Improvements were also made throughout the writing process of my literature review revision. The compilation of growth resulted in a huge change in my writing compared to the start of the year. For example my writing currently reads as much more specialized to the reader,