MAPS: Kathryn

There were three big pieces of our project, the maps, the design of the system and the important questions and answers. In terms of the maps we had a couple of challenges. In addition to replacing part of the green line we decided that we wanted to connect some of the t stops on other lines, so our first problem was deciding what stops needed connecting and how to properly connect them. We decided on several stops as Boston’s “Greatest Hits” which evolved into the “Tourist Line”, a way to connect some of the most popular spots in Boston. We also created the express line, hoping to shorten some people’s commutes by a lot. The next issue was the maps themselves. We were replacing many of the stops on the green line extension and we needed a way to show that they weren’t T stops but they were still on the green line. We decided that the best way to show this was by making the stops on the line black instead of the usual white. We made different maps so it was easy to see from many directions.

DESIGN:  Dan

In terms of design of the system itself we wanted to do multiple car types. We wanted the normal car (from Kenmore to all the extensions) to be transformer cars, that go from cable cars to trains and back again. We hoped that this would eliminate the need to change trains if you were riding the green line elsewhere. These cars would carry about 60 people. The Express car (from Central to Kenmore and then to MFA) is identical to the commuter car, except that it is not a transformer. The tourist car is much smaller and only holds around 15 people. It has many windows so Boston can always be seen. Kenmore station is the cable car hub and the largest station in our system.There are three different stories in the top of the station one for each of the lines. These are different from the Kenmore stop because they only have one line going into and out of them

PR DATA:  Lizzie

(Research)-

    Lizzie worked on the PR data.  She did all the calculations and figured out how the cable car would run.  She started this process by researching previous cable cars, and gathering information about successful transportation systems.  She also used the MBTA website as a huge resource of information about the Green Line.  Lizzie used this data to compare it to the cable car system.  This helped her improve the system as much as possible.  However, the specific data we needed in order to make the cable car system be more realistic, was sometimes not found anywhere.  During Lizzie's research, she went on the MBTA website to copy down all of the T stops.  With those, she found out the distances between each one, by using the "train" tool on Google Maps.  After this step, she had the majority of the information needed to start calculating the data.  However, she referenced back to some of the sites she used for some more information throughout the project when she needed to.  

(Calculations)-

    After collecting all the information she could find, she created a spreadsheet to organize all the data.  This then helped her see what was missing and needed to be calculated.  When Lizzie was researching, she found out the speed the cable car realistically could travel at, to ensure a safe ride, yet still beat the Green Line.  The speed is 17mph.  With that statistic, and the distance, she was able to find out how much time it would take to get from stop to stop.  In Lizzie's research, she came up with the time each car would be in the station for (how long people would have for loading and unloading).  Using her research of other cable cars, she came up with a practical solution, which was 2 minutes.  Adding the time between stops with the loading time, she got the time 1 ride 1 way would take.  However this cable car system offers round trip, so Lizzie multiplied that number by two and discovered the time for the whole trip.  The cable car can hold 60 people, given the sturdiness of the design, and the speed of the car.  The cars are also running for 20 hours a day (the same as the green line).  Using both of these pieces of information, she was able to find out how many people were on the cars at one time, how many rides people would take per day, and how many total people could ride on that specific line.  She went through this process for the B line, then the C line, then the D line.  Those were the only lines we replaced of the green line.  An additional part of the spreadsheet she created which was extremely valuable in her work, was discovering the time between each stop that the train would take.  This gave us a better picture of the functionality and efficiency of the Cable Car system.

    In our project, there is also a tourist line that is for exploring Boston.  It takes you to all the local attractions that make the city special.  This line travels the same speed (17 mph) however can only hold 15 people.  The rest of the information for the tourist line is the same as the B, D and C line (like loading time, hours of service etc.) so Lizzie went through the same process of calculations and discovered times between stops, round trip time, total cars, people at one time, rides per day and total people using this line per day.  There are two extensions of the tourist line so she split this information in to two different parts.

(Visualizing the information)-

    Lizzie gathered loads of information, both that she researched and that she calculated, so she thought of ways of conveying the data, in an interesting way.  This lead her to working with Illustrator and Photoshop.  Lizzie created multiple diagrams and graphs showing what she found out.  She made a graph comparing the time on the green line and the time on the cable car.  She made a map of the routes the cable car takes you, and the times between the stops.  She also did some of the rendering and photoshopped our Logo and cable cars into some pictures of boston.  After this phase of visualizing the information, she decided she wanted make it as realistic as possible, so she created a brochure.  This brochure included many of the maps and images of the cable car.  It also included a description of each line and what this new source of transportation was potentially going to offer the people of Boston.  This brochure was extremely helpful in the final presentation because the audience was more interested and had a better picture of this cable car system being put into place.  Overall, Lizzie's process included research and gathering background information, doing many calculations to ultimately make this cable car be able to replace part of the green line, as well as add to it, and finally visualizing it which meant making maps, graphs and diagrams, as well as a brochure.