Accessibility is a term often used in transport and land-use studies and the main aim of this report is to survey the range of measures of accessibility that have been proposed. Accessibility is seen as being concerned with the opportunity available to an individual or type of person at a given location to take part in a particular activity or set of activities. However various other interpretations of the term accessibility have been made and in order to survey the range of indices to which the term accessibility measure has been applied it is necessary to consider also the range of definitions that have been given to the term accessibility. The advantages and disadvantages of the various measures are discussed. No single 'best' measure is identified; rather the choice depends on the type of problem being studied and the resources available. Some consideration is given also to the areas of study in which accessibility may be a useful concept. (Author/publisher)
Abstract