Tren Urbano Overview This case study illustrates the measurement of regional accessibility to employment.
Accessibility is measured by mode of transportation and by income group.
The method can be applied using census and employment data, in conjunction with highway and transit network data from a regional travel demand model. The study found that while the rail system will have accessibility benefits, these benefits are highly localized along the rail alignment and may not decrease the inequities in mobility among income groups. The study further found that policies to increase development in station areas would increase the accessibility benefits of the system, with these benefits distributed across all income groups. In addition to analyzing accessibility at a regional level, the team used GIS tools to evaluate the walkability of station areas along the proposed system. The regional and station-area accessibility analyses were conducted using commonly available transportation data sets and GIS analytical tools.