Accessibility and the Ring of Unreliability

Recently published:

• Mengying Cui & David Levinson (2016) Accessibility and the Ring of Unreliability. Transportmetrica A: Transport Science, DOI: 10.1080/23249935.2016.1258441 [Free copy (first 50 clicks)]

Abstract: This study measures the variability of job accessibility via automobile for the Minneapolis – St. Paul, Minnesota region. The accessibility analysis uses cumulative opportunity measures. The travel times on the network are tested at 10th, 50th, and 90th percentile speed drawn from an annual average for each link from GPS speed data for 2011. It is shown that accessibility varies widely with travel speed. Some parts of the region (a ring around the core) have more volatility in access to jobs (and are thus less reliable) than others.

Keywords: Access, reliability, vulnerability, GPS