Evaluation of walking environments around urban railway stations in Bangkok and consideration of improvement plans

Abstract

Abstract Urban railways have been developed in Bangkok to reduce the severe traffic congestion in the city. However, the walking environment has not been appropriately developed around urban railway stations. Hence, it is neither safe nor comfortable for pedestrians to access the stations and automobiles (buses, cars, motorbikes) are heavily used for access. In this research, we propose an evaluation method for walkability by dividing the road space into various components and assigning a walkability score based on both the physical conditions and the experts’ opinion using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Using the walkability score, we visualize and quantify the existing problems. The visualization allows us to determine both the structural problems in the walking environment and the critical factors affecting walkability.