Contents

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р ૹ ٖ स ॸ „ Characteristics of Urban areas
„ Transportation system characteristics
„ Urban travel characteristics
PPTࠥߡЈૺ͹[Link]/moban/
Urban Travel Characteristics

Chunjiao Dong Ph.D. Professor

Department of Traffic Engineering
School of Traffic and Transportation
May, 2025


Characteristics of Urban areas Population of Beijing

¾ Travel results form the needs of people to move 21.71 million
from place to place for the myriad activities that
we all engage in
¾ A knowledge of the number of inhabitants, where
they are found and their basic characteristics
helps define our transportation needs
10 thousand
Increasing rate

• Population
• Auto ownership
• Employment
• Family size
• Area Residents in Beijing
 
Population density and distribution Populations

Population Density (Person/km2)

Number of residents (10 thousand)

Residents distribution
 

Transportation network
„ Transportation networks are influenced by many
of the same factors that shaped our urban areas
„ Urban form is largely a function of the underlying
transportation network
„ Topography and natural features are major
criteria for network locations as well as historical
factors
„ Transportation networks are also a form of
artistic expression


 

 
 Basic network-Grid
„ The simplest and most easily understood
network
„ Is favored in most urban arears
„ Results in simple four-sided rectangular lots
„ Provide an almost infinite number of paths
between various points

 

Basic network-Radial Basic network-Radial

„ Radial networks represent the focusing of „ Traffic characteristics show large directional
transportation links on a central location, distribution imbalances
normally the core of the city „ Result in higher volumes as one nears the core
„ Radial link represents the most direct path
between the central city and outlying cities or
towns
„ Radial networks provide efficient movement on
major facilities where there is a strong orientation
to the core area
„ Radial networks results in odd-sized and –
shaped blocks and angled intersections
 
Basic network-Circumferential Basic network-Eclectic
„ Circumferentials have been added to existing „ Eclectic networks represent combinations of
networks to provide the means to bypass all or a other network forms
part of the urban area „ A sign of piecemeal highway planning efforts
„ Most circumferentials originated as part of the „ Are often inefficient in total and may present
urban interstate system and represent beltways difficult operational problems
or bypasses of urban areas „ May foster isolated pockets of congestions which
„ Many circumferential routes are freeways and can be expensive and disruptive to solve
provide access only at interchanges

 

Planning
map of
city
roadways
Basic network-Spacing Basic network-Spacing
„ The spacing of network elements is dependent Arterials. Arterials should be located at
upon the density of development they serve approximately 1-mile spacings (Major and minor
„ General guidelines for grid networks can be used arterials )
with the number of lanes changed to fit demand Freeways (Interstates). Freeways should be
patterns located at 4- to 6-mile spacings
Residential streets (Local roads). Spacing of „ Freeway interchanges should be no closer than
residential streets is generally a land use decision 1miles apart and preferably farther
related to lot size and layout of the development „ If the arterial network is comprehensive, 2-mile
Collectors. Collectors should be provided at spacing of interchanges would not create any
approximately half-mile spacings significant excess travel

 

Basic network-Spacing
Relationship between road classification and road Freeways or limited access divided highways make
function up the backbone of the highway system in our large
metropolitan areas

 
Transportation system use
„ An important indicator of the value of a transportation
system is how much it is used
„ Existing usage is also the baseline for predicting future
system use

Commute mode
share, United States,
2013


Transportation system performance
Mobility
„ Mobility reflects those travel conditions associated with
the ability to travel, such as average speed, delay,
congestion levels, and the availability of modal options
„ Mobility is provided by multiple modes, including many
trips that require the use of more than one

Road mobility:
Vehicle Travel in
Congestion Conditions,
United States,
2014



Traffic congestion in Beijing Transportation system performance

Accessibility
„ Whereas mobility performance reflects the ease with
which travelers can make a trip, accessibility relates to a
traveler’s ability to reach a destination
„ Measures as percent of employment within a certain
distance of a transit station
Accessibility is a function of how a transportation network is
structured, but it also depends on land use patterns,
available modes, and geographic area

Peak hour in Morning Peak hour in Evening

 
Transportation system performance
Safety
„ Transportation safety is often identified as the most
important goal of transportation agencies
„ Four important measures are often used to monitor the
trends in transportation safety: number of fatalities,
number of injuries, fatalities per100 million vehicle miles
traveled (MVMT), and injuries per 100 MVMT
„ Fatalities per100 MVMT, and injuries per 100 MVMT are
called fatality and injury rates, and reflect the amount of
exposure travelers will have to the transportation system
itself



Transportation system performance Urban travel characteristics

System condition „ Urban travel and trip patterns are influenced by
A deteriorating physical condition of transportation system numerous factors
assets is one of the significant challenges facing „ The most important patterns relate to the availability and
transportation systems costs (real and perceived) of different modes of
transportation
„ The trip patterns resulting from the collective trip-making
decisions of an urban area’s population are also
influenced by population demographics, land-use
patterns in the metropolitan area, and the travel options
that are available for each type of land use

 
Urban travel characteristics Population Characteristics
„ Urban travel is heavily influenced by the demographic
characteristics of the traveling population
„ Transportation planning relies heavily on credible
population and employment forecasts
„ The census is a major source of data on population
characteristics
„ The census is an important source of demographic and
household data and thus transportation planners should
be familiar with how such data is accessed and utilized

 

Population Characteristics Population Characteristics

Population Growth House hold Characteristics and Vehicle Availability
„ Estimating the number of people who will be living, The household is an important variable in transportation
shopping, or working in a study area, usually at some planning because many modeling tools use household
target year (for example, 25 years from today), is often a characteristics to predict future travel
starting point for many planning studies
„ The census in most countries is an excellent source of
socio-demographic statistics describing national, state,
and metropolitan area trends
„ Another important characteristic is the age distribution of
the population

 
 Population Characteristics
Spatial Distribution of Growth



Working and residence distribution

„ Mobile phone data show that 78% population resident

inside the sixth ring of Beijing
„ 43% lives inside of fifth ring
„ 35% lives between fifth and sixth ring
 Working and residence distribution Urban travel characteristics
Urban travel can be defined by a wide variety of characteristics

The purpose
¾ WorkθSchool The length
T
¾ Shop ¾ Time
¾ Distance
The time :NK
¾ Departure ZXOV
¾ Arrival
The pattern
T
¾ Home-work-
The mode home
„ Mobile phone data show that 80% population working ¾ Bus, subway ¾ Work-meeting-
¾ Private car home
inside the sixth ring of Beijing
„ 51% works inside of fifth ring Transportation planners need to understand the underlying reasons for
and characteristics of urban travel in order to better develop, formulate,
„ 29% works between fifth and sixth ring andanalyze problems and opportunities

Trip generation Trip generation

„ A starting point in all travel studies is the number „ A trip is the one way movement from origin to
of trips generated for a particular land use destination
„ This measure is called trip generation and is „ Each trip has two trip ends.
usually described in terms of person trip Trip
Point A Point B
generation or vehicle trip generation
Person trip generation refers to the number of Trip ends Trip ends

person trips generated by a unit of land use Although the term round trip is often used by the
Vehicle trip generation refers to the number of layperson to describe travel that starts and ends at
vehicles (usually meaning autos or trucks) home it is not a technical term and would be
generated by a unit of land use considered by the transportation planner to be two
or more separate trips
 
 Trip generation
Examples of tripsφ
First tripφGo to work ŚSubway „ Trip generation is always given for a specific period of
Go to a
Work meeting
time which is generally a single hour (normally a peak
ĸ
Second tripφWork-related business
Go to work
hour) or a full day
śŜŝŞ Taxi
ķ
Ļ „ Trip generation may be given for a weekday and/or a
ĺ Ĺ Third tripφGo home ş Bus
Home ļ Hotel
weekend day
Go home „ Most trip generation data are provided in terms of vehicle
ŚWorkȽSubwayχ trips
śMeetingȽTaxiχ „ Trip generation data are often summarized by urban area
Ŝ Pick up customers Work- as a way of comparing the propensity for travel
ȽTaxiχ related
ŝReturnȽTaxiχ business
ŞHotelȽTaxiχ
şHomeȽBusȾ


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Traffic zones ਁ⭏䟿
Trip ੨ᕅ䟿
productions Trip attractions • In general there are between 2.0 and 3.5 daily
1 1634671 1661914 person trips, which translates into between 6
2 1840732 1860967 and 10 person trips per household
• Household size, vehicle ownership, and other
3 2589633 2617026
socioeconomic factors all affect trip generation
4 2200656 2293138

5 1397317 1304637
6 2371844 2281063

7 1900965 1825019

8 803385 808343

9 2086652 2116379

10 799510 844438
11 1355264 1367706

ࠪ㹼ᙫ䟿
Trip generation 18980630
Trip purpose Trip purpose
„ Travel demand is considered a derived demand, meaning
Multipurpose single trips are another important phenomenon
that trips are taken to achieve some purpose at a
that has occurred with increasing frequency over the past
destination
several decades. Known as trip chaining, this travel
„ For transportation analysis purposes, therefore, it is characteristic presented challenges to transportation
important to know why trips are being made. This is analysts who had traditionally based trip modeling on a
referred to as trip purpose single-purpose trip
„ Although traditionally many transportation studies have „ Trips to work with stops are increasing, both in number of
focused on the commute or work trip workers making stops and number of stops per worker
„ Persons with stops take longer in miles and minutes than
„ In reality the greatest increase in trip-making during the they did in 1995 and are longer than those not making
past two decades has been for other trip purposes, any stops
especially in family/personal business and
social/recreational trips
 

Trip purpose
„ People who make stops tend to be those that live a
greater distance from work
„ Suburbanites make more stops than urban dwellers
„ Stops are increasing for men as well as for women
„ Women still make the greater number of stops in both
work and home directions
„ The greater increase has been by men in the work-bound
direction, often just for coffee
„ Use of nonvehicular and nonpersonal auto modes drops
sharply for those making stops


Travel patterns
„ Transportation planners are very interested in travel
patterns because to a large extent these patterns suggest
what is needed with respect to transportation
infrastructure and services
„ Alternatively, transportation officials can influence these
patterns through public policies intended to affect land
use and household/ employment location decisions
„ Similarly to the trend of increasing suburbanization of
population and employment during the past 50 years, the
greatest growth in urban travel patterns has been in the
suburb-to-suburb trip



Travel patterns
„ The percentage of the commute trips destined outside of
the worker’s home county is another characteristic of the
growing trend in inter-suburban trips
„ Average commute travel time has also increased due to
longer trip distances and, more importantly, to the level of
congestion faced during the trip
„ With longer trip distances and longer travel times, it is not
surprising that average speed has declined as well


Temporal distribution Mode usage
The time of day when trips occur is another important The likelihood of individuals choosing one mode over
characteristic of urban travel patterns, one that leads to another for different trip purposes depends on a variety of
system congestion when many of these trips occur in the factors, many of which are often masked when using
same time periods national data

Typical
percent of
daily trips by
time period

 
Traffic mode usage in Beijing Mode usage
„ Women have a higher propensity to use transit than men
and use carpools almost the same amount as men
„ Working at home and walking are important
transportation modes in higher age groups
„ Higher age groups tend to use transit less than younger
age groups, particularly buses and the subway
„ The higher the household income, the less likely one is to
use transit or carpool, until the highest incomes are
reached and then the transit share increases
100 million „ Lower-income households have a much higher use of
transit, biking, walking, and taxicabs
Bus Metro Rural Taxi Subway
„ As metropolitan size increases, transit use increases in
bus
both central cities and suburbs
 

Mode usage
„ Much of urban transportation policy during the last 30
years has focused on increasing the mode share for non
single occupant vehicle modes, primarily transit
„ Understanding the socio-demographic characteristics of
those who ride transit and perhaps more importantly
those who do not becomes an important foundation for Thank you!!
planning studies aimed at enhancing transit ridership Any questions and comments??
„ Many transportation plans outline along list of policies
and program initiatives aimed at increasing transit market
share
„ Transportation planners need to understand the
behavioral aspects of encouraging more people to do so