Exploring passenger rail markets using new station catchment size and shape metrics

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a novel spatial market segmentation method to determine key user groups of a train station (such as gender, age and access mode), based on the size and shape of the station catchment area of each group. Two new indices – area ratio and composite ratio – are developed to quantify the importance of user groups for a train station. This method is applied to identify key user groups at seven train stations in Perth, Western Australia. The study offers a new way to explore the travel behaviour of train users and provides insights for rail transport planning and marketing.

KEYWORDS:

• Station catchment size and compactness
• spatial market segmentation
• area ratio
• composite ratio

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the train users who willingly gave their time to participate in the study. We are very graceful to the Australian Research Council, the Public Transport Authority, the Department of Transport and the Department of Planning for their ongoing support for the study and Arc Linkage Grant LP110201150. Special thanks are due to the data collection team and Dr Todd Robinson for his feedback on issues discussed in this paper and Dr Craig Caulfield for editing the paper. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the policies of any organisation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council [Arc Linkage Grant LP110201150].