In view of the increasingly serious urban traffic problems, it is of great significance analyzing and studying the characteristics of the complex urban transportation network to solve urban traffic problems and rationally plan the city layout. This paper firstly introduces the relevant theories of complex systems, including several statistical properties commonly used in the study of complex systems and the development of complex network based on different topologies. Then, the applications of complex network in the urban transportation system are elaborated by analyzing the traffic flow, the influence of different topologies on the transportation network, the network center node, the cascade failure phenomenon and the network stability, respectively. Finally, the future research direction and the development trend of the complex systems in the urban transportation network are pointed out.

urban transportation system  /  complex network  /  statistical characteristic  /  complexity  /  complex system