Macroscopic equity analysis framework in urban multimodal mobility systems

Abstract

Urban transportation inequities persist globally, with socioeconomic factors significantly influencing mode choices and accessibility to opportunities. This paper introduces a novel analytical framework for evaluating transportation equity across multiple traveler groups within urban multimodal mobility systems. Groups are differentiated using value of travel time and typical trip distance as practical indicators, rather than an exhaustive set of equity dimensions. We extend the macroscopic multimodal hierarchy (MMH) approach by incorporating group-specific attributes into measures of in-vehicle travel efficiency, creating unique hierarchy graphs for different groups within the same urban environment. Equity is assessed using both the dispersion of group-level mobility outcomes and a macroscopic average-efficiency measure, so that uniformly poor service is not mislabeled as equitable. We first apply the framework to nine urban areas to enable cross-city comparison across diverse contexts, and then present detailed case studies for Manhattan, Seoul, and Paris. In Manhattan, our results suggest that shared bicycles can be more competitive than buses for all traveler groups over all trip distances, illustrating how MMH can be used to assess the relative competitiveness of an emerging mode in a real-world setting. We further demonstrate how the framework evaluates mode-specific interventions, showing that even aggressive bus fare reductions combined with commercial-speed improvements leave Manhattan’s equity and efficiency virtually unchanged. Our framework supports targeted equity improvements by explicitly showing which modes drive disparities and where interventions can be most effective.