Investigating Transit Accessibility Through the Perspective of Users' Socio-Economic and Trip Characteristics: A Focused Questionnaire Based Approach.

Abstract

The accessibility of a transit system is defined by the ease of meeting opportunities through it, and users' decision-making process depends on accessibility criteria. However, assessing transit accessibility based solely on the total population may not reflect the system's actual performance. A study conducted interviews with 1,123 transit users to investigate the relationship between users' socioeconomic and trip characteristics with transit accessibility attributes. The study found that distance-based access attributes are the key factors governing accessibility, and a significant difference was observed between the mean access distance of the users in the study area and the globally accepted accessibility of 400 m. Post-HOC analysis showed significant mean differences among different social, economic, and trip characteristic groups, indicating a direct association with the use of public transport. The study also proposed a framework to determine optimal accessibility ranges based on socioeconomic and trip characteristics to enhance the use of public transport.