2018 Impact Summit

For the past two decades, MetroTransit and Metropolitan Council have used transit market areas to plan and deploy appropriate transit service in the Twin Cities metro area. Over time, the determination of transit market areas has become more analytic. The transit market index introduced by Council staff in 2010 considered local population concentration, employment concentration, and transit dependency. These factors, measured and summarized for Census block groups, were combined into a simple index intended to represent local level preconditions and potential for transit service.
Metro Transit uses the transit market index and transit market areas to target investment and service deployment. High-frequency local route services and dedicated transitways are deployed in local areas with the greatest local potential for ridership response. The transit market index may be a useful device for understanding local factors that cumulatively make transit service viable.