Abstract:
Accessibility, the ease of accessing a facility, is one of the key measures for urban transportation planning. There
have beenvarious studies conducted for calculation of accessibility using motorised modes in urban areas. This
paper computes the accessibility to various facilities by walking in world’s largest mass religious gathering,
Kumbh Mela2
. In doing so, it serves as one of the missing links in the contextual studies for accessibility. The
gravity type exponential method is used in this study for calculation of accessibility. Accessibility to various
facilities was computed and the sectors in study area were classified into high and low accessible sectors. The
impedance parameter β of time and distance came out to be lowest for visiting thetemple, which shows the
willingness and motivation of the users to walk longer distances for this particular activity type. Consequently,
heat maps of accessibility index were developed as a sample case for drinking water stalls with walking as a
mode andtime and distance being the impedance variables. Further, sectors with redundant facilities were also
identified. This work, with its findings aims to equip the organizing agencies and decision-making authorities
with tool/ methodology to better plan and organize such mass religious gatherings and also use it to identify
service gaps in planning of facilities during such events by using the knowledge and understanding of accessibility measures in similar contexts.
