Development of an accessibility metric and its application to Melbourne

This paper describes the development of an accessibility metric for performance monitoring and policy analysis. The developed accessibility metric incorporated transport cost and opportunities at the end of a trip to calculate an accessibility score. It covers employment, school and shopping and recreation trip purposes. It includes accessibility by four modes including car, public transport, cycling and walking. Melbourne was analysed as a case study using the metric. The accessibility profile of Melbourne was illustrated. The relationship of accessibility to the propensity to travel long distances, non-car mode share, and property price were investigated. The analysis showed that (i) zones with higher accessibility coincided with zones wherein people travel less distances; (ii) higher public transport, walking and cycling accessibility coincided with higher non-car mode shares for work trips but not for other trip purposes; and (iii) areas with higher public transport, walking and cycling accessibility levels coincided with areas with higher property prices