Behavioral characteristics of bidirectional pedestrian-e-bike mixed flow at a signalized crosswalk: An experimental study

Abstract

Mixed-traffic crosswalks are a prevalent scene in urban traffic. Understanding the movement characteristics of bidirectional e-bike-pedestrian mixed flow is helpful to enhance traffic efficiency at an intersection. In this research, a controlled experiment on bidirectional e-bike-pedestrian mixed flow was conducted. There are three variables, namely the proportion of e-bike riders (i.e., 0.5 and 0.3), the directional split ratio (namely, 1:1, 1:2 and 1:5) and the presence of obstacles on both sides of the crosswalk (i.e., yes and no). Petrack software were used to extract the participants’ trajectories. Passing time, detour ratio, selection preference, fundamental diagrams, the temporal and spatial characteristics and congestion level are analysed depending on the trajectories. It is discovered that a higher proportion of e-bike riders combined with a smaller directional split ratio contributes to increasing passing time of e-bike riders. With the decreasing directional split ratio, the average detour ratios of both pedestrians and e-bike riders decrease. With the decreasing proportion of e-bike riders, the average detour ratio of pedestrians increases, while that of e-bike riders decreases. The average crossing speed of the minor flow is greater than that of the major flow. With the decrease of the directional split ratio, the congestion level in the measurement area also reduces. Pedestrians in balanced flow are more likely to cause large congestion degree than e-bike riders. These results are beneficial for the design of crosswalks, pedestrian crossing management and the configuration of traffic signals.