Problem Statement

The competitiveness of public transport in comparison to private cars is of essential interest for policy makers and the automotive industry. The question arises whether public transport is a realistic alternative to the private car. For this reason, a scalable measure to evaluate the quality of service of public transport in various spatial areas is needed.

Objective

The objective of this project is to examine the feasibility of calculating an index (Mobility Accessibility Index, short: MAI) to measure the mobility offer in form of accessibilities in different areas based on zip codes.

Methods

Within the scope of the feasibility study, the Institute for Transport Studies is working on three central tasks. First, the relevant literature is reviewed and the data basis (availability, contents) for such calculations is researched. The core element of the study consists of first calculations of so-called "transit indicators" and travel time isochrones. Both are needed for the assessment of the competitiveness of public transport compared to private cars as well as for the evaluation and classification of stops according to a uniform scale. In addition, a preliminary algorithm is implemented and applied to selected sample cities.