Assessing accessibility to ASFs from bus stops using distance measures: Case of two Indian cities

Concepts of accessibility planning are widely adoptedworldwide in city planning policies for better access to various urban amenities. In urban areas, spatial accessibility to services has received attention in developed countries. However, accessibility planning studies in developing countries are still in nascent stages. This paper presents a set of identified indicators for measuring accessibility to all amenities, services and facilities (ASFs) by connecting public transit (bus stops) in two Indian cities considering minimum walking distances. These measures are divided into two categories, Euclidean distance measure and Network distance measure. This study also attempts to use descriptive statistics to compare the accessible distance between ASFs and public transit (PT). Results show different scenarios with respect to different ranges of distances i.e. accessibility levels of ASFs, and variation in Euclidean and network measures. This emphasizes the local barriers and network connectivity issues that affect the actual distance. The study concludes with possible recommendations for policymakers and to identify the gaps in public transit coverage for reaching the ASFs and allows key implementation for future planning which can be done using this distance criteria. •Google API, ArcGIS tools are used for accessing distance from bus stops to all Amenities, Facilities and Services (ASFs).•Statistical comparison for Euclidean and Network Distance determines the variation in accessibility levels.•This study assists in policies for better spatial access as it integrates public transit, built-up area and AFSs.•The complexity of measuring the variation in distances will identify the physical barriers and their scale.