Abstract
The assessment of transport systems has traditionally focused on congestion and ridership as its core performance measures. These perspectives fail to account for the actual service people seek from the transport system—the ability to reach destinations. Recent studies have shifted to focus on accessibility as a performance indicator, but do not address the question whether the observed accessibility is sufficient for meeting people’s daily needs. This paper contributes to the accessibility literature by (1) applying a people-centered approach to the performance assessment of transit systems and (2) exploring the factors explaining the differences in performance between regions. The paper proposes the Accessibility Sufficiency Index (ASI) as a performance standard. The ASI is based on a sufficiency threshold representing an accessibility level that is assumed to enable adequate access to destinations. The paper uses neighborhood transit job accessibility data to calculate separate ASI scores for different sufficiency thresholds for 49 large US metropolitan areas. Regression analyses show that transit system performance is shaped most strongly by transit vehicle revenue miles, mixed land uses, and activity centering. Importantly, the size of these effects varies by the employed sufficiency threshold, suggesting that transportation and land use factors affect transit performance at different spatial scales. The results have implications for the ways we evaluate transport and transit systems and for our understanding of the factors that affect their performance.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen, J., Farber, S.: Planning transport for social inclusion: an accessibility-activity participation approach. Transp. Res. Part D: Transp. Environ. 78, 102212 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2019.102212
Bar-Yosef, A., Martens, K., Benenson, I.: A model of the vicious cycle of a bus line. Transp. Res. Part B: Methodological. 54, 37–50 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trb.2013.03.010
Batty, M.: The New Science of Cities. MIT Press (2013)
Becker, J.U., Albers, S.: The limits of analyzing service quality data in public transport. Transportation. 43(5), 823–842 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-015-9621-2
Bittencourt, T.A., Giannotti, M.: The unequal impacts of time, cost and transfer accessibility on cities, classes and races. Cities. 116, 103257 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2021.103257
Currie, G., Delbosc, A.: Exploring Trends in Forced Car Ownership in Melbourne. Proceedings of the 36th Australasian Transport Research Forum (ATRF), 9. (2013)
Curtis, C., Scheurer, J.: Performance measures for public transport accessibility: learning from international practice. J. Transp. Land Use. 10(1), 93–118 (2015). https://doi.org/10.5198/jtlu.2015.683
Deboosere, R., El-Geneidy, A.M., Levinson, D.: Accessibility-oriented development. J. Transp. Geogr. 70, 11–20 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2018.05.015
Downs, A.: Still Stuck in Traffic: Coping with Peak-Hour Traffic Congestion. Brookings Institution Press (2005)
Ewing, R., Hamidi, S.: Measuring Sprawl 2014. (2014). https://smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/measuring-sprawl-2014.pdf
Farrington, J., Farrington, C.: Rural accessibility, social inclusion and social justice: towards conceptualisation. J. Transp. Geogr. 13(1), 1–12 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2004.10.002
Gazzé, L.: Inequality in Job Accessibility via Transit in US Cities. In: Divided Cities: Understanding Intra-urban Inequalities, pp. 111–133. OECD (2018)
Goodwin, P.B.: Inaugural Lecture for the Professorship of Transport Policy. (1997)
Grengs, J.: Job accessibility and the modal mismatch in Detroit. J. Transp. Geogr. 18(1), 42–54 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2009.01.012
Haas, P.M., Makarewicz, C., Benedict, A., Sanchez, T.W., Dawkins, C.J.: Housing & Transportation Cost Trade-offs and Burdens of Working Households in 28 Metros, p. 197. Center for Neighborhood Technology (2006)
Hamidi, S., Ewing, R., Preuss, I., Dodds, A.: Measuring sprawl and its impacts: an update. J. Plann. Educ. Res. 35(1), 35–50 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X14565247
Hansen, W.G.: How accessibility shapes Land Use. J. Am. Inst. Planners. 25(2), 73–76 (1959). https://doi.org/10.1080/01944365908978307
Hernandez, D.: Uneven mobilities, uneven opportunities: social distribution of public transport accessibility to jobs and education in Montevideo. J. Transp. Geogr. 67, 119–125 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2017.08.017
Hess, D.B.: Access to employment for adults in poverty in the Buffalo-Niagara Region. Urban Stud. 42(7), 1177–1200 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1080/00420980500121384
Johnson, V., Currie, G., Stanley, J.: Measures of disadvantage: is Car ownership a good Indicator? Soc. Indic. Res. 97(3), 439–450 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-009-9510-1
Karner, A., Niemeier, D.: Civil rights guidance and equity analysis methods for regional transportation plans: a critical review of literature and practice. J. Transp. Geogr. 33, 126–134 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2013.09.017
Kawabata, M.: Spatiotemporal dimensions of modal accessibility disparity in Boston and San Francisco. Environ. Plann. A: Econ. Space. 41(1), 183–198 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1068/a4068
Kronlid, D.: Mobility as Capability. In Gendered mobilities (pp. 15–34). Ashgate. (2008). http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-15996
Levine, J., Grengs, J., Merlin, L.A.: From Mobility to Accessibility: Transforming Urban Transportation and Land-Use Planning. Cornell University Press (2019)
Levine, J., Grengs, J., Shen, Q., Shen, Q.: Does accessibility require density or speed? J. Am. Plann. Association. 78(2), 157–172 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2012.677119
Levinson, D.M., Krizek, K.J.: Access to Destinations. Elsevier Publishers (2005)
Lucas, K., van Wee, B., Maat, K.: A method to evaluate equitable accessibility: combining ethical theories and accessibility-based approaches. Transportation. 43(3), 473–490 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-015-9585-2
Martens, K.: Transport Justice: Designing fair Transportation Systems. Routledge (2017). https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781317599586
Martens, K.: A people-centred approach to accessibility. (2020). https://trid.trb.org/view/1767297
Martens, K., Bastiaanssen, J.: An index to measure accessibility poverty risk. In Measuring Transport Equity (pp. 39–55). Elsevier. (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-814818-1.00003-2
Martens, K., Golub, A.: A fair distribution of accessibility: interpreting Civil Rights Regulations for Regional Transportation Plans. J. Plann. Educ. Res. 41(4), 425–444 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X18791014
Mattioli, G.: ‘Forced Car ownership’ in the UK and Germany: Socio-Spatial patterns and potential economic stress impacts. Social Inclusion. 5(4), 147–160 (2017). https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v5i4.1081
Mayaud, J.R., Tran, M., Nuttall, R.: An urban data framework for assessing equity in cities: comparing accessibility to healthcare facilities in Cascadia. Comput. Environ. Urban Syst. 78, 101401 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2019.101401
Merlin, L.A., Singer, M., Levine, J.: Influences on transit ridership and transit accessibility in US urban areas. Transp. Res. Part A: Policy Pract. 150, 63–73 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2021.04.014
Orth, H., Weidmann, U., Dorbritz, R.: Development of Measurement System for Public Transport performance. Transp. Res. Record: J. Transp. Res. Board. 2274(1), 135–143 (2012). https://doi.org/10.3141/2274-15
Owen, A., Levinson, D.M., Murphy, B.: Access Across America: Transit 2015 Data [Data set]. (2017). https://doi.org/10.13020/D63G6F
Pereira, R.H.M., Schwanen, T., Banister, D.: Distributive justice and equity in transportation. Transp. Reviews. 37(2), 170–191 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2016.1257660
Pritchard, J.P., Tomasiello, D.B., Giannotti, M., Geurs, K.: Potential impacts of bike-and-ride on job accessibility and spatial equity in São Paulo, Brazil. Transp. Res. Part A: Policy Pract. 121, 386–400 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2019.01.022
Pyrialakou, V.D., Gkritza, K., Fricker, J.D.: Accessibility, mobility, and realized travel behavior: assessing transport disadvantage from a policy perspective. J. Transp. Geogr. 51, 252–269 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2016.02.001
Schrank, D., Albert, L., Eisele, B., Lomax, T.: Urban Mobility Report 2021. Texas A&M Transportation Institute. (2021). https://static.tti.tamu.edu/tti.tamu.edu/documents/mobility-report-2021.pdf
Shen, Q.: A spatial analysis of Job Openings and Access in a U.S. Metropolitan Area. J. Am. Plann. Association. 67(1), 53–68 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1080/01944360108976355
Singer, M.E., Cohen-Zada, A.L., Martens, K.: Core versus periphery: examining the spatial patterns of insufficient accessibility in U.S. metropolitan areas. J. Transp. Geogr. 100, 103321 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2022.103321
Smart, M.J., Klein, N.J.: Disentangling the role of cars and transit in employment and labor earnings. Transportation. 47(3), 1275–1309 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-018-9959-3
Soza-Parra, J., Raveau, S., Muñoz, J.C.: Public transport reliability across preferences, modes, and space. Transportation. 49(2), 621–640 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-021-10188-2
Twaddell, H., Zgoda, B., Aimen, D., Morris, A.: Environmental Justice Analysis in Transportation Planning and Programming: State of the Practice (FHWA-HEP-19-022). Art. FHWA-HEP-19-022. (2019). https://trid.trb.org/view/1607254
Vanoutrive, T., Cooper, E.: How just is transportation justice theory? The issues of paternalism and production: a rejoinder. Transp. Res. Part A: Policy Pract. 133, 387–390 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2020.01.011
Verbich, D., Badami, M.G., El-Geneidy, A.M.: Bang for the buck: toward a rapid assessment of urban public transit from multiple perspectives in North America. Transp. Policy. 55, 51–61 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2016.12.002
Wachs, M., Kumagai, T.G.: Physical accessibility as a social indicator. Socio-Economic Plann. Sci. 7(5), 437–456 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1016/0038-0121(73)90041-4
Watkins, K., Berrebi, S., Erhardt, G., Hoque, J., Goyal, V., Brakewood, C., Ziedan, A., Darling, W., Hemily, B., Kressner, J.: Transit Cooperative Research Program, Transportation Research Board, & National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2021). Recent Decline in Public Transportation Ridership: Analysis, Causes, and Responses (p.26320).Transportation Research Board. https://doi.org/10.17226/26320
Acknowledgements
The research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation, grant number 1727/18. Matan Singer was supported by an Aly Kaufman Fellow at Technion. The authors would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers, whose comments have helped to substantially improve the paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Singer, M.E., Cohen-Zada, A.L. & Martens, K. Examining the performance of transit systems in large US metropolitan areas. Transportation (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-022-10368-8
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-022-10368-8