Intermodal transport in urban passengers mobility

The aim of the paper is to point out the role for intermodality in urban passengers transport. The main benefit of intermodal transport is due to the opportunity of reducing externalities through a segmentation of transport demand. Since this strategy implies the segmentation of the transportation system in a number of different modes, a key role is played by the nodes of the urban transport network in which interchanges take place. So that the achievement of a better "quality" of nodes becomes a major purpose of urban mobility policies. In the paper a technique is developed in order to quantify the performance of urban intermodal nodes, to allow performance comparison between nodes and over time, and to support decision-making concerning the nodes efficiency. In the meanwhile an analysis of the role played by nodes within an intermodal network, with regard to their relationships, is proposed, in order to classify them by their "value".