A multi-criteria approach of assessing public transport accessibility at a strategic level

Abstract

This paper presents an approach for accessibility categorization in areas where there is no extensive data available to run the conventional analysis. The presented method has the advantages of the lower data requirements and the utility of the results. Three benchmarks were selected to evaluate transit accessibility. The first one (transit coverage) investigates the spread of the service, and it is used to assess the percentage of people in a district that can access the service within a comfortable access distance. The second (transit supply) is an effectiveness measure of the magnitude of available infrastructures such as stops, or stations over the population or land area of the underlying region. The third (route diversity) represents the variety of routes to and from different areas via transit services. Various indicators were used to assess these benchmarks. Within the context of multi-criteria decision-making, TOPSIS (Technique of Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) allows the direct comparison of measures of different units, and it is used to evaluate the relative scores of the various districts' benchmark. A K-clustering method was used to numerically categorize the areas into five groups, reflecting on the criteria levels. A case study of Abu Dhabi city is used to demonstrate the details of the procedures. The detailed analyses were used to depict districts and corridors with particular deficiencies and as such suggesting remedy strategies. The method can help transit authorities identifying the most suitable types of facilities, infrastructure, or routes that a district may need to improve its accessibility.