학술논문

Urban Public Transport Accessibility to Medical Services From the Perspective of Residents’ Travel: A Hybrid Assessment Based on the Whole Process
Document Type
Periodical
Source
IEEE Access Access, IEEE. 9:8977-8989 2021
Subject
Aerospace
Bioengineering
Communication, Networking and Broadcast Technologies
Components, Circuits, Devices and Systems
Computing and Processing
Engineered Materials, Dielectrics and Plasmas
Engineering Profession
Fields, Waves and Electromagnetics
General Topics for Engineers
Geoscience
Nuclear Engineering
Photonics and Electrooptics
Power, Energy and Industry Applications
Robotics and Control Systems
Signal Processing and Analysis
Transportation
Hospitals
Public transportation
Urban areas
Time measurement
Statistics
Sociology
Legged locomotion
Public medical facilities
public transport
spatial accessibility
residents
VIKOR
entropy weight method
Language
ISSN
2169-3536
Abstract
Equitable access to efficient medical services via public transport has always been one of the most important issues of healthcare in urban development. To accurately measure the urban public transport accessibility to medical services (PTAMS), this research proposes a hybrid assessment method based on multiple public-transport related indicators, including time, cost, and walking rate, which considers the whole process of residents’ public transport travel. The presented assessment technique is then applied in a case of Xi’an, China. Through the classification of medical facilities and PTAMS levels, the results show that: (a) PTAMS value of 3,080 residential areas in Xi’an are highly consistent with the standard normal distribution; (b) More than 80% of residential areas can obtain high PTAMS when considering the use of Class 1 (large-scale) hospitals, while the high PTAMS of Class 2 (small-scale) ones can only cover less than 40% residential areas; (c) There is obvious spatial heterogeneity in the distribution of PTAMS in Class 2 hospitals and a serious lack of medical equity; (d) Among large hospitals, the private ones retain higher PTAMS and equitability, making themselves best choice for residents, which is opposed to the government’s purpose of establishing public hospitals; (e) PTAMS of most residents substantially dropped about 4% during the morning peak-hour. However, subway protects PTAMS of nearby residents. This research provides references and suggestions on how to improve residents’ PTAMS under the existing public transport network and medical facilities layout.