Social and economic flows across multimodal transportation networks in the Greater Tokyo Area

Abstract We model the flow of human capital and resources across multimodal transportation networks throughout the Greater Tokyo Area. Our transportation networks include trains, buses, and roads integrated with a walking network among a geographically grounded hexagonal grid and connecting nodes of different modes. The hexagonal grid holds data on both the working population and number of jobs from which we built probability distributions for the origins and destinations of commuting trips. Using both the network simplex method and stochastically generated origin-destination trips we estimate the population flows necessary to satisfy this demand. Rather than micro-simulations of actual commuting patterns, congestion, or route planning, our approach aims to uncover patterns in the aggregate flow of human resources to and from economic opportunities. We describe the details of the socioeconomic data, network generation, and the results of our exploratory analysis, then discuss the implications of these findings for transportation usage and future work.