Journal Article

Urban commuting dynamics in response to public transit upgrades: A big data approach

Li, Shui-Quan, Yue, Yang, Liu, Zhen-Zhen, Gao, Qi-Li, Zhuang, Yan, Sui, Daniel, Li, Qing-Quan

2019

Overview

Public transit, especially urban rail systems, plays a vital role in shaping commuting patterns. Compared with census data and survey data, large-scale and real-time big data can track the impacts of urban policy implementations at finer spatial and temporal scales. Therefore, this study proposed a multi-level analytical framework using transit smartcard data to examine urban commuting dynamics in response to rail transit upgrades. The study area was Shenzhen, one of the most highly urbanized and densely populated cities in China, which provides the opportunity to examine the effects of rail transit upgrades on commuting patterns in a rapidly developing urban context. Changes in commuting patterns were examined at three levels: city, region, and individual. At the city level, we considered the average commuting time, commuting speed, and commuting distance across the whole city. At the region level, we analyzed changes in the job accessibility of residential zones. Finally, this study evaluated the potential effects of rail transit upgrades on the jobs-housing relationship at the individual level. Difference-in-difference models were used for causal inference between rail transit upgrades and commuting patterns. In the very short term, the opening of new rail transit lines resulted in no significant changes in overall commuting patterns across the whole city; however, two effects of rail transit upgrades on commuting patterns were identified. First, rail transit upgrades enhanced regional connectivity between residential zones and employment centers, thus improving job accessibility. Second, rail transit improvement increased the commuting distances of individuals and contributed to the separation of workplaces and residences. This study provides meaningful insights into the effects of rail transit upgrades on commuting patterns.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Access / Accessibility / Affordable housing / Algorithms / Architectural engineering / Behavior / Big Data / Causal models / Censuses / Change agents / Changes / China / Cities / Commuting / Computer and Information Sciences / Computer science / Data management / Earth Sciences / Economics / Employment / Engineering and Technology / Geography / Housing / Humans / Inference / Informatics / Infrastructure / Inner city / Laboratories / Low income groups / Models, Theoretical / Occupations / Physical Sciences / Population Density / Public transportation / Rail transportation / Regions / Remote sensing / Research and Analysis Methods / Responses / Smart cards / Social Sciences / Software engineering / Suburban areas / Transportation / Transportation planning / Urban areas / Urban planning / Urban policy / Urban Population / Urban rail / Urban studies / Urban transportation / Urbanization / Workplaces