Urban Public Transport Accessibility to Medical Services From the Perspective of Residents' Travel: A Hybrid Assessment Based on the Whole Process

Equitable access to efficient medical services via public transport has always been one of the most important issues of healthcare in urban development. To accurately measure the urban public transport accessibility to medical services (PTAMS), this research proposes a hybrid assessment method based on multiple public-transport related indicators, including time, cost, and walking rate, which considers the whole process of residents' public transport travel. The presented assessment technique is then applied in a case of Xi'an, China. Through the classification of medical facilities and PTAMS levels, the results show that: (a) PTAMS value of 3,080 residential areas in Xi'an are highly consistent with the standard normal distribution; (b) More than 80% of residential areas can obtain high PTAMS when considering the use of Class 1 (large-scale) hospitals, while the high PTAMS of Class 2 (small-scale) ones can only cover less than 40% residential areas; (c) There is obvious spatial heterogeneity in the distribution of PTAMS in Class 2 hospitals and a serious lack of medical equity; (d) Among large hospitals, the private ones retain higher PTAMS and equitability, making themselves best choice for residents, which is opposed to the government's purpose of establishing public hospitals; (e) PTAMS of most residents substantially dropped about 4% during the morning peak-hour. However, subway protects PTAMS of nearby residents. This research provides references and suggestions on how to improve residents' PTAMS under the existing public transport network and medical facilities layout.

Automated summary

This research proposes a hybrid assessment method based on multiple public-transport related indicators and applies it in a case study of Xi'an, China. The results show significant disparities in urban public transport accessibility to medical services in residential areas of Xi'an, with private hospitals performing better in maintaining higher levels of accessibility and equity in public transport accessibility.