In the labyrinth of bus routes, rail lines and commuter arteries that make up a city map, identifying areas that lack sufficient services can be difficult.
But a new U.S. Transportation Department initiative would help pinpoint these "transit deserts." Then, planners say, urban and suburban pockets with substandard train and bus service — or those lacking any transit — could be better connected to a city's grid.
" 'Transit desert' is a very simple way of saying, 'Let's look at where and how much service we provide versus what the potential [is],' " said Andrew Owen, director of the University of Minnesota's Accessibility Observatory.
"Even in a place like Kansas, if you look at the transit system in a small city there — yes, there is some transit — now we have an opportunity to map out where and how the transit service is compared to other things," he said.
Under the initiative, planners would use the information to help persuade policymakers to improve public transportation in underserved communities. And in some cases, years of painstaking research on how transit can better serve cities could be reduced to mere months.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/how-a-national-transit-map-could-connect-transit-deserts-to-the-grid/2016/03/19/5d3ed9d2-ead1-11e5-bc08-3e03a5b41910_story.html