Abstract

Tokyo’s railway station areas are models of transit-oriented design. To differentiate them from transit-oriented developments (TOD), the term rail integrated community (RIC) has been created to describe these high density, safe, mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly developments around railway stations that act as community hubs, served by frequent, all-day, rail rapid transit and are accessed primarily on foot, by bicycle, or by public transit. Japanese private railways have been instrumental in creating these RICs. Though they receive little financial support from the government, private railways in Japan achieve profitability by diversifying into real estate, retail, and numerous other businesses. Tokyu Corporation is used as the case study to exemplify how government policy and socioeconomic context contributed to the successful private railway model. Ten indicators, such as ridership, population density and mode share are used to analyze two stations created by Tokyu to demonstrate how this model is manifested in Tokyu’s rail integrated communities.

Abstract

The ability to walk or ride a bike safely to and from metro stations is essential to the success of any metro service, especially for car users switching to the service. The main purpose of this study is to develop and apply a simple method to assess, compare, and rank walkability around different metro stations, with a priority order and specific recommendations for improvements. The proposed method depends on extracting different walkability variables in the catchment areas around metro stations. Three catchment areas around three proposed metro stations in the emerging city of Doha, Qatar were investigated using the proposed method to demonstrate its usefulness. The method was successful in comparing and ranking the different catchment areas, in addition to identifying priority areas for walkability enhancements in each area. This method is simple and can benefit professionals, practitioners, and policy makers to make swift decisions for future corrective measures, and can also be used to evaluate changes over time. 2018 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Scopu