Wheelchair accessibility to public facilities via transits and analysis of delay factors—A case study of Shanghai, China

The pursuit of egalitarian and sustainable communities represents a collective aspiration and aligns with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. The public transit system, as the primary mode of mobility for wheelchair users in China, often imposes barriers that hinder travel or prolong travel times. It is essential to evaluate the spatial accessibility of public transit for wheelchair users to mitigate their social exclusion and enhance their participation within the community. However, there is a paucity of research on wheelchair transit accessibility and the factors contributing to prolonged travel times. This study introduces a wheelchair-accessible public transit route planning algorithm utilizing an online map API to acquire travel time and identify delay factors using the city of Shanghai as the study area, then evaluates spatial accessibility differences between wheelchair users and the general population in accessing public service facilities. Key findings include: (1) 73.9% of wheelchair transit routes encounter delays due to insufficient wheelchair facilities. (2) Parks show the largest accessibility gap, with wheelchair users’ accessibility at only 45% of that of the general population within the same time threshold. (3) Walking segment obstacles cause the longest delays, the most frequent delay factor is the lack of accessible metro station entrances, and SHAP values from the machine learning model furnish localized explanations regarding the impact of each delay factor. These findings reveal disparities in wheelchair transit accessibility and investigate factors causing delays, informing urban planning and infrastructure improvements in Shanghai and providing a reference for barrier-free development in other cities.