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. 2025 Jun 17;20(6):e0326114.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0326114. eCollection 2025.

Spatio-temporal heterogeneity of metro ridership under major epidemic conditions

Baixi Shi  1 , Lijie Yu  1 , Qi Yang  2 , Na Zhang  1 , Nanxi Yang  1
Affiliations

Spatio-temporal heterogeneity of metro ridership under major epidemic conditions

Baixi Shi et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

The COVID-19 epidemic has significantly altered travelers' behavior, therefore influenced how land use impacts subway ridership. This paper investigates these changes by employing a Geographically and Temporally Weighted Regression (GTWR) model to analyze the spatial and temporal impacts throughout the pandemic. The findings reveal that the outbreak notably reduced metro trip generation across all land use types except residential. Post-pandemic, the influence of workplace, park and green space, and educational land uses in the city center increased. Additionally, workplace land use in rapidly developing areas emerged as a critical factor in boosting metro travel post-epidemic. These insights suggest that commuting, school travel, and outdoor recreation are primary drivers of subway ridership recovery. These results can assist local governments and metro managers in optimizing land use planning and development strategies in the future.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Literature classification by epidemic stages.
Fig 2
Fig 2. The average annual passenger volume of each metro line and the network in Xi’an from 2011 to 2023 (In 2023, the average volume calculate the first three months).
Fig 3
Fig 3. The mean fitting coefficient of the independent variablesTemporal effects.
Fig 4
Fig 4. The mean fitting coefficient of the independent variables in weekday.
Fig 5
Fig 5. The mean fitting coefficient of the independent variables in weekend.
Fig 6
Fig 6. The spatial fitting results for workplace areas in weekday of 2023.
Fig 7
Fig 7. The spatial fitting results for medical land in weekday of 2023.
Fig 8
Fig 8. The spatial fitting results for park and green space in weekday of 2023.
Fig 9
Fig 9. The spatial fitting results for education land in weekday of 2023.
Fig 10
Fig 10. The spatial fitting results for residential land in weekday of 2023.
Fig 11
Fig 11. The differentiation of spatial fitting results for workplace areas in workday between 2023 and 2019.
Fig 12
Fig 12. The differentiation of spatial fitting results for medical land in workday between 2023 and 2019.
Fig 13
Fig 13. The differentiation of spatial fitting results for park and green space in workday between 2023 and 2019.
Fig 14
Fig 14. The differentiation of spatial fitting results for education land in workday between 2023 and 2019.
Fig 15
Fig 15. The differentiation of spatial fitting results for residential land in workday between 2023 and 2019.
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