Public Transportation Analysis and Accessibility Planning involve the study and optimisation of public transit systems to ensure that communities are well-served by transportation networks. This field leverages geospatial data to analyse how effectively public transport connects people to essential services like healthcare, shopping, and schools and how well different areas are covered by transit routes.
Key Concepts: Modal Split and Journey Segments
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Modal Split: Modal split refers to the distribution of travellers among different modes of transportation—such as walking, cycling, public transit, and private vehicles—within a specific area or journey. Understanding the modal split is essential for planning and optimising public transport, as it reveals how different segments of the population prefer to travel and highlights areas where public transport can be improved or better integrated with other modes.
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Journey Segments: First Mile, Transfer, and Last Mile: A typical public transport journey can be divided into three key segments:
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First Mile: This is the initial segment of the journey, where a traveller moves from their starting location (e.g., home or workplace) to the nearest transit stop. This phase is crucial for accessibility, as inadequate first-mile options (e.g., long walks, poor cycling infrastructure) can deter people from using public transport.
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Transit Segment (also known as Main or Core Segment): This is the central part of the journey, where the traveller uses the primary mode of public transport, such as a bus, train, or tram. The efficiency, comfort, and reliability of this segment are key to the overall satisfaction with public transport.
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Last Mile: The final segment of the journey, where the traveler moves from the transit stop to their final destination. Like the first mile, the quality of last-mile connections (e.g., sidewalks, bike-sharing systems) plays a significant role in the overall convenience and attractiveness of public transport.
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Understanding and optimising these journey segments, particularly the first and last miles, are essential for enhancing public transport accessibility and ensuring that the entire journey is efficient and user-friendly.
Key Data Sources and Formats
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OpenStreetMap (OSM): OpenStreetMap is a vital data source for public transportation analysis, offering a detailed and continuously updated map that includes roads, paths, and other transportation infrastructure. Its strength lies in its granularity, particularly for modeling the first and last mile of travel—critical for understanding access to and from public transit.
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General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) and NeTEx: GTFS and NeTEx are essential formats for representing public transit data. GTFS provides information on schedules, routes, and stops, while NeTEx (Network Timetable Exchange) offers a more feature-rich alternative that supports advanced transit features like fare zones and flexible service areas. These formats are indispensable for modelling and analysing the complexities of real-world transit operations.
Route Planning and Analysis Tools
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OpenTripPlanner (OTP): OpenTripPlanner is an open-source tool designed for individual route planning across multiple transportation modes, including walking, cycling, driving, and public transit. By integrating OSM for street and path data with GTFS/NeTEx for transit information, OTP excels at providing detailed, multimodal itineraries that consider the entire journey, including the first and last miles.
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Conveyal R5: Conveyal R5 is an advanced routing engine designed for large-scale transportation analysis. Unlike OTP, which focuses on individual routes, R5 is geared toward analysing broader mobility patterns across entire metropolitan areas. It’s particularly useful for scenario planning and evaluating the impact of infrastructure changes on accessibility, making it a powerful tool for public transportation planning.
Integration and Impact
The integration of OpenStreetMap, GTFS, NeTEx, OTP, and R5 has significantly enhanced the ability to analyse and optimise public transportation systems. OSM provides the necessary street and path data for modelling critical aspects of transit access, while GTFS and NeTEx offer detailed and structured transit data. Tools like OTP and R5 leverage these datasets to provide powerful capabilities for both individual route planning and large-scale transportation analysis.
In conclusion, public transportation analysis and accessibility planning are essential components of modern urban planning. The use of OSM, GTFS, NeTEx, OTP, and Conveyal R5 enables detailed and accurate modelling of transit systems, ensuring that transportation networks are efficient, accessible, and meet the needs of the population. By considering key concepts like modal split and journey segments (first mile, transfer, and last mile), these tools and data sources will be crucial in shaping the future of urban mobility.