Analysis of the Factors Affecting the Construction of Subway Stations in Residential Areas

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Some relevant issues must be modified. 

- Method should be described much better. A graphic description would be welcomed. 

- There is no literature review, and I think this should be included (or at least in the introduction). For example: the four-steps model (or the gravity model) should be described and introduced with more references. 

- the location of Tiantongyuan station, etc. should be included. 

-some data and parameters should be stated in order to define the systems, as some other research have already done. 

-structure must be improved: introduction, literature review, method, results, discussion, conclusions is a good option. 

Author Response

Responses to comments of Reviewer 1

1. The reviewer’s comment:

Method should be described much better. A graphic description would be welcomed. 

The author’s answer:

As reviewer suggested that the author has made some revisions following the above suggestion. Firstly, the subtitle “Establishment of Mathematical Model” is changed to "Methodology". At the same time, a paragraph "The method of predicting the annual traffic passenger flow in the future obtained by the mathematical model is called the forecast passenger flow, which has the characteristics of stage, similarity and growth. In this study, the classical four-stage predict method, which is widely used in urban rail transit passenger flow prediction at home and abroad, is used to put forward suggestions for the construction of subway stations both inside and outside. And it is verified by an example to explore a more practical and applicable construction of subway stations in residential areas" is added to the description of this method. In addition, according to the combination of the first three stages of the four-stage predict method and the analysis of the influencing factors of the subway station construction, the flow chart of the method is drawn. The process is predicting the passenger flow of urban rail transit (Forecast method, Forecast mode and Forecast content) based on the development status of rail, making suggestions based on the three-stage prediction method (Trip volume, Travel distribution and Traffic choice) in the prediction mode, and determining the internal and external construction of the subway station. The method flow chart is located in Chapter 3, which is the second picture of this article.

2. The reviewer’s comment:

There is no literature review, and I think this should be included (or at least in the introduction). For example: the four-steps model (or the gravity model) should be described and introduced with more references. 

The author’s answer:

we are very sorry for our negligence of the literature review. The literature review included in the introduction part of the original structure has now been extended into a new chapter with more literatures supplemented as follows: The four-stage predict method was first proposed; On the basis of gravity model, Furness and Stouffer constructed the intervention opportunity model on the basis of gravity model and growth factor method, which was later improved and perfected by Schncider; In the division of the choices of transportation modes for trips, Gaudry and dagenias improved the logit model by proposing BCD, Dogit model and generalized logit model, and supplemented the F-W algorithm which is widely used now; In the logit model, the basic framework of corridor analysis and passenger flow prediction proposed by Wang Shusheng is combined with the aggregate analysis represented by the logit model; In the development of short-term passenger flow prediction, T.M. hrushevska discussed the passenger flow law from the aspects of train timetable and based on this, he predicted the daily passenger flow of suburban railway, Sangsoo used ARIMA model to predict the short-term passenger flow, Zhao Yawei established a multi-dimensional time series short-term passenger flow prediction model by comprehensively considering the impact of legal holidays, tolls, weather and other external factors on expressway traffic flow, Meng Pinchao proposed a short-term passenger flow forecasting method for rail transit based on moving average method.

3. The reviewer’s comment:

the location of Tiantongyuan station, etc. should be included.

The author’s answer:

We have made correction according to the reviewer’s comments. Tiantongyuan station, Tiantongyuan south station and Tiantongyuan north station are described in the paper. After the picture of the entrance and exit of Tiantongyuan east station in the text, the plot formed by the four stations located on Metro Line 5, line 7 and line 13A and the Tiantongyuan community they serve is presented in the form of graphics and text, which can more intuitively find the division of passenger flow of Tiantongyuan Small Area by the four stations.

The distribution of subway station in Tiantongyuan community map is located behind the entrance and exit map of Tiantongyuan east station, which belongs to Section 1 of Chapter 4 of this paper.

4. The reviewer’s comment:

some data and parameters should be stated in order to define the systems, as some other research have already done. 

The author’s answer:

The author has made some revisions following the above suggestion: the fifth chapter of this paper is supplemented with case studies to demonstrate the formulas and mathematical models in this paper. In the case study, taking entrance C of Jinggangshan subway station in Huangdao District of Qingdao as an example, the passenger flow mainly comes from residential areas such as Dongfang yinzuo, Wuyishan community and No. 18 courtyard of Fuchunjiang road. The total number of households in the community, the number of current residents and the proportion of subway as the mode of travel obtained from the field survey are presented in the form of tables. Then, the unit coefficient method is used to multiply the travel generation coefficient with the current number of residents to obtain the value of future travel volume, and finally the predicted number of subway trips is calculated according to the proportion.

And also, the number of passengers entering the station in peak period is taken as the predicted number of subway passengers, and in combination with the current situation of Jinggangshan Road station entrance C, it is analyzed whether the existing internal construction of Jinggangshan Road station entrance C can meet the predicted passenger flow demand in the future. Finally, through the verification of formula (7), formula (8), formula (12) and the conditions of the escalator section at the entrance and exit in Table 6, it can be concluded that the current situation of Jinggangshan Road exit C meets the requirements of the future peak passenger flow.

The data of surrounding communities of Jinggangshan station and construction status of Jinggangshan C entrance and exit are table 9 and table 10 respectively, which are located in the case study in Chapter 5.

5. The reviewer’s comment:

structure must be improved: introduction, literature review, method, results, discussion, conclusions is a good option. 

The author’s answer:

As reviewer suggested that the author has made some revisions following the above suggestion: the structure of the article has been improved. The original structure is: Introduction, Establishment of mathematical model, Construction of subway station and Conclusion. The new structure is: Introduction, Literature review, Methodology, Results, Case study, Discussion, Conclusion. Changes to the original structure are as follows: The references included in the introduction in the original structure are listed as a new chapter with some supplements; The use of methodology to replace the title of mathematical model building in the original structure is more comprehensive for the chapters; The case study part is added to demonstrate the formula and mathematical model in the paper; The conclusion has been extended into two parts: discussion and conclusion.

Special thanks to you for your good comments.

Reviewer 2 Report

REFEREE REPORT

Analysis of the factors affecting the construction of subway stations in residential areas

Peng Dai, Song Han, Xuxu Yang, Hui Fu, Yanjun Wang and Jianjun Liu

In this paper authors analyse the factors affecting the construction of subway stations in residential areas. They describe mathematical models for analysis of factors such as trip volume, distribution and mode selection. Based on combination of the main factors and related mathematical models authors analysed to construction of residential area subway stations.

My impressions regarding the paper quality are as follows:

 Abstract: should be modified in order to address problem statement, approach, results and conclusion (a couple of sentences each).

 Introduction: Introduction should contain a flow diagram that summarizes the approach. Literature review should be separated from introduction section. Literature review should be extended by including all relevant and recent contributions. Research gaps should be presented in tabular form. The added value of this contribution must be described at the end of the literature review section.

 Mathematical modelling: section should be renamed into Methodology with relevant subsections.

 Case study section should be added in order to separate methodology (the approach, the models) from its application.

Author Response

1. The reviewer’s comment:

Abstract: should be modified in order to address problem statement, approach, results and conclusion (a couple of sentences each).

The author’s answer:

We have made correction according to the reviewer’s comments. It is added to the problems solving statement that" Metro stations in residential areas are generally located at the intersection of urban roads. As the handover space of the city, the construction principle should be based on people's experience", and to method part that " Station site selection is based on the point, line, and surface elements, and the importance of a station in the line network is judged by degree and betweenness centrality, the accessibility of the line network is determined by connectivity". Two sentences added to the result are that" Use the conclusion of the mathematical model to select or give opinions on the internal construction elements of the subway" and "The point, line and surface elements method and the connection relationship of the buses are used to determine the site selection of the station". Addition to the conclusion is that" Meanwhile, this study discusses the three elements that affect the construction of the subway, comprehensively considers the functional requirements of the subway, makes reasonable adjustments to each element" and "Finally, determines the requirements for the elements of the subway construction".

2. The reviewer’s comment:

Introduction: Introduction should contain a flow diagram that summarizes the approach. Literature review should be separated from introduction section. Literature review should be extended by including all relevant and recent contributions. Research gaps should be presented in tabular form. The added value of this contribution must be described at the end of the literature review section.

The author’s answer:

Introduction：According to the comments of the reviewers, the introduction summarizes the methods in the form of text and picture. At the end of the introduction, the flow chart is drawn according to the technical route structure of this paper, the station type in the residential area is determined from the data collection of the station (Date Report, Passenger flow data, Surrounding environment, Function). The data analysis is carried out according to the collected data, and the passenger flow forecast (Trip volume forecasting, Travel distribution forecasting and Traffic choice forecasting) is carried out, so as to determine the internal (Ticket machines, Entrances and Exits, Transfer routes) and external (Structure of subway lines, Site selection, Connection with buses) construction of the station, and finally determine the construction selection according to the specifications. The technical roadmap is figure 1 of this paper, which is located in the first chapter of this paper.

Literature review: The literature review originally in the introduction has been extracted out as a new chapter with some supplements. The additions are as follows: The four-stage predict method was first proposed; On the basis of gravity model, Furness and Stouffer constructed the intervention opportunity model on the basis of gravity model and growth factor method, which was later improved and perfected by Schncider; In the division of the choices of transportation modes for trips, Gaudry and Dagenias improved the logit model by proposing BCD, Dogit model and generalized logit model, and supplemented the F-W algorithm which is widely used now; In the logit model, the basic framework of corridor analysis and passenger flow prediction proposed by Wang Shusheng is combined with the aggregate analysis represented by the logit model; In the development of short-term passenger flow prediction, T.M. hrushevska discussed the passenger flow law from the aspects of train timetable and based on this, he predicted the daily passenger flow of suburban railway, Sangsoo used ARIMA model to predict the short-term passenger flow, Zhao Yawei established a multi-dimensional time series short-term passenger flow prediction model by comprehensively considering the impact of legal holidays, tolls, weather and other external factors on expressway traffic flow, Meng Pinchao proposed a short-term passenger flow forecasting method for rail transit based on moving average method.

Research gaps and added value of contributions: At the end of the literature review, a table is introduced in the place of the sentence "Although the above achievements of the four-stage predict method, the previous studies still have some limitations. This study forms a more complete methodology by integrating passenger flow prediction with subway construction" is shown in the form of a table. On the left side of the table is limitations of previous studies, which focuses on determining the form and layout of the traffic network are determined by predicting the traffic passenger flow, and there are few studies on the internal construction of subway stations; While on the right column is the improvement of this study, which is improved to predict the number of future passenger flow, travel distribution and traffic choice through the variables in the mathematical model, so as to deeply analyze the construction of subway stations. The research gap comparison table is table 1 of this paper, which is located in Chapter 2.

3. The reviewer’s comment:

Mathematical modelling: section should be renamed into Methodology with relevant subsections.

The author’s answer:

Based on your suggestions, “Methodology” is used to replace of the former subtitle “Establishment of Mathematical Model”. Firstly, the title of "Establishment of mathematical model" in this article is changed to "Methodology". In addition, the relevant subsections " Forecasting passenger trips ", " Forecasting passenger trip distribution " and " Forecasting travel mode options " are changed to " Forecasting passenger trips by unit coefficient method ", " Forecasting passenger trip distribution by gravity model " and " Forecasting travel mode options by dis-aggregated analysis ".  Meanwhile, it is added to the description of this method that a paragraph "The method of predicting the annual traffic passenger flow in the future obtained by the mathematical model is called the forecast passenger flow, which has the characteristics of stage, similarity and growth. In this study, the classical four-stage predict method, which is widely used in urban rail transit passenger flow prediction at home and abroad, is used to put forward suggestions for the construction of subway stations both inside and outside. And it is verified by an example to explore a more practical and applicable construction of subway stations in residential areas" is added to the description of this method. In addition, according to the combination of the first three stages of the four-stage predict method and the analysis of the influencing factors of the subway station construction, the flow chart of the method is drawn. The process is predicting the passenger flow of urban rail transit (Forecast method, Forecast mode and Forecast content) based on the development status of rail, making suggestions based on the three-stage prediction method (Trip volume, Travel distribution and Traffic choice) in the prediction mode, and determining the internal and external construction of the subway station.

4. The reviewer’s comment:

Case study section should be added in order to separate methodology (the approach, the models) from its application.

The author’s answer:

As reviewer suggested that the fifth chapter of this paper is supplemented with case studies to demonstrate the formulas and mathematical models in this paper. In the case study, taking entrance C of Jinggangshan subway station in Huangdao District of Qingdao as an example, the passenger flow mainly comes from residential areas such as Dongfang yinzuo, Wuyishan community and No. 18 courtyard of Fuchunjiang road. The total number of households in the community, the number of current residents and the proportion of subway as the mode of travel obtained from the field survey are presented in the form of tables. Then, the unit coefficient method is used to multiply the travel generation coefficient with the current number of residents to obtain the value of future travel volume, and finally the predicted number of subway trips is calculated according to the proportion.

At the same time, the number of passengers entering the station in peak period is taken as the predicted number of subway passengers, and in combination with the current situation of Jinggangshan Road station entrance C, it is analyzed whether the existing internal construction of Jinggangshan Road station entrance C can meet the predicted passenger flow demand in the future. Finally, through the verification of formula (7), formula (8), formula (12) and the conditions of the escalator section at the entrance and exit in Table 6, it can be concluded that the current situation of Jinggangshan Road exit C meets the requirements of the future peak passenger flow.

The data of surrounding communities of Jinggangshan station and construction status of Jinggangshan C entrance and exit are table 9 and table 10 respectively, which are located in the case study in Chapter 5.

Special thanks to you for your good comments.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Ok, thank you

Author Response

Thanks for your positive comments. The manuscript has been revised with respect to the references and the methodology section.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Thank you again for your reply and comments on our manuscript entitled ‘‘Analysis of the factors affecting the construction of subway stations in residential areas’’. (ID: 1868252).The comments are most valuable and much helpful for us to revise the paper, and even significant to our research. We have made careful studies on your comments and revisions and improvements on the paper in the hope to meet your requirements. Revised parts are marked with “Track Changes” through the paper. Our corrections and explanations are as follows:

Responds to the reviewer’s comments:

1. The reviewer’s comment:

The added value authors have listed in the Table 1, is not enough to justify the publication of the paper => add more research gaps, or improve the methodology.

The author’s answer:

We are deeply sorry for the negligence of the added value listed in Table 1.As the reviewer suggested that the author has made some revisions following the above suggestion.In terms of format, the original Table 1 is divided into current Table 1 and Table 2, the former involving the previous research opinion, and the latter giving the improvement made by this research.In terms of content, the two tables compare the research views with three elements of forecasting passenger trips, forecasting passenger trip distribution and forecasting travel mode options.

In the forecast elements of passenger trips, the previous research introduced the prediction models of non-home-based trips and work travel to predict the total travel volume and attraction of residents, while according to the improvement of this paper, the attraction conditions for residents to travel are divided into three models: work, study and shopping. With different attraction intensities, opinions are given on the construction location of the station. At the same time, in order to meet the predicted long-term peak passenger flow, the internal construction conditions of the station are analyzed; In the forecast elements of passenger trip distribution,the previous research viewpoint is that under the influence of traffic impedance parameters, the travel distribution among different communities is predicted by using the gravity model or composite gravity model based on logit model.But after the improvement of this paper, on the basis of resident distribution prediction, the stations are classified and selected according to the connectivity, passenger arrivals, station exits and other indicators. In addition, in order to meet the higher travel volume, the construction elements of stations are proposed in urban traffic planning and regional planning based on the time and distance coefficients in the impedance coefficient; In the forecast elements of travel mode options,previous research points are: In different stages of planning, gravity model and dis-aggregated analysis method are used to predict the transportation mode selected by residents. The gravity model predicts the distribution of a certain traffic mode by introducing impedance coefficient; The dis-aggregated analysis method method calculates the probability of selecting a certain mode of transportation by individual based on the utility difference of different modes of transportation.And now when introducing the gravity model and dis-aggregated analysis method, this paper takes time as the influence factor to give opinions on the internal construction conditions of the station, so as to reduce the travel time of passenger flow on the road and increase the proportion of subway as the transportation mode. In the online network length formula, the proportion of subway trips can be increased by strengthening the load intensity of rail transit lines or reducing the interchange coefficient.

2. The reviewer’s comment:

Literature review is still missing some important recent references, for example, authors of the paper “The Effect of Metro Construction on the Air Quality in the Railway Transport System of Sydney, Australia”, consider air quality as an additional factor of metro construction.

The author’s answer:

We have made correction according to the reviewer’s comments.In the literature review, the following adjustments were made:In terms of format, two new paragraphs are added.In terms of content, the first paragraph focuses on the application field of the combination of TOD mode and subway station construction, citing the research results of Mohammad MahdiSafaee, John L Renne, He Donghua and others respectively.Taking Tehran's transportation as an example in his study, Mohammad Mahdisafaee believed through practice that the construction of Tehran station could release the development potential of the underground area in the area; John L Renne, through the application of railway TOD mode, identified that TOD mode will be affected by the allocation of funds, land resources and interests of relevant departments in the application process; He Donghua believes that the development of TOD mode in China should take into consideration the local conditions, including the current situation of resources, land development intensity and spatial layout.

The second paragraph holds that at present, the impact of scholars on the site construction is not limited to the passenger flow, which is further discussed in this paragraph. By analyzing the research conclusions of Sancha, Wang Bingbing, Feng Guoqiang, Larpruenrudee P and others, we can get many other factors on the station construction. Sancha pointed out in the study that the technical impact of transfer efficiency should be the maximum passenger capacity that a given area in the station can accommodate; Wang Bingbing analyzed the core impact factors such as accessibility, environmental elements and spatial characteristics to achieve a higher standard of built-up environmental quality and use efficiency; Feng Guoqiang studied the relationship between rail transit and population size in provincial capital cities, and found that rail transit has a relatively obvious effect on congestion control in cities with a resident population of 6 million to 9 million. Larpruenrudee P analyzed the concentrations of particulate matter (PM), main pollutants formaldehyde (Hcio) and organic compounds (TVOC) by sampling the ground station of Sydney T3 line under construction,and found that the construction of Sydney Metro had little impact on the air quality in the railway station.

 

3. The reviewer’s comment:

Reference section contains errors (for example, [18] capital letters for journal name, [11] author initials… References in the text are not consistent.

The author’s answer:

Special thanks to you for your good comments.

We have tried our best to improve the manuscript without any damages to the content and framework of the paper.

We appreciate your significant and valuable advices and suggestions. Thank you all very much.