01626855

Component

https://doi.org/10.3141/2651-02

Public transit is central to sustainable multimodal transportation systems; however, designing an effective transit network remains an analytically challenging and complex task. Given the spatial nature of the problem, geographic information systems (GISs) can support transit network design by identifying subsections of urban areas within and between which very high travel demand exists. Once these corridors are identified, local knowledge and expertise may be used to develop routings that satisfy these demands. This paper presents a spatial approach to assist in designing transit networks and describes the development and application of an automated, spatial multicriteria aggregation algorithm implemented as a user-friendly GIS tool coded by using the Python scripting library (ArcPy). Using population and employment densities, spatial adjacency, and geographic and administrative boundaries, the GIS tool leverages readily available demographic data to classify and merge traffic analysis zones into larger urban activity centers. The tool then aggregates regional origin–destination matrices to visualize only the flows associated with the activity centers. The results show that this approach significantly reduces the number of origins and destinations to be considered in designing the network but retains a large proportion of regional trips. This paper demonstrates how the tool can be applied through an example from the region of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, where the local transit agency is developing a transit network to support a central light-rail transit line.

01653764

17-03437

English

pp 12–21

2017

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

9780309442046

Digital/other

Figures (7) ; References (23) ; Tables (3)

Activity centers; Design; Geographic information systems; Light rail transit; Networks; Public transit; Urban areas

Waterloo (Canada)

Design; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Terminals and Facilities

PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 8 2016 11:17AM

• A Day in the Life of a Parking Space: Testing a Parking Hour Utilization Metric
• Are Network Planning Guidelines Based on Equal Access Equitable?
• Factors Affecting Residential Parking Occupancy in Madison, Wisconsin
• Jacksonville, Florida, Transportation Authority’s Mobility Corridors: Improving Transit System Performance Through Enhanced Safety and Urban Design
• Macroscopic Approach for Optimizing Road Space Allocation of Bus Lanes in Multimodal Urban Networks Through Simulation Analysis
• Parking Spaces in the Age of Shared Autonomous Vehicles: How Much Parking Will We Need and Where?
• Planning Approaches in Contracted Fixed-Route Bus Transit Service in the United States: Private Sector’s Role in the Planning Process and Its Influence on Performance Outcomes
• Stated Preference Survey Pivoted on Revealed Preference Survey for Evaluating Employer-Based Travel Demand Management Strategies
• Transit and Real Estate Rents
• Trip Generation Rates at Park-and-Ride Facilities with Regional Bus and Light Rail Service: A Supplement to ITE Trip Generation Data
• Utilizing Shared Parking to Mitigate Imbalanced Supply in a Dense Urban Neighborhood: Case Study in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• When I’m 64: Assessing Generational Differences in Public Transit Use of Seniors in Montreal, Quebec, Canada