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Distance to Access High-Quality Transit

Distance to Access High-quality Transit refers to how far riders need to travel to reach transit that is frequent, safe and reliable. High-quality transit features frequent, on-time departures and connectivity with other transit infrastructure. It also is defined by transit that is easily reachable for riders with different accessibility needs, whether that refers to pedestrians, cyclists, wheelchair users or riders who rely on park-and-ride facilities. Some funding applications refer to the State of California’s definition of high quality transit corridors, which refer to corridors with fixed route bus service with service internals no longer than 15 minutes during peak commute hours. Different neighborhoods experience vast disparities in access to high-quality transportation, which limits the ability of residents to reach jobs, housing, education and healthcare. Planners should seek to understand a community’s current level of access to high-quality transit infrastructure to better align project goals with community needs.

Understand your Datasets

Metro maintains internal datasets available to staff related to high-quality transit accessibility. These datasets include distance traveled to nearest transit stop, transit connectivity (e.g., whether riders are able to access different geographic areas and/or different bus and train lines) and how frequently buses/trains depart from a stop, given that public transit delays can inhibit riders’ ability to reliably report to work, attend school and access healthcare. These datasets can provide insight into riders’ experience while accessing public transportation from a certain area. In addition, the safety and timeliness of transit departures play a role in determining whether transit is high-quality. Crime occurring in and around transit stations or nearby pedestrian areas can provide insight into riders’ experience of safety and quality of transit. Metro staff may also refer to datasets maintained by regional transit providers (e.g., LADOT, Big Blue Bus) to comprehensively assess a community’s access to high-quality transit.

Example Datasets:

1. Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) High-Quality Transit Corridors (HQTC) Interactive Map: https://maps.scag.ca.gov/portal/apps/experiencebuilder/experience/?id=97f9699f14654b3b8895c74846541f75&page=Main-Map

Instructions: Refer to SCAG HQTC map to find existing and planned HQTCs and major transit stops as outlined in Connect SoCal 2024, Southern California’s Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy (RTP/SCS). HQTCs and major transit stops in the RTP/SCS horizon year 2050 include existing HQTCs and major transit stops, combined with future improvements expected to be implemented by transit agencies by 2050. These are assumed, by definition, to meet the statutory requirements of an HQTC or major transit stop.

Data Considerations: SCAG updates its assessment of planned major transit stops and HQTCs through the adoption of a new RTP/SCS every four years. However, transit planning studies may be conducted by transit agencies on a more frequent basis than SCAG updates the RTP/SCS. Metro staff should consult with appropriate local transit provider(s) to obtain the latest information on planned transit routes, stop locations and service intervals/frequencies to make relevant planning and stakeholder engagement decisions.

2. City of Los Angeles GeoHub: https://lahub.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/nearby/index.html?appid=f219183a69e64c9482f58e36362d2d1b

Instructions: Click the search box and type in an address or choose Use current location OR Click within the map. Results will include information about features of interest including all nearby transit lines and stops. Metro staff can also refer to the City of Los Angeles’ “Know Your Community” resource to find out high-level statistics about a neighborhood of interest.

Data Considerations: The GeoHub is the City’s public platform for exploring, visualizing and downloading location-based data. Download datasets in CSV, KML, Zip, GeoJSON, GeoTIFF or PNG formats. Users can also find API links for GeoServices, WMS and WFS.

3. Proprietary information available to LA Metro staff; LA Metro Alerts Website: https://alerts.metro.net/;
Social media: https://x.com/metrolaalerts

Instructions: Delays to public transit are available to LA Metro staff internally and publicly as alerts on social media or LA Metro’s website. Web scraping and APIs might be used to retrieve delays attributed to different transit stations.

Data Considerations: LA Metro has been active on social media for over 10 years. Data may be available as early as 2010.

4. Los Angeles Police Department Crime Data from 2020 to present: https://data.lacity.org/Public-Safety/Crime-Data-from-2020-to-Present/2nrs-mtv8/about_data

Instructions: Export the data for a chosen time window (the full database contains the four most recent years of data). Filter by the “AREA NAME” field for results with a desired vicinity. Rows represent individual crimes committed.

Data Considerations: Crime data published by the LA Police Department are available beginning February 10, 2020. Data are kept updated, with minimal lag (typically a few days).

Community Demographics Profiles Alignment

Travel Time to Work by Transportation Mode
Transportation Mode by Race/Ethnicity
Households with no Access to a Vehicle

Explore the Index of Indicators in Metro’s Community Demographics Profiles Dashboard here.

Coordinate with Community Members

Supplement information derived from your datasets with community experiences. Consider conducting a Neighborhood Walk at specific bus/train stations to listen to community members and better understand community lived experience of transit quality, how it has evolved over time and how it is defined by community members. Consider how your project may impact these factors, how it can better align with community member needs and provide community members with an early understanding of a planned project. A ridership survey will provide further insight into ridership behaviors, barriers in accessing high-quality transit, and allow for the community to define what “High-Quality” means to them.

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Looking for engagement techniques? Go to the Engage Stakeholders page