Portland Oregon Frequent Service Transit Coverage Analysis

By Anonymous

 

Portland Oregon Frequent Service Transit Coverage Analysis

Description
Above is a map showing a frequent service transit coverage analysis in Portland, Oregon. The map is meant to show where a lack of frequent service transit coverage exists and is highlighted in light pink. The purpose for this analysis was to show specific areas where frequent service transportation components are lacking in relation to ares with a healthy transportation landscape. Access to multiple transportation modes and options equip people with power and choice for how they navigate the city. Frequent service bus lines and MAX light rail run every 15 minutes. Frequent service transit benefits users by decreasing wait times and therefore trip times. It also provides more user freedom by decreasing the necessity for precision trip planning and the headaches associated with using clunky apps or websites to plan trips. This analysis shows specific areas falling outside the coverage of frequent transit service. It is meant to be used as an introductory analysis and a way of understanding the geographic component to lack of transit options. It reasons that areas with fewer choices regarding transit options are at risk for higher levels of car dependency. 

Methodology
Data pulled from TriMet includes rail stops point shapefile (tm_rail_stops) and frequent service bus line shapefile (Frequent_Service_Lines). Originally, I wanted to work with all point shapefiles however bus stops data provide no specificity as to whether frequent service bus lines accesses a stop. Therefore, the frequent service bus line alignments were used. Two buffers were created for each of the TriMet data sources. Rail stops were given a buffer threshold of ½ mile while frequent service bus lines were given a buffer threshold of ¼ mile. These specific thresholds are common to use within urban planning/policy analysis for walkers and rollers accessing light rail stations and bus stops. Then the buffers were combined showing where frequent service transit options are available. As I was interested in identifying areas where frequent transit service is not available, the shape was inverted and colored pink to show lack of coverage. All other data used came from PortlandRLIS, a Metro owned database. This includes base map layers and Portland neighborhoods. 


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