Centrality Measures as a tool to identify the Transit Demand at Public Transit Stops; A Case of Ahmedabad City, India

This paper presents a simplified method to measure transit demand of public transit stops based on network centrality parameters and how transit demand of PT stop are vary with network centrality, Ahmedabad city, India. The study was based on the node-axial diagrams derived from road and transit network of the city, in which the axial nodes represent stops and road intersections. Axial lines, which connect two nodes, were weighted based on, travel time. The network centrality of nodes was computed at different radius level (0.6km, 3km, 4km, 5km …, and 10km) using Closeness, Straightness and Betweenness centrality. Transit demand of stops was evaluated in terms of the number of passenger daily boarding at stops. Results indicate that all three parameters revealed a significant correlation with transit demand within the radius of average trip length. Further it indicated that influence of different centrality parameters on transit demand varies by type of PT stops. By considering that, six regression models (more than 85% accuracy) were developed, to explain transit demand of different types of stops based on centrality values. Therefore study suggested that method developed in this study is robust, dynamic planning tool that will offer promise for transport planning applications in Indian context.