Assessing Cyclists’ Accessibility into Railway Stations Through a User-Centered Indicator

Nowadays, there is a growing interest in integrated sustainable transportation. Bike-train intermodality is one of the sustainable modes of transport, combining long-distance service and reaching the last mile. However, bike-train intermodality development both presents challenges for transport service providers and has its drawbacks for users who prefer connections that do not require changing between transport modes. The challenge consists of providing a better transition during changes between transport modes. This can be accomplished through understanding the needs of travelers followed by the implementation of infrastructural changes and the expansion of targeted services that increase the accessibility of the nodal points. Cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-benefit analysis, and a multicriteria decision process are some of the methods that can be used to allocate resources that could improve bike-train intermodality. This research extended the concept of resource allocation to a new multilevel weighted indicator (AxI) that measured the level of accessibility of bikes into railway stations to identify the criticalities and define the priority of interventions. The proposed method was applied in thirty-three Italian railway stations of different sizes. The results showed that the proposed indicator was a valid tool for railway station infrastructure managers and all stakeholders involved for prioritizing interventions related to the advancement of bike-train intermodality. The AxI indicator is a lean methodology to identify the exigencies and communicate them to the parties involved in the management and actualization. The AxI lays the groundwork for a straightforward discussion on resource distribution priorities.