The Effects of Weather on Transit Passengers’ Travel Patterns Using Smart Card Data

초록

There has been little paid attention to effects of external factors, in particular weather, on transit ridership due to lack of data. Currently, advancement of Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) makes it possible to explore various types of analysis. Since the first AFC system has been introduced in 1996 in Seoul, Korea, the new smart card system, called T-money, was implemented in 2004. The smart card data is now much more reliable data in Seoul, since more than 95% of public transit passengers are using the smart card for fare payment. One of the unique features of T-money system is that alighting as well as boarding information is recorded from the smart cards. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of weather on transit ridership and transit passenger travel patterns in Seoul. Using the smart card data and weather data, the analysis focuses on the relationship of precipitation with the transit ridership and the change of travel patterns by transit types, passenger types and frequency of transfer. The statistics analysis (t-test) concludes that there is strong evidence (p<0.05) of rainy condition impacting on transit ridership in both bus and subway in Seoul. Transfer analysis presents that passengers are more likely to reduce frequency of transfer in the rainy day.