Measurement and Spatial Differentiation Characteristics of Transit Equity: A Case Study of Guangzhou, China

Xiaoshu Cao, Huiling Chen, Feiwen Liang and Wulin Wang
Additional contact information
Xiaoshu Cao: School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
Huiling Chen: School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
Feiwen Liang: School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
Wulin Wang: College of Environment and Resources, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350116, China

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: Urban public transit is an important solution for narrowing the mobility gap between captive riders and choice riders and to address issues of social equity. An equitable transit system essentially could meet the needs of transit dependents and maximize the scope of public transit services. To acquire a better understanding of transit equity, we use Lorenz curves and the GINI coefficient to measure the relative supply of public transit to the population and employ the spatial overlay method to analyze the matching degree of transit supply and demand in Guangzhou, China. The findings show that there are obvious and unequal differences between the levels of transit service in the internal zones. The spatial coverage rate and number of stop services of the outer city are significantly less than that of the inner and middle city. Eighty percent of the population shares only 36.7% of the public transit supply in Guangzhou. Most communities of low-supply and high-need public transit are distributed contiguously in the eastern Baiyun and southern Huadu districts. This distribution pattern is beneficial to the transit agency, which could improve the supply in these areas to avoid the risk caused when a large number of residents lack access to public transit services. The results could serve as an excellent foundation for planning the handling of spatial gaps in the Guangzhou public transit supply.

Keywords: public transit; horizontal equity; vertical equity; supply-demand gaps; Guangzhou (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/4/1069/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/4/1069/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:4:p:1069-:d:139490

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().