What is the best catchment area of a metro station? A study based on station level ridership modeling

As the popularity and importance of metro system increase in urban transportation systems around the world, metro station service area and accessibility gain wide attention from various audiences. This study employs a modeling approach to explore the impact of land use, metro service coverage, and station accessibility on metro ridership in six cities of the United States. Our analysis shows that the optimal metro buffer radius is not the same in different cities. The service coverage boundaries of 600 meters and 1200 meters are suitable for estimating the passenger level of metro transit. We also find that the adjusted R
²
of each city in each buffer zone has a trend of first rising and then declining. Moreover, the model results of ridership on weekdays and weekends have similar trend. In addition, we collect 22 attributes to analyze and summarize the influencing factors of metro ridership. We find that the number of automobiles owned by families, urban population, number of workers and income have significantly positive influence on metro ridership.