Accessibility appraisal of integrated land-use – transport strategies: methodology and case study for the Netherlands Randstad area

Conventional approaches to measuring accessibility benefits are not capable of fully measuring the total accessibility benefits of integrated land-use – transport strategies, in which both land-use and transport changes form part of the policy strategy. In this paper a comprehensive methodology for analysing accessibility impacts and accessibility benefits, which is based on location-based and utility-based accessibility measures within an integrated land-use – transport interaction modelling framework, is described and applied in a case study. The case study examines the accessibility benefits and related user benefits of intensive mixed-use strategies aimed at increasing the density and diversity of activities around railway stations for the Randstad area of the Netherlands for the 1996 – 2030 period. A heavy concentration of activities near railway stations is shown to result in decreasing marginal returns for public-transport users and disbenefits for car users.