Assessing the Effectiveness of MBTA Commuter Rail

using GIS

Silvia Petrova – Kristopher KuzeraIDCE 388 GIS & Local Planning

Final Project - Spring 2004

Boston Metropolitan Area

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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.

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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.

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Commuter Statistics per Line

http://www.mass.gov/eotc/facts/charts/facts_commuterchart.html

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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.

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

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MBTA Sample Commuter Density per Census Tract (sq. km.), 2000

Commuter Density is heavilyconcentrated in the south-west

suburbs of Boston.

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MBTA Sample Commuters per Census Tract, 2000

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100 90Distance in Kilometers

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10100 90Distance in Kilometers

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10

MBTA Sample Commuter Density within 100 Km. of Boston, 2000

CommuterDensity

per10km buffer

0.04

1.48

13.78

Most sample commuters livewithin the 10 to 20km buffer.

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MBTA Sample Commuters per Station, 2000

Sample commuters areallocated to the nearest station.

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MBTA Weekday Inbound Trains per Station, 2000

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MBTA Sample Commuters per Weekday Inbound Train, 2000

Stations in yellow have morenumber of trains per commuters

allocated to that station.

Stations in dark blue have fewernumber of trains per commuters

allocated to that station.

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0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

Stations (ranked in distance from Boston)

Wee

kday

In

bo

un

d C

om

mu

ter

Tra

ins

.

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

Co

mm

ute

rs

Weekday Inbound Commuters

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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.

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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.

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Any questions?