Development of Estimating Methodology for Transit Accessibility Using Smart Card Data

Abstract

Transit accessibility is an explanatory variable evaluating the mobility of a region in consideration of the connectivity and demand among the regions, which has been used for an important index to determine transport policy on the transit network. This study aims to develop an accessibility index considering the two factors with a demand-weighted approach, that is, impedance and attraction level. Two variables, travel time and the ratio of trips, are employed to calculate the accessibility index, and comparative assessments between zones are conducted. The application of smart card data makes it possible to analyze travel information and reflect them empirically in the model. This study identifies zones with vulnerable accessibility and suggests criteria for transit investment plans with two aspects, that is, intensive transit area and spatial distribution of the accessibility index. These aspects contribute to transit planners by suggesting transit investment criteria and comprehensible statistics to evaluate accessibility. Since zones with low accessibility indexes are identified as being vulnerable to access from other zones, policymakers should focus on those zones to improve the overall transit network.