Quantifying the Improvement of Accessibility achieved via Shared Mobility on Demand

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel quantitative method to measure how shared mobility services enhance accessibility by calculating isochrone-based indicators, using spatial-temporal analysis on simulated data in a suburban Paris area.

Contribution

It presents the first method to compute isochrone accessibility for combined public transport and shared mobility systems using Kriging-based analysis.

Findings

Method successfully applied to a MATSim simulation of Paris-Saclay.

Shows increased accessibility potential with shared mobility integration.

Provides a new quantitative tool for accessibility assessment.

Abstract

Shared Mobility Services (SMS), e.g., demand-responsive transport or ride-sharing, can improve mobility in low-density areas, which are often poorly served by conventional Public Transport (PT). Such improvement is generally measured via basic performance indicators, such as waiting or travel time. However, such basic indicators do not account for the most important contribution that SMS can provide to territories, i.e., increasing the potential, for users, to reach surrounding opportunities, such as jobs, schools, businesses, etc. Such potential can be measured by isochrone-based accessibility indicators, which count the number of opportunities reachable in a limited time, and are thus easy for the public to understand. % The potential impact of SMS on accessibility has been qualitatively discussed and implications on equity have been empirically studied. However, to date, there are no quantitative methods to compute isochrone-based indicators of the accessibility achieved via SMS. This work fills this gap by proposing a first method to compute isochrone accessibility of PT systems composed of conventional PT and SMS, acting as a feeder for access and egress trips to/from PT hubs. This method is grounded on spatial-temporal statistical analysis, performed via Kriging. It takes as input observed trips of SMS and summarizes them in a graph. On such a graph, isochrone accessibility indicators are computed. We apply the proposed method to a MATSim simulation study concerning demand-responsive transport integrated into PT, in the suburban area of Paris-Saclay.