Dynamic Evolution Analysis of Metro Network Connectivity and Bottleneck Identification: From the Perspective of Individual Cognition

Metro network connectivity is crucial for ensuring reliable operation of metro systems. Despite the rich literature on the connectivity analysis of transportation network, very little attention has been paid to passengers’ heterogeneous cognition toward congestion and connectivity incorporating subjective judgment. In this paper, we develop a data-driven framework to analyze metro network connectivity evolution involving individual cognition by characterizing it as a transit percolation process. The concept of individual tolerance index of congestion and a measure named network friendliness are proposed. By comparing individual tolerance index and friendliness of metro network, metro network connectivity with regard to different passengers can be depicted quantitatively. The evolution of network connectivity can be monitored both as individual tolerance changes and as time goes on. We also demonstrate how global transit breaks down when the identified bottlenecks are congested from the perspective of the passengers’ cognition. The proposed method is validated using a real-world case of the Shenzhen Metro in China. Results show that the proposed method is effective in capturing the dynamic evolution of the Shenzhen metro network connectivity and enable effective identification of transit bottlenecks. The network connectivity and friendliness are found to be significantly increased through a small improvement of the bottlenecks pinpointed.