Parameters of assessing public transport accessibility for Indian cities

Abstract

With the increasing need for sustainable and just cities, urban public transport (PT) is pivotal as it has greater carrying capacity, improved economic and public health indicators, and the environment. But it has been observed that simply providing PT is not enough to encourage people to choose the public mode. Therefore, it is important that the service be equally accessible to all. Accessibility can be measured using various tools, one of which is PTAL (Public Transport Accessibility Levels). The PTAL tool, developed by the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, is being used as a standard method for assessing existing PT systems across the world. It uses only 4 parameters: Point of Interest, Service Access Points, frequency, and walk network. However, literature suggests that there are a number of factors that influence PT accessibility: time, fare, land use, building density, universal accessibility, availability of infrastructure, level of comfort, safety, cleanliness, etc. A number of researches have been carried out on the application and accuracy of the tool. A similar study was performed for the Melbourne region, which suggested that there is a difference between expected and observed PTAL. This study is envisaged to assess that addition of parameters might minimize this gap between expected and observed PTAL. However, in the Indian scenario, the majority of PT users are captive users. And still, PTAL assessments have been done for a few million plus cities. So, the study aims to identify the parameters influencing accessibility of public transport for comparatively smaller Indian cities. This study has been carried out in Rewa, Satna and Singrauli city in Madhya Pradesh, India, to not only test the accuracy of the tool at a smaller scale but also investigate the significance of additional parameters. However, the study includes only intra- connectivity using both PT and IPT (Intermediate Para Transit). This has been assessed, excluding socioeconomic parameters. For evaluating the same, surveys have been held to evaluate the existing condition of PT and IPT systems along with people’s perception on the same. It has been analysed that there is a difference between people’s preference for choosing PT and IPT. PT is opted due to its’ low fares while IPT for its’ easy boarding/ alighting facility from anywhere along the route. PTAL when developed using conventional method for all the areas showed very poor accessibility for the majority of areas which does not match with the on- ground reality. To improve accuracy, further layers have been added for the revised version of PTAL which include build cover, IPT stands, building density, and land use. As an addition, the revised tool is also capable of identifying priorities along with proving accessibility of the areas. This work can be used in the profession by developing a plugin for Geographic Information System (GIS).