Assessing the Effectiveness of MBTA Commuter Rail using GIS Silvia Petrova – Kristopher Kuzera IDCE 388 GIS & Local Planning Final Project - Spring 2004 Boston Metropolitan Area

2 Introduction Metropolitan Boston is serviced by an extensive network of commuter trains (11 lines). In 2000, MBTA commuter rail provided service to 119 stations with plans to expand to additional communities within the upcoming years. 1.5% of the commuting population of Massachusetts commutes by rail.

3 Objective Effectiveness is determined as an appropriate number of weekday inbound trains stopping at each station in order to service the amount of allocated commuters (sample data available). The objective is to assess the effectiveness of the MBTA commuter rail system.

4 Commuter Statistics per Line

5 Assumptions Commuter population boards at the nearest commuter station (Thiessen polygons). Population within a distance to the nearest stations is equally distributed. Commuters are identified as only traveling inbound to Boston on a weekday.

6 Population Density per Census Tract (sq. km.), 2000

7 MBTA Sample Commuter Density per Census Tract (sq. km.), 2000 Commuter Density is heavily concentrated in the south-west suburbs of Boston.

8 MBTA Sample Commuters per Census Tract, 2000

Distance in Kilometers Distance in Kilometers MBTA Sample Commuter Density within 100 Km. of Boston, 2000 Commuter Density per 10km buffer Most sample commuters live within the 10 to 20km buffer.

10 MBTA Sample Commuters per Station, 2000 Sample commuters are allocated to the nearest station.

11 MBTA Weekday Inbound Trains per Station, 2000

12 MBTA Sample Commuters per Weekday Inbound Train, 2000 Stations in yellow have more number of trains per commuters allocated to that station. Stations in dark blue have fewer number of trains per commuters allocated to that station.

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14 What have we learned? The southern region of Boston has generally more commuters than the northern region. There are far fewer trains per commuters accommodating the southern region. A solution would be to increase the number of trains to these stations or to build additional stations to service these commuters.

15 Problems Encountered Data of exact number of passengers boarding at each station was unavailable, only sample census data per town. Data is limited to within Massachusetts and does not include neighboring states and out of state stations (Providence). Train schedules for 2000 were unavailable so number of trains from today were used.

16 Any questions?