2005/01/12 by C. von Ferber, Yu. Holovatch, V. Palchykov
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.dis-nn
published as Condens. Matter Phys. 8:225 (2005) · 9 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2005/01/12 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
We analyse the statistical properties of public transport networks. These networks are defined by a set of public transport routes (bus lines) and the stations serviced by these. For larger networks these appear to possess a scale-free structure, as it is demonstrated e.g. by the Zipf law distribution of the number of routes servicing a given station or for the distribution of the number of stations which can be visited from the chosen one without changing the means of transport. Moreover, a rather particular feature of the public transport network is that many routes service common subsets of stations. We discuss the possibility of new scaling laws that govern intrinsic features of such subsets.