Bus Stop Spacings Statistics: Theory and Evidence

TL;DR

This paper introduces new statistical terminology and tools for analyzing bus stop spacings, providing a Python package and database to facilitate data-driven comparisons and improve transit planning.

Contribution

It develops a novel framework and open-source resources for analyzing bus stop spacing distributions using GTFS data, addressing previous data gaps.

Findings

Provides a Python package for stop spacing analysis

Creates an open-source database of real-world stop spacings

Establishes new terminology for statistical comparison of stop spacings

Abstract

Transit agencies have been removing a large number of bus stops, but discussions around the bus stop spacings exhibit a lack of clarity and data for comparison. This paper proposes new terminology and concepts for statistical consideration of stop spacings, and introduces a python package and open-source database which uses General Transit Feed Specification data to derive real-world stop spacing distributions