TITLE:
Study on the Spatiotemporal Evolution of Highway Passenger Transport Network Structure Characteristics Based on Social Network Analysis Method—A Case Study of Longgang City, Pingyang County, and Cangnan County in Zhejiang Province
AUTHORS:
Shaowei Huang
KEYWORDS:
Social Network Analysis, Highway Passenger Transport Network, Structural Characteristics, Spatiotemporal Evolution
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.12 No.11,
November
10,
2025
ABSTRACT: Currently, Pingyang County, Cangnan County, and Longgang City are promoting the integrated development of the three regions. Against this background, the transportation system, especially the highway passenger transport network, serves as an infrastructure carrier that connects different regions and facilitates the flow of factors. Its structural characteristics and operational efficiency directly affect the realization degree and development quality of regional integration. Taking Longgang City, Pingyang County, and Cangnan County in Zhejiang Province as the research area, this study utilizes highway passenger transport schedule data from 2020 and 2025, and applies social network analysis method, including network density, node centrality, and node connection strength, to investigate the spatiotemporal evolution of the structural characteristics of the highway passenger transport network among these three regions. The findings are as follows: 1) In terms of passenger transport network density, the density of the highway passenger transport network in 2025 was 22.23, which was higher than 16.67 in 2020. The passenger transport connection strength of the highway passenger transport network in 2025 was enhanced, indicating that the connections between nodes have become closer and the overall level of transportation integration of the highway passenger transport network has been improved. 2) From the perspective of passenger transport connection strength between nodes, the number of node pairs with strong passenger transport connections in 2025 was greater than that in 2020, while the number of node pairs with weak passenger transport connections was less than that in 2020. This suggests that the level of transportation integration based on the highway passenger transport network is gradually improving. 3) Regarding node centrality, from 2020 to 2025, the number of first-level nodes and second-level nodes remained stable, the number of third-level nodes increased by 5, and the number of fourth-level nodes and fifth-level nodes decreased by 1 and 4 respectively.