Dynamic measures for transportation networks

Abstract

Most complex network analyses of transportation systems use simplified static representations obtained from existing connections in a time horizon. In static representations, travel times, waiting times and compatibility of schedules are neglected, thus losing relevant information. To obtain a more accurate description of transportation networks, we use a dynamic representation that considers synced paths and that includes waiting times to compute shortest paths. We use the shortest paths to define dynamic network, node and edge measures to analyse the topology of transportation networks, comparable with measures obtained from static representations. We illustrate the application of these measures with a toy model and a real transportation network built from schedules of a low-cost carrier. Results show remarkable differences between measures of static and dynamic representations, demonstrating the limitations of the static representation to obtain accurate information of transportation networks.