Abstract:
It is well understood that travelers from low income households are dependent on public transport. There has been a growing interest to assess equity related to accessibility to various land uses. This study has developed an assessment framework for connectivity equity and applied it to Auckland’s network, which is undergoing a transformation with the government investing in redevelopment to produce an integrated system. Data for the assessment is attained from information available publically and Statistics New Zealand. The connectivity measures of the services are determined for selected suburbs (origins) to Auckland central (destination). These suburbs represent a cross-section of the city and are representative of the population in terms of income, location, and the availability of services. The findings show that suburbs in the income ranges that are “high”, “middle-high” and “middle” have better connectivity. This is partly due to the closer proximity to the destination (i.e. shorter travel times), but also due to a greater level of services available to commuters. Suburbs with poor connectivity were from the “middle-low” and “low” income ranges. Poor bus-bus transfers, a lack of fixed network infrastructure, long journey times, and large headways contributed to poor connectivity for many low income suburbs. The assessment framework can be readily applied to the public transport systems of major cities to enable areas with transport inequity to be identified and brought to the attention of local government; thus enabling connectivity equity to be considered when making regional decisions related to the public transport infrastructure.