Conceptual Framework for Walkability Assessment for Pedestrian Access to Rail Transit Services by using Spatial-MCDA

Abstract

Rail transit services are becoming an important aspect in enhancing mobility in a city. Its level of service is influenced by the journey from the very first to the last mile of using the transit service which refers to walking to access a transit station. Many studies had emerged in an attempt to measure walkability which most of them translated pedestrian’s preferences or perception on walking or used accessibility analysis. There could be drawbacks in these studies which are (a) only few of them had include indoor walking environment in measuring walkability, (b) there could be inconsistencies in making judgement for many criteria simultaneously, and (c) walkability is never a measure of accessibility only. Therefore, this study will attempt to (a) create a spatial model representing indoor walking environment that can be applied in measuring walkability, (b) evaluate the priorities for each of the walkability criteria by using Analytical Network Process (ANP) and (c) measure walkability of pedestrian routes and the existing rail transit stations by using GIS. The main finding of this study will be the walkability index for pedestrian routes to the existing rail transit stations in KL city centre.