A measure of equity for public transit connectivity

The objective of using equity is to quantify and evaluate transit service in terms of prioritizing transit locations for funding; conforming with federal regulations; providing service delivery strategies, especially for areas with large multi-jurisdictional, multi-modal transit networks; providing an indicator of multi-level transit capacity for planning purposes and assessing the effectiveness and efficiency for node/stop prioritization while choosing transit as a mode of travel. The methodology uses a stylized connectivity measure with a Gini index for equity estimation at different levels such as stop, line, zone and area. An example problem is presented to demonstrate the proposed methodology. The approach is then applied to the Washington-Baltimore region in the United States. The results show the existing transit service coverage at different locations. The proposed approach can be utilized as a tool for transit service planning.