Transit oriented Development Correlates of Rail Transit Ridership in Shanghai Municipality

Abstract:

This study, with the city wide station level data limited to be used in prior studies, examines and identifies the transit oriented development(TOD) factors that significantly influence the weekday transit ridership in metropolis of Shanghai by using multivariate regressions. The results show that five variables including the number of daily bus services, average bus headway in station catchment area, walking time to the nearest bus stop, the number of exits of transit stations and parking lot around transit stations, are important in contributing to higher rail transit ridership for Shanghai. In particular, the seemingly contradictory factors of bus service and average headway demonstrate the importance of raising shuttle bus services to the increase of rail transit ridership. Furthermore, the detailed policy implications corresponding with the significant factors are proposed to guide the practice in the urban and transport development.

Key words:transit oriented development (TOD); urban rail transit; transit ridership; station catchment area