This website was developed using research methods created in the Urban Information Lab at the University of Texas at Austin. Each block group is classified as either a transit oasis, properly served area, or a transit desert. A transit oasis is an area with more transit service than normal for the city. A transit adequate area is an area where transit demand meets transit supply and a transit desert has less than normal supply for the city
In order to calculate the transit desert index score a three step method is used. First, the transit supply is calculated using General Transit Specification Feed data and other publicly available GIS data. This transit supply score is than normalized across the city. Next, the transit demand is calculated using American Community Survey data. For this research, the transit dependent population is used as a proxy for transit demand. Transit dependent people are those who are too young, too old, or otherwise cannot drive and thus must rely on public transit for their transportation need. This transit demand score is than normalized across the city. Finally the transit supply is subtracted from the transit demand to get the transit desert index score. For a more detailed explanation of the methods see the links below.