Evaluating Alternatives of Transport Network Design of a Metropolitan City Using Hierarchical Cluster Analysis

Abstract

The objective of this study is to examine how the share of public transit investments affects urban structure using spatial-temporal distribution of transport passenger flows over transport network alternatives. A methodology to model urban structure (identifying and classifying centers and subcenters) based on urban travel data (interzonal urban passenger flows via urban rail modes during morning peak-hour) was developed using hierarchical cluster analysis for the case study of Istanbul Metropolitan City in Turkey since the rail investment is the major determinant in the definition of the network alternatives studied. Effects of the alternatives of Istanbul's 2023 Transport Master Plan networks on urban structure were modeled and compared using hierarchical cluster analyses (HCA). Analysis of the travel patterns over the alternative transport networks did not yield significant differences under the given constraint that the number of total trips in the metropolitan city was constant for all scenarios.