2024 Volume 80 Issue 20 Article ID: 24-20081
In recent years, the societal implementation of MaaS (Mobility as a Service), which enables seamless travel without relying on private cars, has been promoted. Transportation hubs, crucial for connecting different modes of transport, are emphasized in this context. Meanwhile, Japan’s expressway and expressway bus networks have significantly developed over the past half-century. Access-controlled expressways require hubs connecting expressway buses with other transport modes. However, such hubs leveraging expressway advantages are currently lacking. This study proposes using parking areas (PAs) on expressways as hubs and develops a method to estimate demand at these hubs using mobile base station data. Analysis and estimation conducted with Kusatsu PA on the Meishin Expressway as a case study indicated that new expressway buses could achieve a share of 10-25%.