Transit Demand and Equity Scores

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Answer questions about demand for service and score existing transit systems for the equity of each stop. Assess transit demand in hyper-granular locations for analyses such as equity considerations, trip-taker profiles, and expanding market share. Agencies can make meaningful improvements to transit systems, tailor services to meet demand, and win prospective riders.

Transit Demand Scores answer questions about where demand for service is highest and where it would be most utilized if made available. Scores are based on several factors, including total population, total workers, households without automobiles, median household income, and the total estimated transit commuters within each zone. Score factors in the demographics of the region to understand where transit may be in demand regardless of where it exists today.

Transit Equity Scores consider the locations of existing stops to determine how well a city’s existing system serves the community. Equity scores The methodology assigns each existing stop a score, where the highest-scored stops are those most critical to the equity of the system as a whole. Scores are based on several factors including riders’ income, race, employment type, average commute times, and access to private autos, as well as the proportion of total trips with a work purpose.

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Agencies can use the Transit Equity and Demand Scores App to answer questions such as:

How well does my existing network cover the areas of my city with the highest transit demand scores?
To what extent do existing transit stops provide connectivity (e.g., access to jobs and essential services) for the most burdened portions of our population?
Where is transit need the highest in my city, regardless of where current transit lines exist?

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When the Illinois Department of Transportation engaged Replica to build the state’s first statewide activity-based travel model, it enabled statewide and local agencies to rely on a common set of assumptions in their analysis. The Chicago Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) used a Replica analysis of the demographic and socioeconomic breakdown of the ‘L’ and CTA bus ridership to better understand the inequities of commutes across different cohorts of the city’s population. Among the findings: On the Red Line, Black commuters’ travel to work takes, on average, nearly 25% longer than white residents’, culminating in an annual average of 125 hours of extra commuting — time spent away from their families and participating in their local community.

Replica’s Transit Demand & Equity Scores application can build upon analyses like these to help organizations understand how well their communities are served by existing transit, and how expanding transit would serve those who need it the most.