Measuring Walk Access to Transit in Terms of Sidewalk Availability, Quality, and Connectivity

Walking as the major transit access mode confers health benefits to the public while presenting planners with the challenge of overcoming walk-accessibility costs which deter mass-transit use. The literature indicates sidewalk quality, availability, and street network connectedness are crucial access factors in walking to transit stations. However, the literature has not yielded a pragmatic tool for planners to assess walk access to transit stations in these terms. This paper offers a sidewalk availability and quality index (SAQI) and a connectivity index (CI) which grant insight into the pedestrian-rider’s ability to access mass transit through the built environment. The methods are presented through an analysis of the Orange Line bus rapid transit (BRT) in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles. The analysis of the Orange Line using the SAQI and CI method determines which stops are least accessible to riders and indicates access solutions by identifying the overriding problem along the axes of quantity, quality, and design. Regression analysis concludes that there is a significant positive relationship between sidewalk connectedness and the use of public transportation, indicating the indices are useful as measures of walk-access costs and predictors of ridership.