Locating the Most Connected Transit Stop, Route, and Transfer Center: Tool for Users and Decision Makers

Agencies at federal, state and local level are aiming to augment the public transportation system (PTS) as an alternative to alleviate congestion and to cater the needs of captive riders. One of the ways to determine the efficiency of the PTS is connectivity. In a multimodal transportation system, transit is a component and unlike highway connectivity, transit connectivity is relatively complex to determine as one has to consider, fare, schedule, capacity, frequency and other features of the system at large. Thus, assessing transit connectivity requires a systematic approach to consider all parameters involved in the real world. The purpose of this paper is two-fold: (1) to propose a methodology for evaluating transit connectivity at various levels such as nodes, lines, and transfer centers in multimodal transportation system; and (2) to provide a platform for extending the methodology for use in large scale applications, including a medium to visualize results to assist public transit decision making. A graph theory approach is developed to incorporate transit specific variables and detailed formulation is discussed in the paper. Two-example problems are discussed to demonstrate the methodology. Following, the proposed framework is applied to the comprehensive transit network in the Washington-Baltimore region. Then a novel web based interface designed with HTML5 is demonstrated to visualize the transit connectivity in various platforms such as mobile phones, tablets and personal computers. The proposed methodology can be a useful tool for both users and decision makers in assessing transit connectivity in a multimodal transit network in a number of ways such as the identification of under-served transit areas, prioritizing and allocating funds to locations for improving transit service.

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