Evaluating transit-served areas with non-traditional data : an exploratory study on Wuhan rail transit line 2, China

Abstract

Based on Zhou et al. (2018), transit-served area (T-SA) is defined as area within a reasonable distance of transit service (e.g.800m). T-SA has two dimensions: feature and performance. This paper is proposed to answer three major research questions: (1) What indicators should be used in evaluating the T-SA? (2) What is the relationship between T-SAF and T-SAP? And which indicators would have obvious impacts on the performance of T-SA(T-SAP)? (3) Whether the performance of T-SA group is associated with its features? If so, then how? The paper focuses on the Wuhan Metro Line 2, the first as well as the most significant metro line in Wuhan which is constructed with 3 phases. Firstly, this paper reviews major TOD indicators literature to establish a sensible indicator evaluation system. The author attempts to explore the relationship between the T-SAF and T-SAP in both qualitative and quantitative methods. Different with the previous studies, some historical data were collected to depict the evolution process of the T-SA corresponding with the construction progress of Metro Line2. Another innovation is that the paper intends to shift the research perspective from an individual station to a group of stations and test the association between features and performance of the T-SA groups with statistical measurement tool. It might be the first exploration in this kind, and hope it can be a preliminary study case in the T-SA research field.