Dostępność transportu publicznego w wybranych średniej wielkości miastach Pomorza Środkowego

Abstract

The aim of the article was to compare the availability of public transport in medium-sized cities in Central Pomerania – Kołobrzeg, Szczecinek, Wałcz, and Białogard. With the focus on the spatial availability of public transport infrastructure and the routes served by urban transport, which were compared using the method of standardized value sums, allowing for the comparison of indicators with different value ranges. Attention was also given to the accessibility of reaching bus stops, which was examined using network analyses carried out in the GIS environment, especially in the context of population distribution and the frequency of urban bus services. Economic accessibility was also compared based on ticket pricing. The analyses utilized publicly available statistical data from the Local Data Bank of the Central Statistical Office (GUS), spatial data obtained from the Topographic Objects Database (BDOT) and the Open Street Map database, as well as the bus timetables current as of May 2024. The results allowed for a comparison of the availability of urban transport systems and revealed disparities in various areas of functioning. The system existing in Kołobrzeg achieved the highest scores in most aspects of the study and was the only one where no significant shortcomings were observed. In the other cities, the flaws mainly concerned: the small number of routes serving individual neighborhoods, which are peripheral relative to the city center (Szczecinek, Wałcz, Białogard); low values of geographical accessibility indicators, whose causes can be found in the functional-spatial structure and area of the city (Szczecinek); and the small number of ticket discounts compared to the other analyzed centers (Białogard). The conducted studies can serve as a basis for further, more detailed analyses of the availability of urban transport systems or be used for their further expansion and the shaping of urban transport policy in accordance with the principles of sustainable development and meeting the transport needs of residents.