Metro onboard survey: transfers down for low‑income and Black riders, riders with disabilities report mixed impact

Ben Lyman of the Greater Madison Metropolitan Planning Organization presented results of Metro Transit’s onboard survey and analysis on Oct. 8, reporting three major takeaways: the 2023 transit network redesign reduced the need to transfer for Black and low‑income riders, the systemwide transfer rate declined for those groups compared to 2015, and riders with disabilities reported more negative attitudes about the changes.

Key findings cited by MPO staff: compared with a 2015 onboard survey, the share of Black and African American riders who needed to transfer to complete trips fell from 49% in 2015 to 33% in 2024. Low‑income riders’ transfer rates also fell: in 2015 about 34% of low‑income riders needed to transfer, versus 13% in 2024 (versus 14% for mid/high‑income riders). MPO staff called the results a validation of the network redesign’s intent to reduce out‑of‑direction travel for neighborhoods at the system edge.

At the same time, survey responses show a disparity in attitudes: riders who reported a disability or mobility impairment were more likely to rate the 2023 route changes negatively. Ben Lyman said routes were spaced further apart in some places as part of the redesign, which can increase walk distances to service — a change that disproportionately affects riders with mobility impairments.

Why it matters: the onboard survey supports Title VI analyses that Metro must perform when proposing service changes that could disproportionately affect minority or low‑income populations. The cleaned and geocoded origin–destination data will be incorporated into the regional travel demand model and used in upcoming planning work.

Research and data notes: Lyman said the MPO and its consultant manually cleaned nearly 4,000 survey records, resolving ambiguous trip origins and transfer claims before they could be used in the regional travel model. He noted that the dataset is labor‑intensive to verify (for example, clarifying which of multiple similarly named businesses a respondent meant).

Commission response and follow-up: Commissioners asked whether the MPO can map boarding and alighting by race and income to inform targeted service changes; Lyman said the team can create such maps and that a regional model update in 2026 will incorporate the cleaned survey results. Members also discussed other demographic mapping sources and their limits (Census/ACS geographies can be too coarse). Alder Harrington McKinney and others requested follow‑up contact information for further analysis.

There was no formal vote attached to this report; commissioners asked staff to return with more detailed maps and analysis as available.