Equity analysis in access to Public Transport through a Land Use Transport Interaction Model. Application to Bucaramanga Metropolitan Area-Colombia

The development of the Bucaramanga Metropolitan Area (BMA) under criteria focused on the expansion of residential and commercial sectors without considering transportation has produced a congested network and an increase in illegal mobility. A solution was articulating the city through Metrolinea Integrated Transport System (MITS) that not represents an optimal solution yet. Users prefer long-lasting trips by car rather than using public transportation. The absence of methods for assessing transportation deficiency in an agile manner more according to dynamic changes does not allow taking optimal decisions promptly. This research proposes a methodology that fuses a transport model using Visum software and a land-use model implemented in the Python language to analyze access to public transportation, i.e., using four integrated sub-models: transport, residential location, location of economic activities, and accessibility. Analysis of global equity using social indexes to measure the level of need for service and infrastructure was key to proper territory modeling. Results not only indicate where MITS is inefficient but also were could be useful to assess future behaviour considering socio-economic variables, land use, and new infrastructure