Transit succeeds when stations are within walking distance of living spaces and jobs. Using recently-released walk shed data from PlanItMetro, we developed an interactive visualization that shows which Metro lines and stations are most accessible by foot.

Graphic by John Ricco and Steve Bronder. Click for interactive version.

Each dot on the charts represents one Metro station, and you can view different variables using the “line” and “indicator” toggles at the top.

At first glance, these charts confirm conventional Metro wisdom: stations in DC’s dense northwest neighborhoods have the most households in walking distance, and downtown is a walkable job center.

But there are other interesting patterns to uncover here, too. For instance, we see that stations with multiple entrances tend to have larger walk sheds. It’s also clear that Tysons has a long way to go in its transformation.

What else do you notice in these graphs?