ISSN 1075-7007, Studies on Russian Economic Development, 2019, Vol. 30, No. 6, pp. 692–699. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2019. Russian Text © The Author(s), 2019. REGIONAL PROBLEMS Transport Accessibility as an Indicator of Regional Development P. A . L av r i n e n k o a, *, A. A. Romashkinab, P. S. Stepanovc, and P. A. Chistyakovc aInstitute of Economic Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia bMoscow State University, Moscow, Russia cInfrastructure Economics Centre, Moscow, Russia *e-mail: [email protected] Received July 18, 2018; revised October 10, 2018; accepted February 18, 2019 Abstract—The article examines the factors determining the transport accessibility of territories, as well as pro- vides a brief overview of possible approaches to the calculation of the complex indicator of transport accessi- bility and the method of its calculation. Using this methodology, a quantitative assessment of the transport accessibility of the regions of the Russian Federation is obtained. DOI: 10.1134/S1075700719060091 Transport accessibility as an economic and geo- account some geographical features of the territory graphical category is defined in the scientific literature (for example, the configuration of the network of set- differently: in relation to the transportation industry as tlements), technological features of transport infra- an industry indicator, to social development as a factor structure (speed), as well as the aviation connectivity of travel behavior of the population, to economic of the territory. development as a factor of efficiency of economic rela- These problems are partially solved using a more tions. Improving transport accessibility is declared as complex formula for calculating the transport devel- one of the priority goals in the Transport Strategy of opment on the basis of a composite index of Uspen- the Russian Federation, a Draft Concept of Spatial sky’s coefficient (Engel’s and Yuzuru Kato’s coeffi- Development of the Russian Federation, the target cient), considering cargo turnover. programs of transport development and other strategic When assessing transport accessibility, indicators documents of the Federal and regional levels, as well describing the connectivity of the transport network as in scientific papers [1–3]. The precise definition of are important. this indicator and the formalized approach to its cal- μ culation are of great practical importance. Thus, in [7] the cyclomatic number ( ) reflecting A large number of scientific works has been the total number of network cycles1 is calculated: devoted to the issue of transport accessibility by both μ=ep −v + , foreign and domestic researchers (see, for example where v is the total number of vertices in the graph2; e [2, 4–6]). Many works focus on the study of transport 3 networks as key elements forming transport accessibil- is the number of edges in the graph; p is the number ity. Also, these works specify that transport accessibil- of autonomous components in the graph. Another important indicator characterizing the transport net- ity is in many respects related to the indicators of δ transport development (provision) of the territory. work is the topological diameter ( ), the minimum distance expressed by the number of edges between the The classical and most common way to assess most distant points of the graph. The more the net- transport development is to calculate it on the basis of work is developed, the more cycles it contains and the standard statistical data: smaller the diameter value with the same number of – Density of the transport network per N square km. vertices. – Provision of transport infrastructure per N people. Russian geographer V. N. Bugromenko [8, 9] intro- – Engel’s and Yuzuru Kato’s coefficient (a combi- duced the indicator of integrated transport accessibil- nation of the two above indicators). 1 Cycle is a closed loop of transport links (edges) in the network. The main drawback of such calculations is that 2 these indicators do not give a clear answer to the ques- Graph is a simplified diagram-drawing of the relative positions of points (nodes) and lines of the transport network, a set of the tion whether the level of transport development is suf- nonempty set of vertices and sets of pairs of vertices (edges). ficient to perform the tasks of socio-economic devel- 3 An edge of a graph is a line connecting a pair of adjacent vertices opment. Also, these coefficients do not take into of a graph. 692 TRANSPORT ACCESSIBILITY AS AN INDICATOR OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT 693 ity of messages from one node of the system to any information on travel time between regions of the Rus- other. The final formula of integrated transport acces- sian Federation5 by three modes of transport. sibility (G) by Bugromenko is as follows: – Car (including private car and bus transport). GttZ=ϕ[1 − (12 + ) ] + , –Railway. –Air. where t1 is the number of paths (connectivity) coeffi- cient, in other words accessibility of the node from the Moscow oblast and Leningrad oblast join Moscow entire transport network; t2 is a coefficient of configu- and St. Petersburg, respectively, as they form a single ration reserve, in other words additional (reserve) transport complex with common stations and airports. cycles (communication paths) in the transport net- The same applies to the Republic of Crimea and Sev- work (the sum of t1 and t2 for optimal network config- astopol. urations is approximately 0.2); ϕ is partial connectivity The travel time for each mode of transport is deter- (or linear neighborhood), which characterizes the mined in a different way. availability of highways; Z is a transport focus of the For road transport, it is recommended to calculate territory (characterizes the density of the transport the travel time on the basis of open source data pro- network), some constant minimum distance at the vided by map services that offer information about the current time in kilometers, which must be overcome to real road situation (for example, Yandex traffic). reach any point of the territory at an advantageous position of the observed node. Aerospace images available to the public supply the information on the characteristics of the road network Russian scientific literature provides a number of sections. More detailed characteristics are contained approaches to the assessment of transport accessibility in the official documents of the road administration, at the level of specific regions [10–12], within which as well as the statistics on traffic parameters on road such concepts as “transport focus of the territory”, sections, which is also at the road administration dis- “coefficient of the availability of modes of transport”, posal, and from the owners of road video cameras. “coefficient of the configuration reserve of the trans- When compiling a matrix showing the travel time port network” are introduced. However, these indica- by communications (routes), it is recommended to tors typically do not take into account the actual travel add three additional hours for every eight hours of time from point A to point B; in addition, accessibility travel for rest, stops refueling and other purposes. is estimated only by individual modes of transport, and not by their totality. For railway transport by communications (routes), following a direct service, it is recommended to use In this paper, transport accessibility is defined as 6 the possibility of reaching any territory (in this case, time-weighted average for all trains running in this the regions of the Russian Federation) using all kinds direction. Where there are no direct routes between of transport infrastructure. cities, it is necessary to arrange7 a complex route of two Methods of assessing the transport accessibility of the or three routes by rail. For example, if there is no direct regions of the Russian Federation. Within the frame- rail service from point A to point B, the model builds work of the methodology, we propose to assess the a route from point A to point C first and then from C transport accessibility of the territory for the popula- to B. In this case, point C is defined in such a way that tion through the total transport costs, which include the total travel time between A and B is minimal. actual costs (direct costs, i.e., fare, fuel costs, etc.) and If there is no railway station in one of the regional travel time (indirect costs) to the region for all residents centers, the travel time by road to the nearest transport living in the country, by various modes of transport. node with the railway station is added to the travel Transport accessibility of regions is defined as the time. The further route is laid in accordance with the accessibility of the centers of the subjects of the Rus- above methodology. 4 For air transport in cases where there are no direct sian Federation . flights between cities, it is necessary to develop a com- Further description refers to the subjects of the plex route, combinations of two or three flights by air, Russian Federation, however it can also be applied to the calculation is carried out by analogy with rail. If smaller units of administrative-territorial structure. one of the regions does not have an airport, the travel The calculation of transport accessibility of regions time is added to the travel time by road to the nearest of the Russian Federation consists of several phases. 5 As of the 2nd quarter of 2018. In case of change in the number Phase 1. To determine travel time. The first stage of and division of administrative-territorial units, the total number calculation involves matrix compiling, which contains of regions for calculating the indicator of transport accessibility may change. 4 With the exception of Stavropol krai, Khanty-Mansi Autono- 6 In terms of train count. mous okrug – Yugra and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous okrug, 7 It is recommended to use the transport model of road, rail and where the following cities are chosen as the transport centers, air communication with the basic parameters of infrastructure Mineralnye Vody, Surgut and Novy Urengoy, respectively, as the and the location of these objects to automate the optimization most significant transport and economic centers in these areas.