Population and Transit Mapping
When designing a public transport system we have a number of goals. We want to (equitably) provide as many people as possible with a basic level of service. But in order to move the greatest number of people (e.g. to substitute for as many car trips as possible) we want a network design and resource that focuses service on a frequent grid-like pattern.
A journey on transit typically has several travel-time components:
- walking time to and from each stop
- waiting time for each service to arrive
- in-vehicle travel time
- waiting time at destination due to limited frequency
Since schedule coordination for transfers is difficult and all but the most common journeys tend to require a transfer, frequency of service is particularly critical toward getting people where they need to go in a timely manner.
Public transport usage tends to follow a logistic curve with respect to density: at low densities (car oriented development), usage increases gradually with population, then at moderate-to-high density much faster, then at very high densities usage levels off (perhaps because most additional trips are now walkable).
So it’s useful to consider the core PT network overlaid on a population-density map - not just to show where the service is, but to show where it isn’t.
Maps of the Brisbane City Council wards showing 2021 population density by SA1, overlaid with BUZ, train and ferry locales, are available below.
All Wards (low resolution, 13MB)
Individual Wards (higher resolution, about 3MB each):
Bracken
Ridge
Calamvale
Central
Chandler
Coorparoo
Deagon
(mainland only)
Doboy
Enoggera
Forest
Lake
Hamilton
Holland
Park
Jamboree
MacGregor
Marchant
McDowall
Moorooka
Morningside
Northgate
Paddington
Pullenvale
(part)
Runcorn
Tennyson
The
Gabba
The
Gap
Walter
Taylor
Wynnum-Manly
Update (2024-07-10): in a similar vein, see this article in The Guardian this week.
