Mediation Impacts of Physical Urban Form on Rail Transit Ridership by the Infection Fear of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome : Focused on the Rail Station Area in Seoul, Korea

Abstract

This study is aimed at decomposing and identifying the mediating effects of transit-oriented compact city planning elements on rail transit ridership during the proliferation of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in Seoul, Korea. The study are focused on how urban physical form such as density, diversity, design, and transit accessibility in rail station areas had affected the decrease of rail transit ridership during that time indirectly as well as directly, by employing the path modeling. Their indirect impacts on it are measured as rail transit ridership of a rail station affected by the form indictors as well as condensing trip-inducing facilities and socio-economic indicators for the 500m-buffer rail station area. Analysis results are summarized as follows below. First, rail transit ridership significantly decreased by urban physical form as well as single-unit facilities within a certain area. Second, the former had more indirectly influenced ridership decrease. Third, some urban physical form such as density, diversity and design had statistically significant on it while total effects of the two socio-economic measures had not. Fourth and finally, the avoidance for the use of rail transit were more prominent for the elderly than for the others. In addition, all of the urban form measures were differentiatively influenced by the two groups of rail riders.