Walkability Scores & Metric Preferences — Fine-Tune Your Perth Suburb Search

This update brings two features that make BurbScore far more personalised: walkability scores for every Perth suburb, and metric preference settings that let you fine-tune how suburb scores are calculated.

Walkability scores

Every Perth suburb now displays a Walk Score out of 100 on the Explore map, suburb profiles, and the comparison page. Walk Score measures how easy it is to run daily errands on foot — grocery shopping, cafes, schools, and parks.

A score of 90+ means “Walker’s Paradise” where most errands don’t need a car, while below 25 is “Car-Dependent.” In a city as spread out as Perth, this varies enormously — inner suburbs like Perth, Northbridge, and Fremantle score above 80, while outer suburbs can drop below 20.

Metric preferences

Not everyone cares about the same things when choosing a suburb. The new metric settings panel lets you customise how each score is calculated so BurbScore reflects your actual priorities:

• Commute mode — choose between driving, park and ride, or public transit to see commute times that match how you actually get to work
• School type — focus on primary school or high school performance, depending on your children’s age
• School sector — filter by government schools only, private schools only, or all schools combined
• Crime weighting — adjust whether violent crime, property crime, or overall rates matter most to you

Your preferences are saved locally and apply across the Explore map, suburb profiles, and comparison views. Change them any time from the settings panel — the scores recalculate instantly.

Together, walkability and metric preferences mean two people searching for “the best suburb” can now get genuinely different — and more useful — results based on what matters to them.