Understanding Topological and Spatial Attributes of Bus Transportation Networks in Cities of Chongqing and Chengdu

Dan Wan,Jie Feng,Yong Huang,Ran Zhang,Yaling Shi,Kairui Guo

doi:10.1155/2018/4137806

Abstract

It is critical to understand the characteristics of public transportation networks (PTNs). Existing studies have mainly focused on the topological structure of PTNs and have revealed the commonalities of the topological structures of PTNs. However, few studies have examined the differences regarding topological structure characteristics between the PTNs of different cities. In addition, the nature and extent of the influence of specific urban geographic conditions and morphology on PTNs are unclear. This paper focuses on the influence of urban spatial and geographic environments on bus transportation networks (BTNs) by comparatively studying the topological and spatial attributes of two typical BTNs, respectively, from a mountainous city and a plain city in China, from the perspectives of basic statistical properties, types, connection properties, and spatial attributes, by using the complex networks theory and spatial analysis method. The results reveal that the two BTNs have similar statistical properties and they both have scale-free features as well as small-world features. However, these two BTNs are significantly different in the connection properties and spatial attributes. The difference is found closely related to the city’s geographic conditions and spatial morphology. The implications of this study regarding urban traffic planning and land planning are discussed.

Highlights

An in-depth understanding of the structure and topological properties of public transportation networks (PTNs) is important for urban planning and management, policymaking, and disaster-prevention and disaster-mitigation [1,2,3,4,5,6]
Complex network analysis (CNA) has been instrumental in studying PTNs, and considerable research has been conducted in fields such as bus transportation networks (BTNs) [1, 14,15,16,17], aviation networks [2, 18,19,20], metro networks [10, 21], railway networks [22], road networks [5], and maritime transportation networks [23]
It can be considered that the statistical mechanics for stations like Longtousi and Hantu differ from general stations of BTNs, which are the main part of an urban bus transportation system

Summary

Introduction

An in-depth understanding of the structure and topological properties of public transportation networks (PTNs) is important for urban planning and management, policymaking, and disaster-prevention and disaster-mitigation [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Complex network analysis (CNA), as a formalized methodology, is a mathematical form of graph theory used to characterize network structure and topological properties [7,8,9,10,11,12,13]. The results show (a) the connections between the geographic features of BTNs and the economic development conditions of certain areas [24], (b) the distribution rules of the key routes and nodes of BTNs [14], (c) the hierarchical geographic distribution rules of aviation networks [19], and (d) the relation between network structure of road and city form [5]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion