MBTA Station Prints 2 – The Answers

Category: MBTA, Ridership

Thank you for taking our second Station Prints Quiz! Let’s take a look at the answers to see which station matched which prints.

Mystery Station 1:

Line graph showing ridership as validations per 15 minutes. Increases starting at 5:30 AM to small peak at 8 AM with about 140 validations per 15 minutes. Decreases to about 70 validations from 10 AM to 2 PM, then increases to peak at 5:30 PM with 340 validations per 15 minutes. It then decreases until the end of the day at 12 AM.
Line graph showing ridership as as validations per 15 minutes. Line increases starting at 5:30 AM, then very small peak at 7 AM at about 32 validations per hour. Then decreases to about 25 validations at 8 AM and gradually increases to 38 validations at 2 PM. Then increases to large peak from 4 to 5:30 with 178 validations per 15 minutes. Line then decreases to 12 AM with a small peak at about 7:30 PM with 90 validations per 15 minutes.

This station is Charles/MGH. The major peak being in the evening suggests that the station must be in an area with more workplaces than residences, likely a downtown station. The fact that there was decent retention around evening peak periods indicates that many of the people using this station to get home from work likely have jobs that are not able to be done at home. The somewhat atypical peak times throughout the afternoon and evening are evidence of distinct times when people are leaving work (i.e., fixed shifts). The tightness and consistency of these peaks between 2019 and 2021 signals that the station must be fairly close to the workplace. All signs point to Charles/MGH, which is of course right near the downtown MGH campus and has many essential workers who have been going into the “office” throughout the pandemic. Nurses tend to have a shift change at 7:00 AM, 3:00 PM, and 11:00 PM, which are evident as peaks in the station print.

Mystery Station 2:

Line graph showing ridership as validations per 15 minutes. Starts increasing at 5:30 AM to large peak at 8 AM with 110 validations per 15 minutes. Then steep drop off, levels off from 10 AM to 2 PM at 40 validations, then a sharp increase to 2 PM with about 135 validations per 15 minutes. From 2:15 PM to 6 PM ridership stays roughly at 80 validations per 15 minutes, then decreases until 12 AM.
Line graph showing ridership as validations per 15 minutes. Line starts increasing at 5:30 AM to peak at 8 AM with about 28 validations per 15 minutes. Decreases and stays around 23 validations per 15 minutes until 2 PM, then a large increase to about 63 validations at 2 PM. Line stays at about 85 validations until 6 PM, then decreases until 12 AM.

This station is Roxbury Crossing. The large morning peak pre-pandemic reveals that it is an outlying station. The set of mid-afternoon peaks implies that it must be quite close to some high schools. Roxbury Crossing has Madison Park, John D. O’Bryant, and Fenway High Schools all within 0.4 miles.

Mystery Station 3:

Line graph showing ridership as validations per 15 minutes. Gradual increase from 6 AM to 2 PM, then large spike reaching its peak at about 105 validations per 15 minutes at about 5:30 PM. Then steep drop off, leveling off at about 15 validations per 15 minutes from 8PM to 12 AM.
Line graph showing ridership as validations per 15 minutes. Line stays below 10 validations per 15 minutes until 2 PM, then increases to about 43 validations per 15 minutes at about 5:30 PM. It then decreases to under 10 validations per 15 minutes from 8 PM to 11:30 PM, then a small spike to about 17 validations at 11:30 PM.

This station is Bowdoin. The evening peak suggests that the station is downtown, but the low ridership indicates that it is a station with only one line and with limited office buildings in the area. The Blue Line has lower ridership than other lines but tended to retain more ridership from 2019 to 2021. The top 6 stops by average daily validation retention are Revere Beach, Beachmont, Maverick, Wood Island, Bowdoin, and Airport, which are all Blue Line stops. Orient Heights ranks number 9, and Suffolk Downs is number 12.

Mystery Station 4:

Line graph showing ridership as validations per 15 minutes. First increase is at 6 AM and peaks at 8 AM with about 410 validations per 15 minutes. Then decreases until 10 AM at about 60 validations. Increases gradually until 4 PM, then large spike at 6 PM with about 630 validations. Decreases until 12 AM.
Line graph showing ridership as validations per 15 minutes. Increases starting at 5 AM. AM peak is at 8 AM with 75 validations per 15 minutes, then decreases to about 30 validations at 10 AM. Then increases gradually until 6 PM peak with 110 validations per 15 minutes and decreases until 12 AM.

This is South Station. The most notable feature of this print is the various morning peaks which are evidence of arriving commuter rail trains. Additionally, the very high evening peak confirms that the station is downtown and close to many workplaces. Notably, South Station is the station with the lowest average daily validation retention from 2019 to 2021 at only 26.2%.

Mystery Station 5:

Line graph showing ridership as validations per 15 minutes. First increase at 5 Am, reaching peak from 6 to 8 AM with about 20 validations per 15 minutes. It decreases until 10 AM, then stays at about 6 validations until 2 PM. Increases to about 8 validations from 2 to 6 PM, then decreases until 12 AM.
Line graph showing ridership as validations per 15 minutes. Line first goes up at 5 AM, stays at about 6 validations per 15 minutes from 5 to 6:30 AM, then peak of 8.5 validations per 15 minutes at about 7 AM. Then decreases gradually until 12 PM with 3 validations. Increases until 3 PM at 5 validations then decreases gradually until 12 AM.

This is Suffolk Downs. The morning peak hinted that it is an outlying station, and the other clue is its severely low ridership. Suffolk Downs is the station with the fewest average daily validations – both in 2019 and in 2021. In 2019 it averaged 639 validations a day, which is comparable to the 628 validations on average that Davis got from 8:15 – 8:30 AM in 2019. Since the racetrack closed, Suffolk Downs has had minimal ridership, but we of course expect this to grow substantially as the site is redeveloped.

Answer to the bonus question: Downtown Crossing, 5:00 – 5:15 PM.

Thank you for participating in our second prints quiz!