IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jotrge/v115y2024ics0966692323002636.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Enhancing accessibility through rail transit in congested urban areas: A cross-regional analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Hui
  • Zhan, Bo
  • Ouyang, Min

Abstract

The efficacy of urban rail transit in reducing the impact of road congestion is the subject of debate in policy and academic communities. Despite huge challenges arising from multifaceted factors such as data limitation, the recently released annual average congestion data enables us to empirically analyze the effect of urban rail transits in terms of their contribution to the average accessibility under road congestion. This paper presents a framework to evaluate the accessibility improvement benefit of urban rail transit under road congestion from a mean-field perspective. A cross-regional analysis in 43 Chinese cities demonstrates that the rail transit networks enhance the potential accessibility and contour accessibility by up to 5.07% and 12.09%, respectively. Besides, the accessibility improvement benefit largely depends on the road congestion level, rail network size, and layout of rail network. Furthermore, simulations on randomly generated rail transit networks indicate that the population coverage and proximity to roads are two structural determinants on the performance of rail transit. The proposed framework, together with the empirical findings, provides insights for city authorities to plan urban rail networks.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Hui & Zhan, Bo & Ouyang, Min, 2024. "Enhancing accessibility through rail transit in congested urban areas: A cross-regional analysis," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:115:y:2024:i:c:s0966692323002636
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2023.103791
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692323002636
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2023.103791?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hong, Liu & Ouyang, Min & Xu, Min & Hu, Peipei, 2020. "Time-varied accessibility and vulnerability analysis of integrated metro and high-speed rail systems," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    2. Mohring, Herbert, 1972. "Optimization and Scale Economies in Urban Bus Transportation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(4), pages 591-604, September.
    3. Adler, Martin W. & van Ommeren, Jos N., 2016. "Does public transit reduce car travel externalities? Quasi-natural experiments' evidence from transit strikes," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 106-119.
    4. Lee, Shin S. & Senior, Martyn L., 2013. "Do light rail services discourage car ownership and use? Evidence from Census data for four English cities," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 11-23.
    5. Aura Reggiani & Juan Martín, 2011. "Guest Editorial: New Frontiers in Accessibility Modelling: An Introduction," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 577-580, December.
    6. Gilles Duranton & Matthew A. Turner, 2011. "The Fundamental Law of Road Congestion: Evidence from US Cities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2616-2652, October.
    7. Alec Kirkley & Hugo Barbosa & Marc Barthelemy & Gourab Ghoshal, 2018. "From the betweenness centrality in street networks to structural invariants in random planar graphs," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-12, December.
    8. Vandenbulcke, Grégory & Steenberghen, Thérèse & Thomas, Isabelle, 2009. "Mapping accessibility in Belgium: a tool for land-use and transport planning?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 39-53.
    9. Stefan Bauernschuster & Timo Hener & Helmut Rainer, 2017. "When Labor Disputes Bring Cities to a Standstill: The Impact of Public Transit Strikes on Traffic, Accidents, Air Pollution, and Health," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 1-37, February.
    10. Lei Zhu & Shuang Zhong & Wei Tu & Jing Zheng & Shenjing He & Junzhe Bao & Cunrui Huang, 2019. "Assessing Spatial Accessibility to Medical Resources at the Community Level in Shenzhen, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-15, January.
    11. Beaudoin, Justin & Lin Lawell, C.-Y. Cynthia, 2018. "The effects of public transit supply on the demand for automobile travel," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 447-467.
    12. Karen Lucas & Bert Wee & Kees Maat, 2016. "A method to evaluate equitable accessibility: combining ethical theories and accessibility-based approaches," Transportation, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 473-490, May.
    13. D. J. Weiss & A. Nelson & H. S. Gibson & W. Temperley & S. Peedell & A. Lieber & M. Hancher & E. Poyart & S. Belchior & N. Fullman & B. Mappin & U. Dalrymple & J. Rozier & T. C. D. Lucas & R. E. Howes, 2018. "A global map of travel time to cities to assess inequalities in accessibility in 2015," Nature, Nature, vol. 553(7688), pages 333-336, January.
    14. Daniel Albalate & Xavier Fageda, 2019. "Congestion, Road Safety, and the Effectiveness of Public Policies in Urban Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-21, September.
    15. Yang, Jun & Chen, Shuai & Qin, Ping & Lu, Fangwen & Liu, Antung A., 2018. "The effect of subway expansions on vehicle congestion: Evidence from Beijing," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 114-133.
    16. Pritchard, John P. & Tomasiello, Diego Bogado & Giannotti, Mariana & Geurs, Karst, 2019. "Potential impacts of bike-and-ride on job accessibility and spatial equity in São Paulo, Brazil," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 386-400.
    17. Beaudoin, Justin & Farzin, Y. Hossein & Lin Lawell, C.-Y. Cynthia, 2015. "Public transit investment and sustainable transportation: A review of studies of transit's impact on traffic congestion and air quality," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 15-22.
    18. Amparo Moyano & Marcin Stępniak & Borja Moya-Gómez & Juan Carlos García-Palomares, 2021. "Traffic congestion and economic context: changes of spatiotemporal patterns of traffic travel times during crisis and post-crisis periods," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(6), pages 3301-3324, December.
    19. Pereira, Rafael H.M., 2019. "Future accessibility impacts of transport policy scenarios: Equity and sensitivity to travel time thresholds for Bus Rapid Transit expansion in Rio de Janeiro," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 321-332.
    20. Yu, Lijie & Cui, Mengying, 2023. "How subway network affects transit accessibility and equity: A case study of Xi'an metropolitan area," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    21. Hao Wu & David Levinson & Somwrita Sarkar, 2019. "How transit scaling shapes cities," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 2(12), pages 1142-1148, December.
    22. Li, Shanjun & Liu, Yanyan & Purevjav, Avralt-Od & Yang, Lin, 2019. "Does subway expansion improve air quality?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 213-235.
    23. Beria, Paolo & Debernardi, Andrea & Ferrara, Emanuele, 2017. "Measuring the long-distance accessibility of Italian cities," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 66-79.
    24. Michael L. Anderson, 2014. "Subways, Strikes, and Slowdowns: The Impacts of Public Transit on Traffic Congestion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(9), pages 2763-2796, September.
    25. Boeing, Geoff, 2017. "OSMnx: New Methods for Acquiring, Constructing, Analyzing, and Visualizing Complex Street Networks," SocArXiv q86sd, Center for Open Science.
    26. Chen, Shaopei & Claramunt, Christophe & Ray, Cyril, 2014. "A spatio-temporal modelling approach for the study of the connectivity and accessibility of the Guangzhou metropolitan network," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 12-23.
    27. Cats, Oded, 2017. "Topological evolution of a metropolitan rail transport network: The case of Stockholm," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 172-183.
    28. Hong, Liu & Zhong, Xin & Ouyang, Min & Tian, Hui & He, Xiaozheng, 2019. "Vulnerability analysis of public transit systems from the perspective of urban residential communities," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 143-156.
    29. Liu, Changqing & Li, Lei, 2020. "How do subways affect urban passenger transport modes?—Evidence from China," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 23(C).
    30. Stefan Bauernschuster & Timo Hener & Helmut Rainer, 2017. "When Labor Disputes Bring Cities to a Standstill: The Impact of Public Transit Strikes on Traffic, Accidents, Air Pollution, and Health," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 1-37, February.
    31. Wang, Yiqiao & Lu, Qiaoyi & Cao, Xianbin & Zhou, Xuesong & Latora, Vito & Tong, Lu Carol & Du, Wenbo, 2020. "Travel time analysis in the Chinese coupled aviation and high-speed rail network," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    32. Mahmoud Owais & Abdou S. Ahmed & Ghada S. Moussa & Ahmed A. Khalil, 2020. "An Optimal Metro Design for Transit Networks in Existing Square Cities Based on Non-Demand Criterion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-28, November.
    33. Páez, Antonio & Scott, Darren M. & Morency, Catherine, 2012. "Measuring accessibility: positive and normative implementations of various accessibility indicators," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 141-153.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brent, Daniel & Beland, Louis-Philippe, 2020. "Traffic congestion, transportation policies, and the performance of first responders," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    2. Meina Zheng & Xiucheng Guo & Feng Liu & Jiayan Shen, 2021. "Contribution of Subway Expansions to Air Quality Improvement and the Corresponding Health Implications in Nanjing, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-19, January.
    3. Beaudoin, Justin & Lin Lawell, C.-Y. Cynthia, 2018. "The effects of public transit supply on the demand for automobile travel," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 447-467.
    4. Shihe Fu & V. Brian Viard, 2022. "A mayors perspective on tackling air pollution," Chapters, in: Charles K.Y. Leung (ed.), Handbook of Real Estate and Macroeconomics, chapter 16, pages 413-437, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Stefan Bauernschuster & Timo Hener & Helmut Rainer, 2017. "When Labor Disputes Bring Cities to a Standstill: The Impact of Public Transit Strikes on Traffic, Accidents, Air Pollution, and Health," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 1-37, February.
    6. Davis, Lucas W., 2021. "Estimating the price elasticity of demand for subways: Evidence from Mexico," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    7. Barnes, Stephen R. & Beland, Louis-Philippe & Huh, Jason & Kim, Dongwoo, 2020. "The Effect of COVID-19 Lockdown on Mobility and Traffic Accidents: Evidence from Louisiana," GLO Discussion Paper Series 616, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    8. Martin W Adler & Federica Liberini & Antonio Russo & Jos N. van Ommeren, 2021. "The congestion relief benefit of public transit: evidence from Rome," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 21(3), pages 397-431.
    9. Lalive, Rafael & Luechinger, Simon & Schmutzler, Armin, 2018. "Does expanding regional train service reduce air pollution?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 744-764.
    10. Ying Wang & Jing Tao & Rong Wang & Chuanmin Mi, 2020. "Can the New Subway Line Openings Mitigate PM10 Concentration? Evidence from Chinese Cities Based on the PSM-DID Method," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-19, June.
    11. Nicholas Rivers & Soodeh Saberian & Brandon Schaufele, 2020. "Public transit and air pollution: Evidence from Canadian transit strikes," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(2), pages 496-525, May.
    12. Hongyou Lu & Yunchan Zhu & Yu Qi & Jinliang Yu, 2018. "Do Urban Subway Openings Reduce PM 2.5 Concentrations? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-24, November.
    13. Louis-Philippe Beland & Daniel A. Brent, 2018. "Traffic and the Provision of Public Goods," Departmental Working Papers 2018-04, Department of Economics, Louisiana State University.
    14. Stephen R. Barnes & Louis‐Philippe Beland & Jason Huh & Dongwoo Kim, 2022. "COVID‐19 lockdown and traffic accidents: Lessons from the pandemic," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(2), pages 349-368, April.
    15. Jean-Philippe Meloche & Vincent Trotignon & François Vaillancourt, 2021. "Densification ou prolongement des réseaux de transport structurants ? Une recension des écrits sur les coûts et les bénéfices attendus," CIRANO Project Reports 2020rp-28, CIRANO.
    16. Ioulia V Ossokina & Jos van Ommeren & Henk van Mourik, 2023. "Do highway widenings reduce congestion?," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 23(4), pages 871-900.
    17. Niklas Gohl & Philipp Schrauth, 2022. "Ticket to Paradise? The Effect of a Public Transport Subsidy on Air Quality," CEPA Discussion Papers 50, Center for Economic Policy Analysis.
    18. Léa Bou Sleiman, 2021. "Are car-free centers detrimental to the periphery? Evidence from the pedestrianization of the Parisian riverbank," Working Papers 2021-03, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    19. Matthias Beestermöller & Levke Jessen-Thiesen & Alexander Sandkamp & Alexander-Nikolai Sandkamp, 2023. "Striking Evidence: The Impact of Railway Strikes on Competition from Intercity Bus Services in Germany," CESifo Working Paper Series 10483, CESifo.
    20. Giaccherini, Matilde & Kopinska, Joanna & Palma, Alessandro, 2021. "When particulate matter strikes cities: Social disparities and health costs of air pollution," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:115:y:2024:i:c:s0966692323002636. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-transport-geography .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.