Integrated location-allocation of private car and public transport users : primary health care facility allocation in the Oulu Region of Finland

Abstract

<div lang="en" class="abs"><p class="abs_header">Abstract</p><p>The Finnish healthcare system is currently under significant reorganization, and new service providers are accessing emerging markets. Easy and equal accesses to services are key factors for good-quality health care. Locally available services will also reduce the need for passenger car travel, if public transport may be easily used. Network accessibility-based location-allocation analyses are commonly applied to locating services in a normative manner with travel distance or car travel time attributes. Again, multimodal accessibility is often measured in a positive context. However, location-allocation analyses including simultaneously two or more separate travel mode layers are rarely conducted. This paper applies p-median type location-allocation analysis in geographic information systems (GIS) with network data including integrated public transport and car-user routing. The aim is to find new optimal sites for primary health care services by taking potential public transport travels into account, in addition to passenger car travels. A key part of the analysis is the time estimates of bus and walking routes, which are based on the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) and walkable road network. For location-allocation, potential, bus users are routed from home locations to all potential service locations via the fastest available transit connections within a defined time period. By connecting this connectivity matrix to car travel estimates, public transport and car travels may be integrated in the analysis. By integrating public transport and car travelling in location-allocation, the coverage and the efficiency of the service network in the Oulu and Kempele city regions may be developed in a way that is more favourable to public transport users.</p></div>