ACCESSIBILITY TO JOB OPPORTUNITIES IN RIO DE JANEIRO BASED ON THE SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF THE BRT SYSTEM

Abstract

Socio-spatial inequality is a core concern in Geography. Understanding the relationship between place of residence and job availability – through accessibility analysis – is a geographical issue of paramount importance for urban planning. This study examines job accessibility via the BRT system in the city of Rio de Janeiro, considering travel-time windows (30, 60, 90, and 120 minutes) and socioeconomic variables (income and race/ethnicity). Employing business registry data to map firms, census tract data from the 2010 Census, and route simulations in a GIS environment using GTFS data, we computed cumulative job accessibility for residents located within a 15-minute walk of BRT stations. The results reveal a strong correlation between average income and accessibility in shorter time windows (30 minutes), with higher access levels observed in subcenters such as Madureira and Barra da Tijuca. Although coverage expands in longer time windows (60–120 minutes), persistent inequalities remain: peripheral tracts (e.g., Santa Cruz, Campo Grande), which have lower-income populations, continue to exhibit poorer access even during extended commutes. This analysis highlights socio-spatial inequities, exacerbated by the uneven distribution of opportunities and the prioritization of central corridors in the BRT network. We conclude that transport policies must explicitly integrate equity considerations—by expanding peripheral connections and accounting for temporal and socioeconomic dimensions—to mitigate urban segregation.