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Are There Transit Deserts in Europe? A Study Focusing on Four European Cases through Publicly Available Data

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  • Yefu Chen

    (Urban Information Lab, The School of Architecture, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78705, USA)

  • Junfeng Jiao

    (Urban Information Lab, The School of Architecture, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78705, USA)

Abstract

Public transit has been proven as an affordable travel method, while the inequitable distribution is a rising concern among practitioners and researchers. A transit desert, based on the demand and supply concept in measuring the mismatch in allocating the level of public transit service, has proved its ability to be applied in cases across countries. According to this concept, this study investigated transit deserts in four cases in Europe. Results indicate that the public transit system in Grand Paris and Madrid are superior due to a smaller population living in areas where public transit cannot meet the demand. Moreover, we noticed that the spatial distributions of transit deserts were significantly different, and the public transit accessibility of green spaces in Greater London and Madrid requires attention. These findings prove the potentials of the transit desert concept in generally evaluating and comparing the performance of different regional public transit systems which can guide the public transit investments by regional/cross-national agencies.

Suggested Citation

  • Yefu Chen & Junfeng Jiao, 2022. "Are There Transit Deserts in Europe? A Study Focusing on Four European Cases through Publicly Available Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-16, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:20:p:13182-:d:941896
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Yefu Chen & Hao Xi & Junfeng Jiao, 2023. "What Are the Relationships between Public Transit and Gentrification Progress? An Empirical Study in the New York–Northern New Jersey–Long Island Areas," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-18, January.
    2. Yadav, Manish & Mepparambath, Rakhi Manohar & Patil, Gopal R., 2024. "An enhanced transit accessibility evaluation framework by integrating Public Transport Accessibility Levels (PTAL) and transit gap," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).

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