A passenger flow spatial–temporal distribution model for a passenger transit hub considering node queuing

Abstract

Passenger transit hub is a quintessential complex system, characterized by intricate interactions among humans, facilities, and the surrounding environment. External disturbances often precipitate crowd congestion and safety risks. Modeling the spatial–temporal distribution of passenger flow within the hub is an important element in operational management. Prevailing research predominantly focuses on static models or monitoring data to assess the spatial–temporal characteristics of passenger flow throughout the hub. Nevertheless, few studies have been found in modeling passenger flow distribution for passenger transit hub from the vantage point of traveler behavior in the intricate ‘human-facility-environment’ complex network. Thus, this paper proposes a computational model for the passenger flow spatial–temporal distribution based on traveler behavior. First, combining consideration of critical spatial facilities and passenger flow streamlines, a passenger flow network is established. Second, the instantaneous travel times of link and node are defined while considering queuing and congestion at crucial facilities in the hub. Then, a passenger flow spatial–temporal distribution model for the passenger transit hub is constructed, which consists of dynamic route choice model and dynamic passenger flow loading model. A solution algorithm is simultaneously designed. Finally, the effectiveness of the model and algorithm are verified by a numerical example. The results show that the proposed model can effectively capture real-time congestion and the dynamic distribution of passenger flow in the hub. Therefore, this study contributes to the safety management and layout optimization of the hub, holding significant importance for improving hub operational efficiency and service levels.