The impact of opening hours on the equity of individual space–time accessibility

Abstract

While many studies have concentrated on the effects of the spatial distribution of services on individual accessibility, only little is known about the ways in which equity of individual accessibility is affected by the temporal organisation of service delivery. This paper seeks to deepen our understanding about the relationship between accessibility, equity and the opening hours of public service facilities on the basis of space-time accessibility measures. Three approaches based on different equity principles are presented to schedule the opening hours of public service facilities: a utilitarian, an egalitarian and a distributive approach. A case study of public libraries in Ghent (Belgium) demonstrates the relevance of these approaches for amending the opening hours of public services to control the equity of accessibility levels across individuals.

Toward a spatial-temporal measure of land-use mix

“…An account of the temporal availability of urban opportunities offers significant insight into the ways that certain individuals or market segments may be affected by variations in the opening hours of facilities found in a neighborhood (Weber and Kwan 2002). Thus, the creation of a mix metric accounting for temporal availability has an ability to evaluate how different opening hour configurations for certain types of services may benefit or hinder those individual disparities in accessing basic human services (Delafontaine et al 2011). Without consideration for temporal constraints such as opening hours, conventional mix measures have remained insensitive to fluctuations in the availability of certain activities over the course of a day or week.…”

An analysis of day-to-day variations in individual space–time accessibility

“…They seek, among others, to respond to the time-space inequalities that have emerged from particular macro changes in society including the diversification of lifestyles and the rise in dual-earner families. In this context, time-specific accessibility measures, as those suggested in this paper, may help to achieve a deeper understanding of the ways in which opening hours of urban service delivery can be better attuned to the changed activities and travel patterns of citizens (Delafontaine et al, 2011). Likewise, they may help to obtain a better grasp of the temporal aspects of mobility-related social exclusion (Lyons, 2003;Kenyon and Lyons, 2007;Farber and Paez, 2009;Farber et al, 2011).…”

Aportaciones al estudio de la sostenibilidad bibliotecaria: las emisiones de CO2 del servicio de apertura de fin de semana de la biblioteca de la Universidad de Vigo

“…En parte por el enfoque de la calidad del servicio entendida como satisfacción del usuario, muchas bibliotecas han tratado de ampliar sus horarios con el horizonte de la apertura 24x7, esto es, 24 horas los siete días de la semana, aunque sin reparar en los costes energéticos y ambientales asociados. Hasta la fecha el estudio específico de los horarios bibliotecarios no ha suscitado demasiada atención (Curry, 2003) y aunque más recientemente se ha investigado su relación con la equidad del acceso a los servicios bibliotecarios (Delafontaine et al, 2011), sobre todo han preocupado las dimensiones organizativas de la ampliación de los horarios (Steele, Walters, 2001;Moore, Creaser, 2010), entre ellas la exigencia de medios humanos y económicos. En cambio, no parece que el tema se haya tratado desde el punto de vista de su sostenibilidad económica y aún menos ambiental, algo justificable en la medida en que, junto al consumo energético, las aperturas producen efectos ambientales en forma de emisión de GEI.…”