The Pattern of Non-Roundtrip Travel on Urban Rail and Its Application in Transit Improvement

Zijia Wang, Hao Tang, Wenjuan Wang and Yang Xi
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Zijia Wang: School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Hao Tang: School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Wenjuan Wang: College of Business Administration, Capital University of Economics and Business, Beijing 100070, China
Yang Xi: Beijing Urban Construction Design & Development Group Co., Ltd., Beijing 100071, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 9, 1-16

Abstract: Transit smart card records detail travel information of passengers, which provides abundant data for analyzing public travel patterns. Regular travelers’ information extracted from smart card data (SCD) have been extensively analyzed. However, rare studies have been devoted to non-roundtrips, which account for a relatively large portion of the overall transit ridership, especially in metropolises such as Beijing. This study aimed to reveal the non-roundtrip pattern using the passenger travel data obtained from SCD. Weekly non-roundtrip SCD were used to analyze the spatiotemporal distribution patterns of overall and typical non-roundtrips’ origins and destinations (ODs). Also, subway data and bus data were combined and visualized in geographic information system (GIS). The reasons for frequent non-roundtrips generated in the metropolitan city were inferred. The results demonstrate some detected spatiotemporal patterns of non-roundtrips. It is not surprising that a large proportion of non-roundtrips serve as a rail access to intercity, but there are still many trips of this kind showing a commuting pattern. Merging SCD with bus data, the results also reveal that passengers may choose other modes as a substitute return transportation option due to rail fare or overcrowding problem. This study focused on irregular trips normally neglected in the literature and found that the number of these trips is too large to be ignored in a diversified city like Beijing. Meanwhile, the travel patterns of non-roundtrips extracted can be used to direct the operation strategies for both rail and bus. The research framework raised here could be applied in other cities and comparative analysis could be done in the future.

Keywords: subway; smart card data; non-roundtrip travel; spatiotemporal pattern (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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