Assessment of the external mobility to Ukrainian cities

Abstract

The problem of citizens' mobility is crucial for most Ukrainian cities. At the same time, besides urban travelling, external travelling also impacts the urban transport system. That is why the study of regularities of external mobility will allow considering it during urban systems planning. In this article, the movement of citizens to Ukrainian cities with a population above 70 thousand persons is reviewed. The source of the data is information from mobile operator Kyivstar. The connection between the quality of life in cities and the general level of external mobility (depending on the number of citizens in cities, they are divided into five clusters) is established. It is detected that larger mobility is inherent for cities located in the western and the central parts of the country. The average value of the consolidated index of the assessment of city possibilities (an integral indicator that considers the possibility to express opinions freely, travel between city districts, impact the process of decision-making in the city, etc.) is determined. There is a positive correlation between this index and the volume of external mobility, i.e., the relative volume of external mobility is larger to cities where citizens admit a higher quality of life. The averaged over the year, an average number of trips which were made from every city is calculated, and for every trip, its distance is determined (by the road network). Also, the regularities of external mobility to cities with different sizes (the average length of trips changes within 39,0 – 56,5 km; 95% of trips are on the distance of 150–250 km; 99% of trips – on the distance of no more than 400–600 km). Obtained results will provide the opportunity to form further recommendations about improving the city's transport system, which should consider the daily volume of its visitors and the tendencies of its (system) change in case of improvement of the quality of life in the city).