Evaluation of accessibility to mass transit systems in Bangkok and Manila

Abstract

A major problem faced by transit authorities in the urban areas like Bangkok and Manila is the failure to meet the forecasted ridership. The objective of this research is to propose policies for station accessibility improvements, which can ultimately increase the ridership. Four groups of behavioral models were developed, based on commuter travel survey data from the two cities under investigation. The first includes multinomial and nested logit models that explain the regular mode choice of those residing in transit catchment areas. The second group is similar to the first, but with station accessibility scores incorporated in order to examine the impact of station accessibility on the choice behavior. The third group is the ordered logit models, which broaden the choice behavior examined to include frequency of transit use. The last group is the binary models of access mode choice of current transit users, which can help explain what factors affect the tendency to walk as opposed to the use of motorized modes to access stations. The modeling results reveal several important findings. For example, the incorporation of station accessibility score in the model can help the evaluation of transit improvement strategies, particularly those involving accessibility and station facilities. The results also reveal that access distance and car availability have crucial influence on the tendency of regular transit use. Taken together, the results implied that within acceptable walking distance, increasing the quality of walking environment proves an important strategy that can make walking to station more attractive, thereby inducing modal shift to transit. For longer distance, improving feeder bus service is still indispensable, especially in the case of Bangkok and Manila where other access modes are very limited.