In an effort to understand the effectiveness of the Madison
Metro Transit System, we will assess the accessibility of bus routes to the
general population of the Madison area, and to specific segments of that
population.
The Madison Metro Transit System (MMTS) provides the service of public transportation to the Madison area. The City of Madison, which owns and operates the MMTS, shares a major problem that is currently affecting the state of Wisconsin and the United States as a whole, a large budget defecit. The MMTS has been altered within the past year, probably to increase revenue, by reducing the number of bus lines within the city. The remaining routes will continue to be examined by the city government in order to determine if future action will be needed to keep the venture in operation. To make these decisions, many factors will need to be taken into account, one major one being wether the Madison area population is being served efficiently and equitably. One of the best ways to examine this is through the use of GIS.
The study area will be the city of Madison, the city of Fitchburg, the city of Middleton, and the town of Madison as described by the Title VI report required in conformance to Federal Transit Administration Circular 4702.1.
Use TIGER data for the streets to digitize the bus routes as well as Census demographic data for the census blocks to determine which areas, if any, are not being adequately served within the Madison urbanized area by the MMTS and what the demographic compositions of those areas are. Define buffer zones of access to the existing bus routes and determine the demographics served by the MMTS. Analyze the overall demographic information about the Madison urbanized area and determine if the MMTS serves an equivalent proportion of the area wide demographics.