Measuring spatial mismatch between public transit services and regular riders: A case study of Beijing

Abstract

Public transit services should favor space equity, and the concern of this study is how the allocation of public transportation resources corresponds to the needs of transit users. Identifying mismatches between urban transit resources and regular transit users benefits the transportation resource allocation policy. This study introduces a location maximum likelihood estimation method and a cell space collector mechanism to explore distribution differences of regular transit riders and transit stations based on data mining. In Beijing, 5.37 million regular transit users were identified, and their first-morning transit stations were found to be within 2 km from their last transit stations used the day before. As their locations were estimated, differences in ratios of the regular transit riders to residents were found among areas. Most regular transit users were located in the suburban areas of 5–20 km from the center of Beijing, and the spatial distribution of transit stations declined from the center to the peripheral urban areas. This mismatch between public transit services and regular transit riders sheds light on urban transportation policies.