Project Summary
This project examines how community-collected survey data and agency operational data can be combined to assess transit needs in San Francisco’s Chinatown. In collaboration with CCDC-TRIP, the study analyzes meeting-based surveys, intercept surveys at key Chinatown transit stops, visual passenger counts, and SFMTA Automatic Passenger Count data. The community surveys show strong transit dependence among older adults and identify shopping, work, and school as major trip purposes. The operational analysis compares observed alightings with an Equal-Demand Model and finds that selected Chinatown stops experience higher demand than non-Chinatown stops during key inbound periods. The project report also identifies data gaps between community surveys and agency data and proposes a purpose-weighted demand framework that combines ridership volumes with survey-derived trip-purpose distributions. These findings support more detailed, equity-oriented service planning and demonstrate how neighborhood-level data can complement traditional agency ridership metrics.
