Estimating Public Transportation Accessibility in Metropolitan Areas: A Case Study and Comparative Analysis

Haitao Su, Menghan Li, Xiaofeng Zhong, Kai Zhang () and Jingkai Wang ()
Additional contact information
Haitao Su: Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518000, China
Menghan Li: Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518000, China
Xiaofeng Zhong: Department of Industrial Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Kai Zhang: Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518000, China
Jingkai Wang: Graduate School of Humanity and Social Science, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima-ken 890-8580, Japan

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 17, 1-22

Abstract: Accessibility-oriented public transportation planning can improve the operational efficiency of public transportation, guide orderly urban development, and alleviate issues such as traffic congestion, environmental pollution, and resource consumption in large cities. To promote the practical application and widespread adoption of public transportation accessibility estimating systems, this study proposes an improved public transport accessibility levels (PTAL) method. It innovatively incorporates residents’ preference indices for different modes of transportation and addresses the challenge of missing timetable data in the calculation process. Using actual data from Shenzhen, a case study is conducted to analyze the public transportation accessibility index and compare the results obtained through k-means clustering, the equal spacing method, the quantile method, and the application of the London PTAL method. The research findings indicate that the optimal number of clusters for public transportation accessibility index analysis in large cities is six when using clustering algorithms. Among the statistical analysis methods, the quantile method shows favorable performance. Furthermore, a comprehensive comparison of different classification methods confirms that the improved PTAL method offers better discrimination in estimating public transportation accessibility levels compared to the London PTAL method. The study concludes by providing guidance on how cities with different characteristics can reference the improved PTAL method.

Keywords: PTAL; accessibility calculation; categorization method; k-means clustering; public transportation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/17/12873/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/17/12873/ (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:15:y:2023:i:17:p:12873-:d:1225237

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 ().