Access to public transportation at the regional scale: An analysis of bus services in Minas Gerais State, Brazil

Abstract

Regional public transportation is a critical service that connects rural and urban dwellers to a wide variety of economic, educational, medical, and recreational opportunities outside of their communities. In contrast to the many studies on public transportation access at the local scale, regional-scale studies remain rare, especially in the Global South. To address this knowledge gap, this study examines access to the regional bus system of Minas Gerais state, Brazil via a new index adapted to the minimal data typically available at the regional scale. Within Minas Gerais, major urban areas and some of their neighboring municipalities had the highest levels of bus access. Conversely, 49 of 853 municipalities (5.7%) lacked access to the regional bus system entirely. These inaccessible municipalities had smaller populations and were located on or near state borders, while municipalities with high levels of transportation access tended to have higher population densities, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, and concentrations of paved highways. These results confirm that regional bus access is associated with the demographic, economic, infrastructure, and spatial characteristics of municipalities. Ultimately, this study reveals significant disparities in regional bus access throughout Minas Gerais, providing a foundation for further research on transportation accessibility and mobility in Brazil while demonstrating methods suitable for analyzing regional transportation access in low-data contexts around the world.