Population-Based Service Level and the Accessibility of Transport

Abstract

With the development goal of building a people-oriented and sustainable transport system in China, service level and accessibility of transport services are two of the key indicators for evaluating the coupling of transport construction and people's actual travel demand. In this chapter, the spatial match between population and transport distribution is measured by population-based service quality using national spatial data on population and transport infrastructure. Aimed at drawing an overall picture of China’s comprehensive transport system, the population-based evaluation analysis of transport services includes four perspectives which are railways, highways, high-speed railways, and air transport. Both the temporal changing trends and the spatial distribution characteristics of China’s transport system in recent years in terms of satisfying people’s travel demand are focused on. In addition, we also analyse the accessibility of China’s comprehensive transport system while considering demographic factors. The population-based service quality and accessibility level can serve as a basis for following chapters exploring the relationship between population structure and transport demand, as well as provide empirical evidence for optimising transport services to be more in harmony with the national population growth.