A stop area divides a stop into areas. An area can for example represent a bus or train station platform, an intersection with stop points, a P&R car park, a station concourse, etc. A stop area is assigned to a single stop and can comprise several stop points.
Stop areas are used on the one hand to determine transfer walk times between the stop areas of a stop. They combine stop points which do not differ from other stop points with respect to their transfer walk times. If for example at a railway station the stop points of the individual platforms are combined into a single stop area and the bus stops on the forecourt as well, this makes it possible to include closely separated minimum transfer times from rail to rail, rail to bus, and bus to bus. The matrix of transfer walk times (From Stop Area – To Stop Area) can indicate which public transport walk system (for example, stairs, escalator, lift, ground-level walkway) is used. The transfer time for a demand segment is always the minimum time required for all permitted PuTWalk systems. User group-dependent transfer times, for example for mobility-impaired persons, can be modeled by permitting selected PuTWalk systems (for example, ground-level walkways and lifts) only for specific demand segments. Stop areas can also represent intermediary levels in large station areas. In this case, while transfer times to other stop areas exist, the stop area itself does not contain stop points.
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Note: The transfer walk times (transfer walk times matrix) between the stop areas is defined at the stop. |
The second function of stop areas is to connect stops to zones and the walkway network beyond the stop. As an option, to each stop area a network node which can be reached with the same transfer times like each stop point of the area can be allocated. The time within a stop area (diagonal of the transition matrix) is not used for the transfer to the access node. Via this network node, PuT paths can change from a public transport line to links with PuT Walk or PuT Aux transport systems as well as to connections to zones and vice versa.
