An Accessibility Framework for Evaluating Transport Policies

Abstract

This paper describes how most measures of accessibility lack the capability to evaluate the impacts of transport policies that can directly influence travel decisions. The major reason for this is that many measures of accessibility do not take into consideration enough of the factors that can be influenced by policies. Among such factors are those related to the attributes of individuals who have undertaken travel for the purpose of accessing activities. The paper argues that the focus of such measures should be on accessibility for individuals to activities rather than purely being a property of locations since the accessibility of a location does not necessarily reflect the true accessibility of an individual to that destination. Although accessibility to destinations is important, it is only part of a person’s accessibility. The focus should be on accessibility to activities that can be satisfied by a number of destination alternatives. The paper describes an accessibility framework that combines a number of classical measures of accessibility using discrete choice modeling. The framework considers travel patters of individuals and households that are simulated through a system of behavioral models that resemble commonly used travel demand models. In considering travel behavior of people, the framework is able to assess the impact of transport and urban planning policies according to how such policies address the needs and preferences of individuals. The innovation of this framework is in allowing accessibility-based assessment and policy evaluation by considering the urban transport system and the spatial arrangement and characteristics of land-uses together, and importantly, yet often neglected the socio-economic characteristics of the population. Based on the development and application of the accessibility framework, further research recommendations are discussed in the paper in order to improve the capability of accessibility for use as a tool by planners for identifying levels of accessibility and to develop and evaluate policies targeted towards improving accessibility for people arriving at their activities.

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