AllTransit
Introduction
AllTransit™ provides transit connectivity, access, and frequency data for transit stops across more than 800 US transit agencies[1]. This information is combined with demographic data to give each neighborhood in a Performance Score from 1-10. Demographic information for each metric is available; combined with the Performance Score, this shows how well a particular community is served by its existing transit infrastructure. AllTransit™ is a collaboration between the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) and TransitCenter.
How it Works
AllTransit™ uses a comprehensive database of over half a million transit stops across 15,000 routes and 805 agencies[1]. Much this comes from public GTFS data. Information was retrieved manually for agencies that do not use GTFS. The data can be explored through six metrics: jobs, economy, equity, health, transit quality, and mobility network[2]. Each metric contains multiple datasets from sources like the American Community Survey and the U.S. Census Longitudinal Employment-Household Dynamics Origin-Destination Employment Statistics. The following is a sampling of the information available:
- Jobs - access to jobs and workers, jobs and workers near transit, total commuters
- Economy - access to customers, transportation costs as a percentage of income
- Health - walkable neighborhoods, commute by bicycling and walking, access to farmers markets
- Equity - population near transit, Low-Income Housing Tax Credit units near transit
AllTransit™ Performance Score top-ten rankings for California municipalities with populations larger than 250,000 people. Source: AllTransit - Transit quality - Transit Connectivity Index, transit trips per week
- Mobility network - transit routes and stops within half a mile, bikeshare and carshare locations near transit
These metrics can be examined at geographies ranging from census tract up to municipality, as well US house and state house and senate district. You can also view each individual metric on a map, which compares performance of areas within a region. Users can choose to overlay the map with carshare and bikeshare locations, farmers markets, and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit units. Accompanying the map is a downloadable graph comparing Performance Scores for the various geographies associated with an address.
In addition to seeing the Performance Score for an individual area, AllTransit™ can also generate rankings of areas by Performance Score[3]. These areas can be sorted by state, size, and type of geography. The four metrics that make up the Performance Score are transit trips per week within a half-mile, transit routes within a half-mile, jobs accessible in a 30-minute trip, and commuters who use transit.
Applications
The system data in AllTransit™ comes straight from agencies themselves, so transit operators already have this information. However, the link between system information and demographic data is useful because it provides a quick measure of how well a system serves its constituency in a variety of ways. The fact that the tool provides information for areas across the country that a transit agency probably has no experience with makes it helpful for benchmarking service. In addition, datasets can be purchased if an agency wants to do their own analyses.
AllTransit™ is especially valuable for people outside of transit agencies. Housing and transportation advocates can use the tool to illustrate their complaints about existing infrastructure and business owners can use it to find locations with good access to both potential employees and customers. The tool also has significant potential for researchers investigating the relationship between variables such as Performance Score and autos per household[4].
Urban Scenarios
The public version of AllTransit™ is applicable across the US. This is useful for comparison, but also means that data on individual cities might be too limited for a specific use. In this case, CNT can be contracted to perform a custom analysis of a city using local datasets. In New York, an urban scenario was created to focus on housing affordability[5]. The analysis shows metrics not included in the standard AllTransit™ database, such as rent burden, job availability for non-English speakers, and Uber use.
Potential Issues
When using AllTransit™, it is important to be aware that the data may not be 100% up-to-date. For instance, as of early November 2016 the tool does not include Los Angeles Metro Bikeshare. This is a new system, but is relevant to studying Los Angeles’s downtown. When using the tool, it's a good idea to double check to see if it looks like all the important data on your area are included.
AllTransit™
References
Additional Reading
Center for Neighborhood Technology. "AllTransit™ Methods." 2016, April 18.
- This document details the methodology behind the AllTransit™ database. It describes the calculations involved in determining Performance Score and provides a full use of data sources used to create the metrics.
Center for Neighborhood Technology. "AllTransit Webinar." 2016.
- This hour-long webinar further describes how to use the AllTransit tool.