Impact of utility-based accessibility measures on urban public transportation planning: A case study of Denizli, Turkey

•We evaluated accessibility as efficiency indicator in public transport planning.•Scenarios were generated for Denizli, Turkey.•UPT assignments were performed by VISUM™ traffic simulation software.•Evaluating utility-based measures provides a more effective decision process.

As it is considerably difficult to identify specific changes by using a single numeric parameter, improvements gained by a new urban public transport (UPT) facility or by an operation policy is still a challenge in the decision-making process with respect to transportation planning. Although some indicators such as service quality, capacity usage ratio, service kilometers, passenger kilometers or seat kilometers are used by planners and policy makers, these indicators may not always reflect the total gain of trip makers: to access a facility providing a specific utility. Thus, this study aims to evaluate accessibility measures as performance indicators in the UPT planning process. Three scenarios that consist of timetable regulation, central business district restriction and integration with bus rapid transit are investigated using accessibility perspective in addition to the conventional indicators obtained by using VISUM™ travel demand modeling software. The results show that the first scenario leads to a more effective UPT system in terms of accessibility. Hence, a more distinctive measure is obtained for the decision stage of UPT planning.