Who Can Reach a Service? Zone-Level Measurement of Convenient Access to Public Transport in Bhopal, India

Abstract

Aims: This study measures Sustainable Development Goal indicator 11.2.1 for Bhopal Municipal Corporation and its nineteen administrative zones and examines whether a single citywide value obscures spatial differences relevant to service planning. Study Design: Quantitative spatial analysis using a geographic information system. Place and Duration of Study: Bhopal Municipal Corporation, Madhya Pradesh, India, August 2026. Methodology: The analysis used the operator’s register of 396 surveyed bus stops, five railway stations, eight operational metro stations, and the constrained Bondarenko 2020 population surface at approximately 100-metre resolution. Following the custodian definition, Euclidean catchments of 500 m around low-capacity stops and 1 km around high-capacity stations were constructed in UTM Zone 43N. Accessibility was calculated on population and land-area bases for the corporation and each zone. Results: Convenient access extends to 1,492,687 residents, representing 70.2 per cent of the population, while covering 40.8 per cent of land area. Zone-level population access ranges from 40.2 to 98.9 per cent, and land-area access from 17.2 to 97.9 per cent. Of 632,451 residents beyond the threshold, 36.9 per cent are concentrated in three peripheral zones containing 22.2 per cent of the population. Accessibility is negatively associated with the logarithm of zone area (r = -0.738). Completion of metro Phase 1 raises citywide population access to 75.2 per cent, while the peripheral deficit remains substantially unchanged. Conclusion: Administrative disaggregation reveals spatial differences concealed by the citywide indicator and provides a more informative basis for identifying where accessibility deficits are concentrated.