The objective of this study is to identify and locate potential users of public transport through maps built using a geographic information system. The method assumes a division of the city into areas according to the postcodes of the streets. These areas are characterized by socioeconomic attributes of the population and of the transport system. Two segments of automobile users were considered, under the assumption that the quality of public transport would be improved: users who would switch to buses and users who still prefer the car. Two techniques (Logit Model and Artificial Neural Networks) were used to reproduce the users' choice behavior. That makes it possible to spatially distinguish the impact of changes in the transport system or in the profile of the population on the potential use of public transport. A scenario of increase in the population density, for example, allowed the identification of areas in the city of São Carlos with potential users.
public transportation; potential maps; public transportation marketing; logit model; artificial neural networks