Bus network redesigns in medium-sized cities : an equity evaluation on supermarket accessibility
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Transit agencies across the country are redesigning their bus network for the first time in several decades in order to increase ridership and the attractiveness of the system. The reallocation of resources and resulting service cuts raise equity concerns. This report calculates and evaluates equity-focused performance measurements related to supermarket accessibility before and after the bus network redesigns in the medium-sized cities of Austin, Columbus and Indianapolis. The performance measures related to grocery store accessibility significantly improved under Columbus’ bus network redesign and appeared equitable. The measures for Indianapolis largely worsened, but people of color equitably fared better than white residents. Austin’s bus network redesign had mixed performance and equity results for grocery store accessibility. On average, the redesigns of the three bus networks did not raise significant equity concerns for grocery store accessibility.