Citywide Metro-to-Bus Transfer Behavior Identification Based on Combined Data from Smart Cards and GPS

The aim of this study is to develop a fast data fusion method for recognizing metro-to-bus transfer trips based on combined data from smart cards and a GPS system. The method is intended to establish station- and time-specific elapsed time thresholds for overcoming the limitations of one-size-fits-all criterion which is not sufficiently convincing for different transfer pairs and personal characteristics. Firstly, a data fusion method with bus smart card data and GPS data is proposed to supplement absent bus boarding information in the smart card data. Then, a model for identifying metro-to-bus interchange trips is derived based on two rules about maximal allowable transfer distance and elapsed transfer time threshold. Finally, in tests that used half-monthly field smart card data and GPS data from Shenzhen, China, the results recognized by the proposed method were more consistent with the actual surveyed group transfer time with a P value of 0.17 determined by Mann–Whitney U test. The comparison analysis showed that the proposed method can be widely applied to successfully identify and interpret metro-to-bus interchange behavior beyond a static transfer time threshold of 30 min.