An increasing number of directives, regulations, and government plans include accessibility as a basic objective, when evaluating different alternatives for constructing and managing transport infrastructure. This paper is concerned with research to collect, select, and calculate accessibility indices, provided by the public transport system for the Madrid Metropolitan Area (MMA) in Spain. It first analyses the concept of accessibility, and gives examples of types of accessibility index and aggregated and disaggregated measures of accessibility. It then briefly analyses the spatial distribution of activities in the MMA and the MMA public transport system. In the last part the authors discuss the application of various accessibility indices under the EMME2 model to the MMA. External gravity indicators and demand data from mobility surveys were used to quantify the attraction capacity of different zones, corresponding to numbers of trips ending in each zone. All journeys made in the MMA were taken into account. The accessibility levels provided by public transport were calculated, and an accessibility indicator was selected. Analyses were conducted, both for absolute accessibility in the whole area under study, and for relative accessibility values within the MMA.
Abstract