USING GIS TOOLS TO IMPROVE TRANSIT RIDERSHIP ON ROUTES SERVING LARGE EMPLOYMENT CENTERS - THE BOSTON SOUTH END MEDICAL AREA CASE-STUDY

One potential application of Geographic Information System (GIS) in tr ansit management and operation is ridership analysis on transit routes . Large employment centers need to be conveniently served by transit r outes in order to reduce traffic congestion and minimize the need for parking spaces. Transit planners, when designing bus routes, consider demographic factors such as the number of employers, the number of res idences, and residents' income levels in order to determine the type a nd characteristics of the service to be provided. The usual unit of an alysis in these studies is fairly aggregate geographically. The advanc e of computer technologies, and specifically GIS, coupled with rapidly increasing availability of detailed data, provide new tools for desig ning better transit routes. This paper describes how planning transit routes can be transformed into a more proactive process, and how GIS t echnologies can be used to reach that goal. Our methodology includes u sing the address-matching capabilities of GIS to pinpoint the residenc es of the employees of large employers and to map these locations with respect to existing transit lines and employment sources. A statistic al analysis of current accessibility is then completed. This applicati on of GIS technology aids in diagnosing major gaps with existing servi ces to major centers and in proposing improvements to these services. To provide a concrete example, we use data from three large medical in stitutions in the South End Medical Area of Boston. These employers cu rrently claim to be underserved by public transport. We examine how we ll the existing lines are serving these institutions.