Using topic modeling to unravel the nuanced effects of built environment on bicycle-metro integrated usage

Abstract

Bicycle-metro integration, in which bicycling is used as a flexible feeder mode to connect with public transport nodes presents new opportunities for sustainable transportation. It is known that the built environment can influence travel attitudes and choice, yet the empirical evidence for the role of built environment features in shaping the bicycle-metro integration remains rare. Inspired by the idea of text mining, this article is an attempt to demonstrate a data-driven semantic framework to capture key topic-based features of land use and bicycle-metro integrated usage in the vicinity of metro stations as well as their interactions. Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic modeling is analogously implemented here to generate a range of probability-based land use patterns and mobility patterns, and the associations between them are investigated by multivariate linear regression. A case study from Shanghai shows that the mixed land use and diversification of urban functions in the catchment areas of the metro stations can be detected effectively by 11 identified land use patterns. Based on 7 derived mobility patterns, this paper gives a probabilistic explanation to the time-varying properties of the bicycle-metro usage. All of the above thematic topics exhibit notably heterogeneous patterns in spatial distribution. The topic compositions in terms of land use pattern and mobility pattern at the station level reveal the current performance of station areas. Plus, results from the regression analysis confirm that most of the land use patterns that are related to various mixed use have close relationships with mobility patterns of bicycle-metro integration. Yet it is noteworthy that the effects of land use patterns often differ and change over time, namely affecting different mobility patterns. This study gives rise to alternative insights into the synergy between bike sharing and metro, which may help policymakers to develop more targeted TOD strategies.