Assessing Pedestrian Accessibility of Metro Rail

Metrorail projects are at the forefront of infrastructure building in Indian cities. They are expected to address urban transportation issues through modal shifts, build city image, and catalyse development. However, pedestrian accessibility is not integrated with the metrorail project. Poor pedestrian accessibility can grievously hamper citizens' travel experience and deter people from using the metrorail system. This research assesses the condition of pedestrian accessibility of selected metrorail stations in Pune, India. Twenty-three parameters of pedestrian accessibility were shortlisted from the literature and were grouped into footpath space, pedestrian connectivity, safety, carriageway conditions and comfort indicators. A direct observation survey using a 5-point Likert scale was conducted on 282 locations in the station influence areas. A simple additive technique was used to compute indicator scores. Pearson correlation was performed to check the interrelations of parameters. The spatial interpolation method of Kriging in ArcGIS was used to stimulate surface coverage of pedestrian accessibility. This research shows that the pedestrian accessibility of the chosen stations varies from poor to average. The presence of pedestrian infrastructure does not ensure better pedestrian accessibility as their usability is questionable due to misplacement, discontinuity, broken surfaces, mismanaged hawkers and parking etc. On roads with low traffic volumes, pedestrian accessibility was observed to be good due to cleanliness, greenery, desirable built form, managed parking and continuous well-maintained carriageway where pedestrians walked. The study implies that pedestrian accessibility should be an integral part of the metrorail project and should be improved to enhance riders' experience.