Urban Environment, Population Density and Use of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) System in Quito

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between urban variables and the number of passengers who walk to the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system stations in Quito, Ecuador. For this purpose, a direct estimation model of demand is built, which relies on Geographic Information Systems to delimit the service area and calculate its urban characteristics within a pedestrian distance threshold of six hundred meters; in addition, a multiple linear regression model is applied to explain the number of entries per station depending on the urban environment. The results show that the number of entries correlates with network density, land use, shape index, sidewalk width and distance to the business center, while population density is not significant.Í