Passengers, both actual and potential, have a certain idea about the accessibility (in the geographical sense of the word meaning «possibility of access») offered by an urban public transport network. The dependent factors are linked to the individual (status, usual method of transport, his urban experience,...) ; to the characteristics of the journey, real or virtual; his own perception of the transport offer as well as his perception of the area covered by the network. Planning generally takes the first two elements into account. The generalized costs of travel are calculated (journey time and value of time) or activity programmes are determined. The aim of this study is to examine those elements not normally taken into account but which affect what we label topological representation.Due to the «anisotropy» which a public transport network creates between different directions or more specifically the different routes within the space, it modifies the distance between points, thus creating a special time-space. It transforms the relative positions of places, or in other words the topology.In this way, the transport network plays on the feelings of nearness, distance and the idea of connection. It transforms both the limits of the territory an individual belongs to and the neighbouring areas.It can thus be seen using mental maps as a form of analysis, that the network influences our representation of space.Mental maps play a supporting role to an individual's transport strategy. Due to the effect of feedback, the maps have a direct or indirect influence on the structuration of even spatial networks by selective activation or decline of certain areas.The knowledge of the relationship between territorial structures and cognitive schematic description of actions using mental maps, can contribute towards enriching methods used in the planning and evaluating of transport networks.
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