Analyzing Passenger Travel Demand Related to the Transportation Hub inside a City Area using Mobile Phone Data

Abstract

The passenger transportation hub plays a crucial role in the urban transportation system. Analyzing transportation hub related travel demand is necessary to support urban transportation planning and management. However, it is difficult to use the traditional travel survey methods to study travel demand because tracking passenger travel trajectories is a near impossible task. The location information from the cellular system provides a feasible way to solve the problem. This paper concentrates on applying mobile phone data to study passenger travel demand related to the Hongqiao transportation hub in Shanghai, China. First, a method is introduced to collect passenger travel information related to the hub from mobile phone data. Then, travel demand indexes are presented to characterize the travel demand in a visual way. Finally, transportation corridors, which connect the hub and other urban areas, are identified to analyze the distribution of travel demand more thoroughly. The results illustrate that the passenger travel demand shows an obvious tide pattern in the city area with the Hongqiao transportation hub as the center. Moreover, there are two identified transportation corridors which reveal the major distribution directions of the passengers, that is, the city center and the Zizhu industrial development zone. The approach in this study testifies that mobile phone data has great potential for transportation planning and management related to transportation hubs.