Comparative Analysis of Pedestrian Walking Speed on Sidewalk and Carriageway

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the walking speed of the pedestrian on carriageway and sidewalk. In order to support the objective, a busy urban street in the CBD area of Vadodara city, Gujarat, India was considered. Selected study stretch is characterized by odd–even date on-street parking scheme; hence, sidewalk and carriageway on the either side were considered for the investigation of walking speed of pedestrians. Investigation revealed that 25% pedestrian are compelled to move on carriageway due to inadequate space. Empirical observation revealed that the pedestrian flow on no-parking carriageway face (NPCF) is greater than that of parking carriageway face (PCF). The analysis revealed that male pedestrian dominated movement on carriage, while female pedestrian dominated movement on sidewalk. Female pedestrians were observed to be slower by 4–6% than male pedestrians. The study results revealed that the walking speed of male pedestrian was 7–12% lower in evening compared to female for parking sidewalk face (PSF). This reduction in speed can be due to larger share of female pedestrians on sidewalk. Speed reduction on PSF ranged 27–32% with respect to the non-parking sidewalk face (NPSF), while the same for (PCF) observed in the range 10–15% with respect to face (NPCF), which can be attributed to friction owing to parking. The study results showed a reduction of 5–25% in walking speed of pedestrian on carriageway compared to sidewalk, which may be attributed to safety against vehicular movement. Walking speed of pedestrian on carriageway was analyzed further with respect to the direction of vehicular movement. Observation revealed that male pedestrian against vehicular traffic moved with higher speed as compared to male along the direction of vehicles. However, an opposite trend was observed in females walking on the carriageway.