Development Evaluation and Optimization Paths of Comprehensive Transportation Hub Cities in Gansu Province: A Multi-Functional Perspective

Transportation hub cities serve as pivotal nodes within integrated transport systems. This study reveals the corridor-oriented characteristics of comprehensive transportation system, confirms the progress of its transportation hub city development, and identifies future improvement directions based on diagnostic evaluation, taking Gansu Province, China as the research subject. To address hierarchical differentiation and structural constraints in the development of integrated transportation hubs, this study develops an evaluation framework integrating the entropy-weighted TOPSIS method, a coupling coordination model, and indicator-based diagnostic analysis. This framework was applied to 14 prefecture-level cities and autonomous prefectures in Gansu, classifying them into four hub tiers according to the comprehensive evaluation index. The results reveal a pronounced hierarchical and corridor-oriented spatial structure: Lanzhou is identified as the only Tier 1 core hub, five cities are classified as Tier 2 backbone hubs, seven cities and prefectures as Tier 3 general hubs, and Pingliang as Tier 4 terminal hub. Lanzhou exhibits the highest development level, with a comprehensive evaluation index of 0.9640, which is substantially higher than the provincial mean of 0.3867, but its radiation-driving capacity still needs to be strengthened. In terms of subsystem coordination, Lanzhou reaches the primary coordination stage with a coupling coordination degree of 0.532, while Jiuquan, Jiayuguan, and Tianshui are classified into the near-coordination stage with D values of 0.353, 0.351, and 0.321, respectively; the remaining ten units are classified as uncoordinated relatively. Based on the combined perspectives of development level and subsystem coordination, the study identifies future development directions for hub operational organization, multimodal transport integration, feeder connectivity, and industry-logistics coupling. The findings reveal the corridor-oriented characteristics and development progress of Gansu’s transportation hub system, highlight the analytical value of distinguishing hub development level from subsystem coordination, and provide empirical evidence for understanding hierarchical and functional differentiation in corridor-oriented inland regions.