Analyse de la connectivité des réseaux de transport en commun multimodaux en milieu urbain : étude de cas montréalais

Abstract

Road transport is responsible for a significant production of greenhouse gas. The use of public transport, instead of private cars, is an ambition that different levels of government advocate to reduce the production of GHG related to this sector. This is achieved not only by increasing the coverage, but also by diversifying the modal offer as well as by improving connectivity in order to improve the attractiveness of a public transport network. Connectivity helps to facilitate a travel between a point of origin and a point of destination. It is assessed by the degree of connection between the structural components of a network. However, the evaluation generally focuses on linear single-mode networks where it is difficult to include the characteristics specific to each mode, particularly for unconventional modes offering personalized trips. The main objective of this research is to create a tool to assess the variation in connectivity across different multimodal public transport networks, in reference to a given network. The comparative unit retained is the duration of the shortest path from the point of view of the user, by including not only the time in the vehicle, but also the walking and waiting time, induced by intermodal transfers. The case study is based on the public transport network of the Ville-Marie borough of the city of Montreal. From this, three new configurations are analyzed, one of which includes a personalized transport service in the form of a fully automated and connected vehicle. The study showed that adding a new modal offer does not necessarily improve network connectivity. According to the conditions analyzed, the scenario with the most advantages is the one incorporating a personalized transport service. In fact, the time taken to cover all of the shortest paths is reduced by around 18%, with an average of 3% less waiting, in addition to improving robustness. However, journeys have on average 5% more transfers. Therefore, no scenario improves the connectivity of both the centrality, the directness and the robustness of a network. Furthermore, the method developed makes it possible to compare the variation in connectivity of different configurations of multimodal public transport networks in order to identify the scenario best suited to development needs.

Date	30 Mar 2021
Original language	French
Awarding Institution	École de technologie supérieure
Supervisor	Mathias Glaus (Supervisor)