Optimisation of mobility hub locations for a sustainable mobility system

Abstract

Mobility hubs facilitate the comfortable transfer between different means of transport. However, the optimal location of mobility hubs challenges municipalities due to the complexity of urban structures and the need to anticipate changes in travel behaviour. This study proposes an interdisciplinary approach to establish a more sustainable transport network by determining optimal locations for mobility hubs from a municipality’s perspective. Based on a pre-selection using a transport planning approach, we use a bilevel optimisation model to find optimal locations. The model minimizes external costs at the upper level while considering users’ route and mode choices at the lower level. We validate our approach in a case study of Aachen, Germany. Our findings indicate that implementing bike-sharing stations can significantly contribute to developing a more sustainable transportation network, while one-way car-sharing stations do not contribute to a more sustainable transport network within the model as they primarily draw away users from more sustainable modes.

Keywords

• Mobility hubs
• Location choice
• Bilevel optimisation
• Car-sharing
• Bike-sharing
• Sustainable mobility