IMPACT OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT FACTORS ON THE ACCESSIBILITY TO METRO STATIONS

Abstract

As traffic congestion and pollution are becoming growing concerns in many cities, there is need to promote public transport and non-motorised transport. Lack of properly designed walk facilities and poor walking environment have gradually reduced the habit of adopting walking mode to access public transport service. It is important to plan for mode shifts towards transit by green modes (walk and bicycle) to reduce car reliance as well as to reduce congestion on roads and to improve environment condition. Transit accessibility plays a vital role in strategic planning of public transportation system in cities. Transit accessibility is influenced by many attributes like built environment factors and socio economic factors. This makes subject relevant for research to identify the impact of these factors on accessibility. This study presents the access trip characteristics of metro users of Delhi, India with an aim to formulate policy interventions that can enhance access environment of a metro station. Face to face survey was conducted with metro users accessing metro stations. The access trip characteristics are discussed with respect to access mode share, trip length, time and cost. The study also makes an attempt to identify the preference for people's needs based on the infrastructural facilities while accessing stations. Acceptable walking distances are calculated from cumulative frequency distribution curves of walk trip distances for various groups of metro users, where they are grouped on the basis of their gender, age, dependency factor, occupation, household income and vehicle ownership. Walkability assessment around metro station catchment was done based on walkability audit tool with the help of an assessment table. The study empirically examines the relationship of peoples' satisfaction over walk accessibility to the metro station, incorporating a variety of mesoscale, microscale built environment factors, and socioeconomic factors. Mesoscale built environment factors were calculated using GIS and microscale factors were calculated using subjective measurement with the help of questionnaire survey. Structrual equation modelling was employed to estimate the effects of built environment factors on walk accessibility. Present study also examines the effect of built environment factors on mode choice using binary logistic regression while accessing metro stations. The study found that significant relationship exist between travel pattern and socioeconomic characteristics of metro users. The access walking distance and walk mode iv share are also positively associated with good pedestrian infrastructural facilities around the metro stations. The mean and acceptable walking distances are computed for different groups and are compared with values from other studies. The mean walking distance was found to be 590 meters for Delhi metro users. Micro scale factors are found to be more influential than meso-scale factors on walk accessibility. Based on the results, recommendation are given to improve access environment to metro stations which will be helpful in achieving the goals of sustainable transportation.