Accessibility optimization of public transportation in historical districts:a study of Belin District, Xian

TL;DR

This study enhances public transportation accessibility in historical districts by combining utility and spatial interaction models, and optimizes transit routes using ant colony algorithms based on real-world data from Xian.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach that integrates traveler-centric land use data with optimization algorithms to improve accessibility in historical urban districts.

Findings

Accessibility calculation is practical and effective.

Optimization reduces residents' travel negative utility.

Model benefits public transportation planning in historical areas.

Abstract

With the continuous improvement of urbanization and motorization, travel demand in historical blocks is higher than before. The contradiction between supply of transportation facilities and environmental protection is more serious. Traditional public transport planning methods aim to improve mobility. However, several existing studies do not put travelers in the first place, which ignore quantitative description of land uses and the characteristics of travelers. This paper intends to improve individual accessibility of public transportation in historical districts. Based on POI data, the calculation of accessibility combines the utility model and spatial interaction model. To optimize public transportation, the goal of improving individual accessibility is transformed into reducing residents' travel negative utility. Using a real-world dataset in Beilin District of Xian, the performance of the proposed model is evaluated. This paper calculates the present accessibility and uses ant colony algorithm to optimize public transportation. The results demonstrate that the calculation and optimization of public transportation accessibility are practical, which are also valuable to public transportation planning and organization in historical blocks.