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Public transport networks: empirical analysis and modeling

  • Interdisciplinary Physics
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Abstract

Public transport networks of fourteen cities of so far unexplored network size are analyzed in standardized graph representations: the simple graph of the network map, the bipartite graph of routes and stations, and both one mode projections of the latter. Special attention is paid to the inter-relations and spatial embedding of transport routes. This systematic approach reveals rich behavior beyond that of the ubiquitous scale-free complex network. We find strong evidence for structures in PTNs that are counter-intuitive and need to be explained, among these a pronounced diversity in the expression of typical network characteristics within the present sample of cities, a surprising geometrical behavior with respect to the two-dimensional geographical embedding and an unexpected attraction between transport routes. A simple model based on these observations reproduces many of the identified PTN properties by growing networks of attractive self-avoiding walks.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Applied Mathematics Research Centre, Coventry University, Coventry, CV1 5FB, UK

    C. von Ferber & T. Holovatch

  2. Physikalisches Institut, Universität Freiburg, 79104, Freiburg, Germany

    C. von Ferber

  3. Laboratoire de Physique des Matériaux, Université Henri Poincaré, Nancy 1, 54506, Vandœuvre les Nancy Cedex, France

    T. Holovatch

  4. Institute for Condensed Matter Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 79011, Lviv, Ukraine

    Yu. Holovatch & V. Palchykov

  5. Institut für Theoretische Physik, Johannes Kepler Universität Linz, 4040, Linz, Austria

    Yu. Holovatch

Authors
  1. C. von Ferber
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  2. T. Holovatch
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  3. Yu. Holovatch
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  4. V. Palchykov
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Correspondence to Yu. Holovatch.

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von Ferber, C., Holovatch, T., Holovatch, Y. et al. Public transport networks: empirical analysis and modeling. Eur. Phys. J. B 68, 261–275 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2009-00090-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2009-00090-x

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