A spatio-temporal node-place-ridership model for classifying metro station areas: The case of Shenzhen, China

The node-place model has been widely applied for uncovering the coordination between transit network and land use but overlooks the critical role of ridership and its temporal variations. Focusing on the dynamic nature of urban activities and ridership, this study develops a spatio-temporal node-place-ridership model for evaluating and classifying metro station areas. The extended model emphasizes ridership as a third dimension in addition to the node and place dimensions and focuses on intra-week (weekday versus weekend) and intra-day (day-time versus night-time) temporal variations. Using a case study in Shenzhen, China, results show that ridership is more associated with the place values (i.e., land-use pattern) than with the node values (i.e., network accessibility). The variation in ridership between weekday and weekend is related to non-work activities and land-use types. As for intra-day variation, station areas with a high proportion of commuting ridership face imbalance between node and place values and between job and housing functions. This study highlights the importance of the incorporation of ridership dynamics in understanding the transit and land-use integration and assists urban planners and policymakers in making more informed, flexible, and responsive urban development strategies. The extended model is transferable and valuable for other cities.