Public transit is a popular mode of transit due to its affordability, despite the inconveniences due to the necessity of transfers required to reach most areas. For example, in the bus and metro network of New Delhi, only 30% of stops can be directly accessed from any starting point, thus requiring transfers for most commutes. Additionally, last-mile services like rickshaws, tuk-tuks or shuttles are commonly used as feeders to the nearest public transit access points, which further adds to the complexity and inefficiency of a journey. Ultimately, users often face a tradeoff between coverage and transfers to reach their destination, regardless of the mode of transit or the use of last-mile services. To address the problem of limited accessibility and inefficiency due to transfers in public transit systems, we propose ``opti-mile," a novel trip planning approach that combines last-mile services with public transit such that no transfers are required. Opti-mile allows users to customise trip parameters such as maximum walking distance, and acceptable fare range. We analyse the transit network of New Delhi, evaluating the efficiency, feasibility and advantages of opti-mile for optimal multi-modal trips between randomly selected source-destination pairs. We demonstrate that opti-mile trips lead to a 10% reduction in distance travelled for 18% increase in price compared to traditional shortest paths. We also show that opti-mile trips provide better coverage of the city than public transit, without a significant fare increase.

翻译：公共交通因其经济性而成为广受欢迎的出行方式，但大多数区域需通过换乘才能到达，这带来了诸多不便。例如，在新德里的公交与地铁网络中，仅有30%的站点可从任意起点直达，因此大多数通勤都需要换乘。此外，像三轮车、嘟嘟车或摆渡车这类最后一公里服务常被用作前往最近公交接入点的接驳工具，这进一步增加了行程的复杂性与低效性。最终，无论采用何种交通方式或是否使用最后一公里服务，用户通常都需在覆盖范围与换乘次数之间做出权衡。为解决公共交通系统中因换乘导致的有限可达性与低效性问题，我们提出“Opti-Mile”——一种全新的行程规划方法，该方案将最后一公里服务与公共交通相结合，从而无需换乘。Opti-Mile允许用户自定义行程参数，例如最大步行距离和可接受票价范围。我们分析了新德里的交通网络，评估了Opti-Mile在随机选取的起终点对之间实现最优多模式行程的效率、可行性与优势。与传统最短路径相比，Opti-Mile行程在价格提升18%的同时，出行距离减少了10%。我们还表明，Opti-Mile行程比公共交通提供了更优的城市覆盖范围，且未显著增加票价。