Diagnostic of the Balance and Equity of Public Transport for Tourists and Inhabitants
The significant development of tourism as an economic activity in some cities has led to the need to integrate potential demand for public transport generated by tourists into planning decisions. Public transportation is considered a critical factor of tourism competitiveness and plays a fundamental role in the promotion and maintenance of a sustainable tourist destination. Ensuring equity of public transport services requires specific methodological tools for diagnosis and optimization. There are few references regarding the need to integrate tourism demand in the planning of public transport of cities or the development of methods and techniques to facilitate this task. A method for evaluating potential public bus transportation demand including both residents and tourists is presented. The method uses geographic information systems and statistics, namely, the Gini coefficient, to diagnose imbalances between supply and demand and the degree of equity in transport services. The city of Palma (Spain) is selected as a case study. The results show a significant imbalance in the public transport of the city. There is a large concentration of tourist facilities in areas where the level of bus service is not sufficient for the demand of the resident population and tourists.