Impact of a New Metro Line: Analysis of Metro Passenger Flow and Travel Time Based on Smart Card Data

Abstract

Over the past few decades, massive volumes of smart card data from metro systems have been used to investigate passengers’ mobility patterns and assess the performance of metro network. With the rapid development of urban rail transit in densely populated areas, new metro lines are constantly designed and operated in recent years. The appearance of new metro lines may significantly affect passenger flow and travel time in the metro network. In this study, smart card data of metro system from Nanjing, China, are used to study the changes of metro passenger flow and travel time due to the operation of a new metro line (i.e., Line 4, opened on 18 January 2017). The impact of the new metro line on passenger flow distribution and travel time in the metro network is first analysed. As commuting is one of the major purposes of metro trips, the impact of the new metro line on commuters’ trips is then explicitly investigated. The results show that the new metro line influences passenger flow, travel time, and travel time reliability in the metro network and has different impacts on different categories of commuters.