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Access to public transit

Domain

Environment

Subdomain

Environment and people

Indicator

Access to public transit

Definition

  • Proportion of the population living within 500 metres of a public transit stop.
  • Proportion of the population who can access potential employment within a specified period of time using public transit.
  • Proportion of the population who can access amenities (for example, grocery stores, pharmacies, health care, child care, primary education, secondary education, neighbourhood parks, arts and cultural sites, or libraries) within a specified period of time using public transit.

Measurement

Each of the components of this indicator is measured separately.

Proportion of the population living within 500 metres of a public transit stop

This indicator is measured through the Census of Population. The census measures this indicator using census metropolitan areas (CMA), which are formed by one or more adjacent municipalities centred on a population centre (known as the core) (please refer to the Census Dictionary definition for CMA).

Urban public transportation is a complex subject and it is difficult to measure its quality based on a single indicator. This indicator is influenced not only by the number and distribution of public-transportation access points in a city, but also by local zoning regulations affecting the proportion of the population living close to those access points.

The main method used to estimate the percentage of the population living within 500 metres of a public transport access point is as follows:

  • The locations of public transport stops of all kinds (bus, trolley, surface and underground rail) were accessed from city websites or acquired from local transit authorities. Complete coverage was obtained for the municipalities making up the 35 CMAs.
  • The public transit stop locations were incorporated within Statistics Canada's geographic databases containing population counts for 2016 Census dissemination blocks. A dissemination block is a block in urban areas (e.g. a city block) or an area bounded by roads in rural areas. The dissemination block is the smallest geographic area for which population and dwelling counts are disseminated. Dissemination blocks located within a 500-metre radius of a transit stop were selected, and their populations summed for the municipality.
  • In the final step, the total population living within 500 metres of a transit stop is divided by the total population of the entire metropolitan city, to produce the indicator of convenient access to public transportation, following the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 11.2.1 guidelines.

Proportion of the population who can access potential employment within a specified period of time using public transit
and
Proportion of the population who can access amenities (for example, grocery stores, pharmacies, health care, child care, primary education, secondary education, neighborhood parks, arts and cultural sites, or libraries) within a specified period of time using public transit

Data from the Spatial Access Measures are used to measure both the proportion of the population who can access potential employment within a specified period of time and the proportion of the population who can access amenities within a specific period of time.
The Spatial Access Measures are a set of indicators that quantify the ease of reaching destinations of varying levels of attractiveness from an origin dissemination block (DB). DBs are the smallest census geography, about the size of a block in urban areas and considerably larger in less urban areas. 
There currently are seven types of amenity categories within the Spatial Access Measures. Other measures such as child care, neighbourhood parks, pharmacies and libraries will be added over time:

  1. primary and secondary educational facilities (EFs)
  2. postsecondary educational facilities (PSEFs)
  3. health care facilities (HFs)
  4. places of employment (EMPs)
  5. grocery stores (GSs)
  6. cultural and arts facilities (CAFs)
  7. sports and recreational facilities (SRFs)

For each amenity, there are four variants based on the transportation mode:

  1. access via public transit during peak hours
  2. access via public transit during off-peak hours
  3. access via cycling
  4. access via walking

Data sources

Proportion of the population living within 500 metres of a public transit stop

Proportion of the population who can access potential employment within a specified period of time using public transit

Proportion of the population who can access amenities (for example, grocery stores, pharmacies, health care, child care, primary education, secondary education, neighborhood parks, arts and cultural sites, or libraries) within a specified period of time using public transit

Data visualizations

Proportion of the population living within 500 metres of a public transit stop

Data analysis

Proportion of the population living within 500 metres of a public transit stop

Proportion of the population who can access potential employment within a specified period of time using public transit

Proportion of the population who can access amenities (for example, grocery stores, pharmacies, health care, child care, primary education, secondary education, neighborhood parks, arts and cultural sites, or libraries) within a specified period of time using public transit

Frameworks

This indicator aligns with the following frameworks:

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