Analysis of the Winston-Salem Public Transit System

Background

​For Winston-Salem residents without the means or ability to drive, the bus system plays a critical role in determining their ability to reach jobs, education, medical care, child care, public benefits, and community activities. The Business 40 infrastructure improvement project presents an opportunity to consider the mobility of all Winston-Salem residents and to focus on how the bus system can be used to advance health equity in our community.

The NC DOT has designated funds to expand bus service during the Business 40 closure.

• Both the Piedmont Authority for Regional Transit (PART) and Winston-Salem Transit Authority (WSTA) will receive funds to increase bus services to mitigate the impact of the Business 40 closure on local transportation and traffic.
• WSTA will receive more than $7 million in grant funds to expand bus services.
• The Business 40 closure presents an opportunity to conduct a “natural experiment” to determine the impact of such improvements on the ability to access health resources (Downtown Health Plaza and Novant Health).

The analysis in Table 1 reflects the current total amount of time it takes citizens from each ward (Map) to reach key healthcare access locations, prior to any increase in transit services.

• Current time spent on the bus ranges from 27 to 83 minutes, with an average of 53 minutes.
• Current time spent walking to, waiting for, and riding on public transit ranges from 54 to 166 minutes, with an average of 106 minutes each way.

These data are a baseline from which to measure how improvements in bus service impact the amount of time residents spend traveling to health services.

Method

Our analysis utilizes the Google Transit API (Application Programming Interface) to calculate optimum transit duration from multiple locations in each ward to the major health assets in the community.[1] (Note: Novant Medical Center and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center are along the same bus routes and are separated by +/- 5 minutes on the bus.)

The API allows for calculation of additional details about the trip, including:

• Average Duration in Transit – Time spent in transit.
• Wait + Travel Time – This includes the time in transit as well as the time spent waiting for transit to arrive. (API calculations do not include time spent waiting for the trip to start.)
• Average Time Spent Walking – This is the Google calculated time spent walking to bus stop.
• Average Distance Walked – This is the Google calculated distance walked in order to walk to bus stops and make transfers to reach the final destination.

Conclusions

Economic mobility in Winston-Salem is a pressing concern. For those without the means or ability to access private transportation, it takes a disproportionately greater amount of time to reach important health care assets. The Business 40 closure affords an opportunity to consider how the bus system influences residents’ ability to access to health services, and how improvements to bus services may enhance health care access and utilization. This brief analysis is limited to data regarding health care access, though Google API can be broadly used to document transportation equity within our community. Further critical thought about the impact of NC DOT Business 40 closure mitigation funds should be ongoing. We anticipate the expanded bus services will support a more equitable and just public transportation system.

Recommendations

• Support expansion of Winston-Salem Transit Authority services.
• Examine the critical role of bus services as it pertains to economic mobility in our community.
• Sustain bus service afforded by NC DOT Business 40 closure mitigation funding.

Notes

[1] ​WSTA has provided Google bus schedule and route information for display on Google Maps. The Google Transit API makes this data available for querying based on specific start times, start locations, and destinations. The addresses utilized for this analysis are available here. 

Authors

Michael DeWitt is a data scientist working for Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. He recently moved to higher education after working in the manufacturing sector for the last ten years. His interests are in statistical programming and analysis, Bayesian modeling, survey analysis, and improving social mobility.  

Phillip Summers works for the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He was a Research Associate with the Department of Family and Community Medicine before joining the Program in Community Engagement as an Associate Director. He has used his background in Public Health leadership in a variety of non-profit organizations both locally and globally. His research and practice focus on health and justice for immigrants and reducing health disparities.

Jeff Bloomfield, Keena Moore, and Megan Irby also contributed to this research and article.

The views expressed above are solely the author's and are not endorsed by the Virginia Policy Review, The Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, or the University of Virginia. Although this organization has members who are University of Virginia students and may have University employees associated or engaged in its activities and affairs, the organization is not a part of or an agency of the University. It is a separate and independent organization which is responsible for and manages its own activities and affairs. The University does not direct, supervise or control the organization and is not responsible for the organization’s contracts, acts, or omissions.