Dear Dr. Huang,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Songpo Yang

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? -->?>

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available??>

The PLOS Data policy

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English??>

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

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Reviewer #1: This paper is well organized and provides a scaling scheme for multi-modal networks, which lays the foundation for alleviating congestion at the macro level. Nevertheless, this paper still has some shortcomings the following issues need to be further described:

1.There are virtually no color images throughout the text, and tables are uniformly presented with traditional light gray borders rather than the three-line tables.

2.In “Data Collection” on pages 12 and 13, the font requirements for parameters and units are not uniform enough, and the font specification is somewhat arbitrary.

3.In the “Literature Review” on page 4, authors are advised to consider a separate narrative of the background of the study, including details and a summary of the established process of two-layer modeling.

4.In the Algorithm Design section on page 10, the key steps of the NSGA-II algorithm are not shown, i.e., the process of generating a new generation of populations from an elite strategy can be clearly illustrated with color pictures.

5.the authors state that "when the road saturation increases from 0.6 to 0.9, cyber carrying capacity increased by 13.97%, and average travel time of passengers reduced by 66.02%." What is the relationship between road saturation and road carrying capacity, and how does it significantly reduce passenger travel time? This is very confusing,please clarify.

6.In the author's abstract, 9 road segments are mentioned as research objects, but 10 road segments are mentioned in the conclusion, please explain.The author carefully checked and rewrote the conclusion section.

7.The author has mentioned the traffic carrying capacity many times in this paper, its unit is a negative number, and its order of magnitude and value are also various, so it is suggested to unify. Figure 12 What is the significance of the suggested use of a line chart?

Reviewer #2: 1. Lack of Clarity in Abstract, (e.g., "free-floating roads" on Page 1) and illogical "zero travel time" contradict real traffic conditions. Define key terms (e.g., "uncongested roads") and revise contradictions (e.g., "low-delay scenarios").

2. Assumption 3 (Page 11) ignores transfer time between modes, a critical factor in multimodal networks. Incorporate transfer time or justify its exclusion with references.

3. Data and Visualization Issues, Inconsistent units in Tables 3-6 (e.g., time in hours but values too small; 0.13h ≈ 7.8 min). Figure 7 (Page 20) fails to clearly illustrate correlations, standardize units (e.g., minutes) and enhance graphs with labels/trend analysis.

4. Add parameter sensitivity tests or cite benchmark studies; include comparative experiments.

5. Abstract claims "13.97% capacity increase when σ=0.6→0.9", but the conclusion (Page 25) states "|Q| at σ=0.9 is lower than at σ=0.7/0.8". verify data consistency and revise conclusions accordingly.

6. Incorrect tense in abstract ("this study solely surveyed" → "examined"). Author "Younghun B" in [9] should be "B, Y."; DOI in [13] contains extra spaces.

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what does this mean? ). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/ . PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org . Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

Dear Dr. Huang,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Please submit your revised manuscript by four weeks. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org . When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols . Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols .

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Songpo Yang

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Journal Requirements:

If the reviewer comments include a recommendation to cite specific previously published works, please review and evaluate these publications to determine whether they are relevant and should be cited. There is no requirement to cite these works unless the editor has indicated otherwise. 

Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions??>

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? -->?>

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available??>

The PLOS Data policy

Reviewer #2: No

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English??>

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #2: The article points out that "when the road saturation increases from 0.7 to 0.9, the bearing capacity modulus decreases by 27.1%," but it does not clearly explain the implications of this change for actual traffic management policies. The author is requested to further elaborate: (1) Does this conclusion imply that traffic flow should be actively restricted during peak hours to maintain lower saturation? (2) Is the cost-benefit analysis of widening key road sections (such as the 10 sections mentioned in the article) sufficient to support their prioritization as improvement projects? Have other intervention measures (such as signal optimization and bus priority) been considered?

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what does this mean? ). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy

Reviewer #2: No

**********

[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/ . PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org

Title-Modelling and Improving Approach for Carrying Capacity in Multi-modal Super Network by Considering Travel Time

PONE-D-25-28716R2

Dear Dr. Huang,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

An invoice will be generated when your article is formally accepted. Please note, if your institution has a publishing partnership with PLOS and your article meets the relevant criteria, all or part of your publication costs will be covered. Please make sure your user information is up-to-date by logging into Editorial Manager at Editorial Manager®  and clicking the ‘Update My Information' link at the top of the page. For questions related to billing, please contact billing support .

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org.

Kind regards,

Songpo Yang

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

**********

2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions??>

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? -->?>

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available??>

The PLOS Data policy

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

**********

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English??>

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

**********

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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what does this mean? ). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy

Reviewer #2: No

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