Supply-demand and income-integrated perspectives of healthcare accessibility in high-density, transit-oriented cities
本研究结合高斯三步浮动 catchment area 方法与收入整合可及性指标，分析香港高密度公交导向环境下医疗可及性的收敛与发散模式，发现低收入内城区和富裕城市边缘存在发散，建议医疗规划需协调设施分布与收入敏感的交通政策。
Despite Hong Kong’s high-density, transit-oriented setting, healthcare-seeking travel burdens are disproportionate for low-income residents and accumulate with recurrent visits. This study addresses the limitations of traditional supply–demand-based healthcare accessibility by combining the Gaussian three-step floating catchment area method with an income-integrated accessibility measure that captures income-heterogeneous travel burdens. This framework addresses two questions: where integrated accessibility outcomes converge or diverge, and how transport-related built environment and socio-economic characteristics correlate with these patterns. The main findings are: (i) convergence clusters in the urban core and rural areas, whereas divergence concentrates in low-income, inner-city areas, affluent urban fringe, and well-connected new towns; (ii) MNL analyses show convergence arises where healthcare supply, transit connectivity, and income reinforce each other, while divergence arises where service distribution is misaligned with transport-related built environment and income levels. These findings demonstrate that healthcare planning should coordinate facility distribution with income-sensitive transport policies to address the accessibility mismatch.