Assessing the impact of network and station accessibility on station-level rail transit ridership during peak and off-peak hours

The importance of network and station accessibility in determining rail transit ridership has recently attracted much research attention. This study aims to contribute to this scholarship by assessing the rail transit ridership effects of network accessibility to jobs, population, and amenities and comparing such effects with that of station accessibility. We leverage emerging big data with fine spatial resolutions, including mobile phone and point of interest data in Shenzhen, China, and employ negative binomial regressions to gauge the effects of network and station accessibility on station-level ridership during different hours of the day while controlling for potential confounding factors. Our study finds that network accessibility and station accessibility play different roles in rail transit ridership during peak and off-peak hours. Specifically, network accessibility to amenities holds a comparable role to station accessibility in increasing station-level ridership during daytime off-peak hours, whereas station accessibility to population and jobs plays a dominant role in attracting ridership during the morning peak, evening peak, and evening off-peak hours. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the impacts of network and station accessibility on station-level rail transit ridership and hold practical implications for integrated transport and land use planning.