Transit Desert & Mirage Showcase

Transit Desert & Transit Mirage — Showcase

Visuals and session details from AGU25 and TRB2026 oral presentations

AGU25 Oral Presentation

Session: Session SY11A: Science and Society: Science for Policy I Oral

Date: Monday, 15 December 2025 · 08:40–08:50 CST

Location: NOLA Convention Center, Room 338–339

Presentation: Equity in Motion: Rethinking Transit Deserts through Complete Trip Data

TRB 2026 Lectern Session

Session: Evaluation of Non-Conventional Transit Impacts (S4018)

Date: Wednesday, 14 January 2026 · 8:00–9:45 AM ET

Location: Convention Center 150B

Presiding Officer: William Wong (Federal Transit Administration)

Presentation: Rethinking Transit Deserts: Identifying Pseudo and Real Gaps through Trip-Level Mobility Data

Shifting Transit Deserts and Transit Mirages:
A Behavioral Reinterpretation of Dynamic Transit Equity

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice — Under Review

Transit equity, a central concern in transportation planning, has often been operationalized through static spatial metrics comparing aggregate demand and supply, overlooking how inequity evolves through temporal and behavioral dynamics. This study advances a behavioral reinterpretation of dynamic transit equity, arguing that inequity also emerges from temporal and behavioral misalignments between how mobility demand unfolds and how service supply responds. Using weighted, trip-level mobility data reconstructed from high-resolution Location-Based Services (LBS) records in Utah’s Salt Lake region, the study integrates behaviorally grounded demand estimates with temporally varying supply, measured through frequency, stop density, and walking-based accessibility, to examine how inequity shifts with temporal rhythms and disruptions such as COVID-19. Findings support four theoretical propositions: (1) equity is behaviorally contingent, shaped by who travels and how; (2) equity is dynamically constituted, evolving with temporal rhythms; (3) a measurement paradox arises when dynamic data reveal statistical illusions of scarcity in well-served cores, termed transit mirages; and (4) inequity thus manifests as either real deserts (structural deprivation) or mirages (behavioral distortion). Together, these insights reframe transit equity as a process of synchronization rather than a static balance, extending equity from spatial access to temporal and behavioral justice. This behavioral reinterpretation underscores the need for time-sensitive monitoring, resilient service provision, and targeted interventions that distinguish real deserts from behavioral mirages.

Key Figures Presented

Below are selected visuals featured in both AGU25 and TRB2026 oral presentations.