Public Transit Accessibility

A map of Ottawa, ON, showing dissemination-block level data about the population-weighted average number of OCTranspo routes within a 600m walk.

Data source: OC Transpo, Société de transport de l’Outaouais

Date represented: November 2022

Date published: December 16, 2022

Methodology:

Measure Method of calculation
Avg. # of public transit stops within 600m Transit stops are collected from OCTranspo’s GTFS feed. Walk distances are calculated from each dissemination block (DB) to all transit stops within a 1km radius, and for each DB the number of stops within 600m is counted. DB-level results are averaged up to neighbourhood-level results using population-weighting (2016 census results) and assigned to the neighbourhoods they maximally overlap.
Avg. # of public transit routes stopping within 600m walking distance Transit stops are collected from OCTranspo’s GTFS feed. Walk distances are calculated from each dissemination block (DB) to all transit stops within a 1km radius, and for each DB the number of unique routes within 600m is counted. For clarity, if bus route 88 has five stops within 600m of a given DB, these five stops will only count as one route. DB-level results are averaged up to neighbourhood-level results using population-weighting (2016 census results) and assigned to the neighbourhoods they maximally overlap.
Number of public transit stops Number of transit stops within each neighbourhood plus a 50m buffer.
Number of public transit stops per 1000 people Number of transit stops within each neighbourhood plus a 50m buffer, per 1000 neighbourhood residents.
Number of public transit stops per km2 Number of transit stops within each neighbourhood plus a 50m buffer, per square kilometer.

Notes: 

  • Stations and routes were retrieved from GTFS files from OC Transpo for analysis.
  • The threshold of 600m walking distance was chosen following City of Ottawa’s Transit-Oriented Development Guidelines.
  • All routes from OC Transpo, including the light rail trains, were treated equally regardless of their lengths and frequency.
  • Neighbourhood averages were population-weighted, meaning that population blocks with more people have a larger influence on the neighbourhood value.