Multi-Objective Decision Method for Airport Landside Rapid Transit Network Design

To better deploy the landside rapid transit network for large airports, this study proposes a multi-objective transit network design model to maximize passenger demand coverage, reduce passenger travel time and minimize operational cost simultaneously. This model is formulated as an equivalent integer programming problem by predefining the transportation corridors and passengers’ OD pairs. A branch-and-cut algorithm is proposed to find a non-inferior solution set. We also conduct trade-off analysis between efficiency, effectiveness and equity under each deployment strategy using the modified Gini coefficient method. The effectiveness of the proposed model and solution algorithm are tested with rapid transit network of the Beijing Capital International Airport. Results show that among the three common network topologies, including star, tree and finger, the passenger demand coverage and travel time reduction per unit cost under star topology outperform the other two topologies. As for finger topology, the performances of the passenger demand coverage and travel time reduction are the best among the three, but the cost is the poorest. In addition, the trade-off analysis shows that the solution whose objective is to maximize passenger demand coverage has a higher efficiency and a lower unit cost than the solution whose objective is to reduce travel time. However, the latter has a higher level of equity, especially for the medium and low-cost solutions. The proposed method in this study can help the decision makers to design effective landside rapid transit networks for large airports to improve the service level.