How we score public-transport access across Perth suburbs — proximity to train stations and bus stops, and what that reveals about the best-connected areas.
Accessibility means different things to different people. For our scoring model, it measures one concrete, traceable thing: how well-served a suburb is by public transport — the train stations and bus stops within easy reach of where people actually live.
The accessibility score is computed from GTFS public-transport data (the open timetable feeds published by Transperth and other agencies). For each suburb we count the rail stations within a kilometre, the bus stops within 400 metres, and how far it is to the nearest train station, plus the overall density of stops — then weight and normalise those into a 0–100 score.
Suburbs along Perth's rail corridors dominate the rankings. Areas with a station close by and frequent bus coverage score near the top, particularly the inner suburbs well-served by the , , and lines.
Outer-ring suburbs face the classic challenge: they may have good roads, but a station can be a long way off and bus coverage thinner. Areas like have historically scored lower here — though Perth's ongoing rail extensions are steadily changing that picture.
The score deliberately measures public transport, not driving. It does not capture car commute times or road congestion, and it does not yet weight service frequency — a stop with one bus an hour counts the same as one with a bus every five minutes. Treat it as a proximity-to-transit signal, not a complete mobility measure.
Data note: All figures in this article are derived from publicly available datasets — ABS 2021 Census, state and territory crime statistics, and OpenStreetMap. Scores are relative rankings, not absolute measurements. See the About page for full methodology.