Abstract
Transit smart card records detail travel information of passengers, which provides abundant data for analyzing public travel patterns. Regular travelers’ information extracted from smart card data (SCD) have been extensively analyzed. However, rare studies have been devoted to non-roundtrips, which account for a relatively large portion of the overall transit ridership, especially in metropolises such as Beijing. This study aimed to reveal the non-roundtrip pattern using the passenger travel data obtained from SCD. Weekly non-roundtrip SCD were used to analyze the spatiotemporal distribution patterns of overall and typical non-roundtrips’ origins and destinations (ODs). Also, subway data and bus data were combined and visualized in geographic information system (GIS). The reasons for frequent non-roundtrips generated in the metropolitan city were inferred. The results demonstrate some detected spatiotemporal patterns of non-roundtrips. It is not surprising that a large proportion of non-roundtrips serve as a rail access to intercity, but there are still many trips of this kind showing a commuting pattern. Merging SCD with bus data, the results also reveal that passengers may choose other modes as a substitute return transportation option due to rail fare or overcrowding problem. This study focused on irregular trips normally neglected in the literature and found that the number of these trips is too large to be ignored in a diversified city like Beijing. Meanwhile, the travel patterns of non-roundtrips extracted can be used to direct the operation strategies for both rail and bus. The research framework raised here could be applied in other cities and comparative analysis could be done in the future.
Highlights
In recent decades, China’s economy has developed rapidly, but at the same time, the disease of big cities is becoming more and more serious in Beijing and other metropolises
The smart card automatic fare collection system can obtain larger samples and analyze travel behavior in a longer term [6]; it provides an ideal method for daily urban public transport data collection; the use of urban public transport automatic fare collection systems is becoming more and more common worldwide [7]
That has typically focused on regular commuting trips, this study reveals hidden patterns of non-roundtrips that may shift the focus of smart card data-based research from regular commuting trips to those trips of not so typical commuters, but its number is too large to be ignored
Summary
China’s economy has developed rapidly, but at the same time, the disease of big cities is becoming more and more serious in Beijing and other metropolises. Especially subway, with its characteristics of punctuality, large traffic volume, energy conservation, and environmental protection, has been strongly supported and rapidly constructed by the government in big cities. In order to improve the operation efficiency of urban public transport, many scholars have established different methods and perspectives to explore the travel patterns in smart card data [2,3,4,5,6], and gave reasonable and practical suggestions for the transport agencies to improve public transport planning and formulate appropriate operation strategies. The smart card automatic fare collection system can obtain larger samples and analyze travel behavior in a longer term [6]; it provides an ideal method for daily urban public transport data collection; the use of urban public transport automatic fare collection systems is becoming more and more common worldwide [7]. More and more researchers are committed to utilizing urban public transport big data in various fields, including urban public transport studies
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