Gravitational scaling in Beijing Subway Network

Recently, with the availability of various traffic datasets, human mobility has been studied in different contexts. Researchers attempt to understand the collective behaviors of human movement with respect to the spatio-temporal distribution in traffic dynamics, from which a gravitational scaling law characterizing the relation between the traffic flow, population and distance has been found. However, most studies focus on the integrated properties of gravitational scaling, neglecting its dynamical evolution during different hours of a day. Investigating the hourly traffic flow data of Beijing subway network, based on the hop-count distance of passengers, we find that the scaling exponent of the gravitational law is smaller in Beijing subway system compared to that reported in Seoul subway system. This means that traffic demand in Beijing is much stronger and less sensitive to the travel distance. Furthermore, we analyzed the temporal evolution of the scaling exponents in weekdays and weekends. Our findings may help to understand and improve the traffic congestion control in different subway systems.