Pedestrian Flow Rate Research Articles

A bidirectional pedestrian macroscopic speed model construction based on pedestrian microscopic simulation experiments.

Studies of macroscopic speed modeling of bidirectional pedestrian cross-flows have relied heavily on scenario experiments, but the data itself may be deficient because large-scale scenario experiments are not easy to organize and subjects may not be walking under normal conditions. In order to explore the possibility of using microscopic pedestrian flow simulations for macroscopic speed modeling of pedestrian flows, a series of two-way pedestrian cross-flow simulation experiments were designed. Bidirectional pedestrian flows are defined as Peds1 and Peds2. The crossing angle and pedestrian flow rate are used as variables, and a bidirectional pedestrian flows simulation is designed as an orthogonal experiment. The crossing angles range from 15 to 165 degrees, and bidirectional pedestrian flow rate range from 1 ped/s to 8 ped/s. A series of simulations are built and performed on the GIS agent-based modeling architecture (GAMA) platform. By analyzing the flow data of bidirectional flows in the crossing area, it is found that when the Peds1 density falls below a threshold, Peds1 speed is determined by pedestrians themselves and mainly remains in a free flow state; otherwise, the Peds1 speed decreases with density. The clear effects such as Peds2 density on the Peds1 speed cannot be determined. A piecewise function combined with a linear function and an exponential function is constructed as the Peds1 speed model considering the influence of the crossing angle. The calibration results show that the piecewise function should be better than the non-piecewise function. Compared to the results of established studies, the results in this paper have some differences. Therefore, the simulation method cannot completely replace the scene experiments. However, this approach can provide suggestions for subsequent refinement of the experimental program, as well as a feasible direction for the construction of a speed relationship for bidirectional pedestrian flows.

Platoon control and external human–machine interfaces: innovations in pedestrian–autonomous vehicle interactions

At uncontrolled mid-block crosswalks, autonomous vehicles (AVs) are legally and safely obligated to yield to pedestrians, potentially exacerbating traffic congestion. This study explores integrating AV platoon control with eHMIs to examine its long-term potential for enhancing traffic flow safety and efficiency. A novel agent-based pedestrian-vehicle interaction framework is developed to evaluate the proposed strategy, accurately reproducing the heterogeneous behaviors of pedestrians and vehicles, such as pedestrians' risk tolerance, their responses to eHMIs, and vehicles' yielding mechanisms. Additionally, a platoon formation module is proposed to achieve the desired speed and inter-vehicular spacings from arbitrary initial condition. Simulation results indicate that implementing the proposed strategy reduced the conflict rate by 10%, increased the yielding rate by 11%, and decreased aggregate delay by 34.6% in typical flow conditions. The sensitivity analysis reveals that the effectiveness of the proposed strategy in improving traffic safety and efficiency increases with higher pedestrian and vehicle flow rates.

An experimental study of pedestrian bidirectional flow through bottlenecks

Pedestrian flow passing through bottlenecks is complex, particularly for opposite movement in a room with a single doorway. These bidirectional flows would always cause congestion and further reduce traffic efficiency so the ‘Disembarking precedes embarking’ rule is widely used in the actual management of public spaces. However, the impact of the imbalance of the bidirectional movement of pedestrian numbers on the pedestrian capacity and throughput at the bottleneck still needs further exploration. Therefore, this study investigates the effects of the ratio r of pedestrians leaving the room to the total number of participants and the bottleneck widths (1.2, 1.6 and 2.0 m) on the movement behavior of pedestrians in bidirectional flow and the efficiency of passing through by conducting controlled experiments where pedestrian trajectories, speed, density, flow and time headway are analyzed. Results indicate that the bottleneck width and the pedestrian flow rate are linearly related, whereas the r and flow have a nonlinear relationship. Specifically, r = 10% is the optimal value for improving the pedestrian traffic efficiency at the bottleneck, which is even better than the unidirectional scenario. The most significant density in the measuring area is at r = 30%, corresponding to the greatest probability of clogging. The pedestrian density within the room influences the flow rate at the bottleneck, thereby indicating that wider doors are not always better from a design perspective. The findings presented in this paper can provide actual data to validate bidirectional pedestrian flow simulation models and theoretical support for pedestrian facility and crowd management optimization.

Effect of Sidewalk Design and Obstructions on Pedestrian Mobility: A Case Study of the Main Streets of Mekelle City, Northern Ethiopia

Walking is the cheapest and most flexible eco‐friendly mode of transport. Streets in developing countries are poorly designed and managed, and hence, there is no space or it is inadequate for walking. This study assessed the impact of narrow sidewalk designs and obstructions on safety and accessibility of pedestrians in the main streets of Mekelle city, northern Ethiopia. It also evaluated the effects of sidewalk obstructions on pedestrian level of service (PLOS). Primary data, such as road width, sidewalk space utilization, pedestrian flow, and pedestrian speed, were collected on the study main streets. Effective sidewalk width and pedestrian unit flow rate were used to evaluate the effectiveness of existing sidewalk facilities. Moreover, static obstruction management of streets was evaluated, and a minimum sidewalk width was proposed. This study revealed that sidewalk widths for most streets in Mekelle city were found below the minimum required width for mixed use areas. Besides, the average effective sidewalk width was found to be lower than the bare minimum width of 1.2 m required for two pedestrians pass each other. As a result, some of the streets in Mekelle are operating at low PLOS (E and F). Most sidewalks were designed below the minimum standard width, and they are poorly managed forcing about 25% of pedestrians to share with motorized traffic in some streets. To improve the performance of sidewalks in the main streets of Mekelle city, the minimum sidewalk width should be 4.0 m and needs to be constructed with proper zoning. Moreover, center placement of static obstructions should be avoided in narrow sidewalks. Placement of utility poles within or at the edge of frontage zone and trees at the furniture zone improves the existing effective sidewalk width by 73%. This study underlines that urban planners and designers should give emphasis to width sufficiency of sidewalks for safe mobility of pedestrians of all groups and to accommodate other road side activities.

Developing a 3D City Digital Twin: Enhancing Walkability through a Green Pedestrian Network (GPN) in the City of Imola, Italy

Predominantly, dense historical cities face insufficient pedestrian-level greenery in the urban spaces. The lack of greenery impacts the human thermal comfort on the walking paths, which contributes to a considerable reduction in pedestrian flow rate. This study aims at developing a model to assess pedestrian-level thermal comfort in city environments and then evaluate the feasibility of creating a green pedestrian network (GPN). Imola, as a historical city in Italy with a compact urban pattern, is selected as the case study of this paper. To accomplish this, a three-dimensional digital twin at city scale is developed for the recognition of real-time shade patterns and for designing a GPN in this city. The 3D model of the proposed digital twin is developed in the Rhinoceros platform, and the physiological equivalence temperature (PET) is simulated through EnergyPlus, Honeybee, and Ladybug components in grasshopper. This study provides the city with a digital twin that is capable of examining pedestrian-level thermal comfort for designing a GPN based on real-time PET in the compact urban morphology of Imola. The PET model indicates that during the hottest hour of the 25th of June, pedestrians in open spaces can experience 3 °C more than on narrow shaded streets. The results are validated based on in situ datasets that prove the reliability of the developed digital twin for the GPN. It provides urban planners and policy makers with a precise and useful methodology for simulating the effects of pedestrian-level urban greenery on human thermal comfort and also guarantees the functionality of policies in different urban settings.

Wall-following searching or area coverage searching? Simulation study of the panic evacuation considering the guidance of a single rescuer

The guidance strategy for a single rescuer plays a vital role in evacuation management which has yet to be thoroughly studied. Hence, one factor of panic evacuation involving the guidance of a single rescuer is investigated by an extended cellular automaton (CA) model in this paper. The effects of the global panic factor, the hazard position and the environmental familiarity on pedestrians’ evacuation under different guidance strategies are discussed. The analysis of simulation results demonstrates that the panic makes a great impact on the pedestrians’ evacuation process and their sensitivity to hazards increases consequently. When pedestrians’ panic degree is relatively high, a wall-following searching (WFS) strategy should be adopted by a rescuer, otherwise an area coverage searching (ACS) strategy is a good choice. In addition, the position of the hazard hitting in the room significantly affects the pedestrians’ panic evacuation process. When the hazard position is closer to the exit, the evacuation time lengthens without a rescuer present. Both ACS strategy and WFS strategy are helpful to increase the evacuation efficiency wherever the hazard is located, and WFS strategy works better. Furthermore, the pedestrians’ environmental familiarity has a greater impact on their evacuation process. The better the environmental familiarity, the faster the pedestrian flow rate is. In the early stage of evacuation, the pedestrian flow rate is higher under the ACS strategy, while in the later period, the rate is higher under WFS strategy. For the entire stage of the evacuation, WFS strategy is always more useful than ACS strategy whether evacuees are familiar with the room or not. The study contributes to understanding the importance of the guidance strategy in pedestrians’ evacuation and to developing an efficient evacuation strategy for evacuation management.

MODELLING PEDESTRIAN LEVEL OF SERVICE ON SIDEWALKS WITH MULTI-FACTORS BASED ON DIFFERENT PEDESTRIAN FLOW RATES

Pedestrian Level of Service (PLOS) is influenced by the factors of traffic conditions, road facility conditions and environmental conditions. Pedestrian flow rate was the key factor influencing PLOS for the reason that pedestrians’ visual scopes of pavement and the influencing degree of each influencing factor on sidewalks was differed under different pedestrian flow rates. In order to evaluate PLOS more accurately, this paper classified pedestrian flow rates into 6 stages. Then, significant influencing factors of traffic conditions, road facility conditions and environmental conditions, which influenced pedestrians’ satisfaction, were extracted respectively under each pedestrian flow rate by Spearman rank correlation method. Finally, the evaluation method of PLOS with multi-factors based on classification of pedestrian flow rates was put forward. In addition, the models got training with fuzzy neural network method. The test showed that the accuracy of the comprehensive evaluation model of PLOS under different pedestrian flow rates based on fuzzy neural network reaches to 92%, which is much higher than the model accuracy of previous researches.

Analysis of left-turn lane capacity under autonomous vehicle mixed flow considering the influence of pedestrian volume and crosswalk length

Conflicts between pedestrians and left-turning vehicles cause pedestrian safety hazards and decrease vehicle turning capacity at signalized intersections. This commonly occurs in Japan where they share the same traffic light phase. Road capacity is influenced by the interaction between them. Autonomous vehicles (AVs) promise to improve the safety and efficiency of road networks. However, they will face the same problems as human-driven vehicles with pedestrian avoidance. Thus, this study estimated the capacity of the left-turn lane, in Japan, under AV mixed flows taking into account AV penetration rates, pedestrian flow rates, and crosswalk length. The impact of AVs on capacity was analyzed with different settings for the critical gap between vehicles and pedestrians. It was found that if AVs comply perfectly with traffic law, the capacity of the left-turn lane sharply decreases, especially in the case of long crosswalks.

Interactions between autonomous vehicles and pedestrians at unsignalized mid-block crosswalks considering occlusions by opposing vehicles

Visibility can be identified as one of the critical determinants for the safety performance of autonomous vehicles (AVs) on unsignalized mid-block crosswalks (UMC), which may be significantly influenced by build-up environment and surrounding vehicles. This study investigates the safety performance when AVs interact with pedestrians approaching from far-side sidewalks to UMCs considering the visual occlusion of opposing vehicles. A mathematical model is proposed for judging the visibilities of objects from observers’ location under the impact of visual obstacles and is embedded into an agent-based pedestrian-vehicle interaction framework. Two yielding decision modules is assumed for AVs: The normal decision module implements the pedestrian priority rule simply based on the current detectable information, whereas the memory aid decision module extends AVs’ detection abilities by incorporating the memory data. Through simulation experiments, it is found that the percentages of short post encroachment time (%SPET) between AVs and far-side pedestrians reach peaks when the pedestrian flow rate is 300–400 ped/h. When opposing vehicles are in stationary queue conditions, %SPETs are only sensitive to the net distance between the last opposing vehicles in the queue and crosswalks (Dqueue). As the Dqueue decreases to lower than 15 m, %SPETs start to increase drastically. However, when opposing vehicles are in free flow conditions, %SPETs are influenced by multiple factors such as pedestrians’ crossing decisions, sizes and flow rates of opposing vehicles. Furthermore, only when opposing vehicles are in free flow conditions, memory aid AVs can significantly eliminate the impacts of opposite vehicles. Finally, several countermeasures are developed to enhance the visibility and safety at UMCs based on the findings of this study.

Phase behaviors of counterflowing stream of pedestrians with site-exchange in local vision and environment

This paper presents a cellular automaton model of counterflowing stream of pedestrians, in which pedestrians walking in opposite directions are able to exchange position under certain local view and circumstance. Phase separation has been observed in the model and phase diagram including three phase regions is presented. Mean field analysis has been carried out to calculate the pedestrian flow rate, which indicates that the characteristic of minimum point of flow rate plays a critical role in phase behaviors of the system. Furthermore, the phase boundary based on the mean field analysis is partly in agreement with that obtained by simulation. Experiment data are also used to validate the model.

Enhancing Crowd Monitoring System Functionality through Data Fusion: Estimating Flow Rate from Wi-Fi Traces and Automated Counting System Data.

Crowd monitoring systems (CMSs) provide a state-of-the-art solution to manage crowds objectively. Most crowd monitoring systems feature one type of sensor, which severely limits the insights one can simultaneously gather regarding the crowd’s traffic state. Incorporating multiple functionally complementary sensor types is expensive. CMSs are needed that exploit data fusion opportunities to limit the number of (more expensive) sensors. This research estimates a data fusion algorithm to enhance the functionality of a CMS featuring Wi-Fi sensors by means of a small number of automated counting systems. Here, the goal is to estimate the pedestrian flow rate accurately based on real-time Wi-Fi traces at one sensor location, and historic flow rate and Wi-Fi trace information gathered at other sensor locations. Several data fusion models are estimated, amongst others, linear regression, shallow and recurrent neural networks, and Auto Regressive Moving Average (ARMAX) models. The data from the CMS of a large four-day music event was used to calibrate and validate the models. This study establishes that the RNN model best predicts the flow rate for this particular purpose. In addition, this research shows that model structures that incorporate information regarding the average current state of the area and the temporal variation in the Wi-Fi/count ratio perform best.

Experimental study on mixed traffic flow of bicycles and pedestrians

The mixed flow of bicycles and pedestrians is frequently observed on bicycle-pedestrian-shared roads. Unfortunately, studies on dynamics of this kind of mixed flow are very limited. This paper reports an experimental study of this kind of mixed traffic flow with equal numbers of pedestrians and cyclists asked to walk/ride in a ring-shaped track. In the uni-/bi-directional flow scenarios, pedestrians and bicycles moved in the same/opposite direction. Under both scenarios, bicycles and pedestrians formed their own lanes. Pedestrians walked in the inner lane and cyclists rode in the outer lane. Widths of both the pedestrian lane and the bicycle lane were more uniform in bidirectional flow. The pedestrian flow rate is larger in the unidirectional flow scenario than in the bidirectional flow scenario. In contrast, at low densities, the bicycle flow rate is essentially the same under the two scenarios. When the density is large, the bicycle flow rate becomes larger in the unidirectional flow scenario. Comparing the two modes, pedestrian flow rate is smaller/larger than bicycle flow rate at small/large densities under both scenarios.

Pedestrian evacuation simulation in the presence of an obstacle using self-propelled spherocylinders

We explore the role that the obstacle position plays in the evacuation time of agents when leaving a room. To this end, we simulate a system of nonsymmetric spherocylinders that have a prescribed desired velocity and angular orientation. In this way, we reproduce the nonmonotonous dependence of the pedestrian flow rate on the obstacle distance to the door. For short distances, the obstacle delays the evacuation because the exit size is effectively reduced; i.e., the distance between the obstacle and the wall is smaller than the door width. By increasing the obstacle distance to the door, clogging is reduced leading to an optimal obstacle position (maximum flow rate) in agreement with results reported in numerical simulations of pedestrian evacuations and granular flows. For further locations, however, a counterintuitive behavior occurs as the flow rate values fall again below the one corresponding to the case without obstacle. Analyzing the head-times distribution, we evidence that this new feature is not linked to the formation of clogs, but is caused by a reduction of the efficiency of the agent's instantaneous flow rate when the exit is not blocked.

Study on the relationship between the CO2 concentration and pedestrian flow in a building evacuation passageway

People ubiquitously produce CO2. The quantitative relationship between the CO2 concentration and pedestrian flow needs to be determined if the CO2 concentration is to be used to reflect pedestrian flow. Therefore, a field test was carried out to measure the CO2 concentration and pedestrian flow in an evacuation passageway of a densely populated building. The results show that the variation in the CO2 concentration always lags behind the variation in the pedestrian parameters. When pedestrians enter a building evacuation passageway over a long time span with high randomness, the quantitative relationships between the pedestrian density and CO2 concentration and between the pedestrian flow rate and CO2 concentration are not clear. When all the people in the building are required to leave at the same time, the relationships between the pedestrian density and CO2 concentration and between the pedestrian flow rate and CO2 concentration can be described quantitatively. The CO2 concentration can be taken as an early warning index to manage pedestrians in evacuation passageways of densely populated buildings. Two possible methods are provided to help provide early warnings in pedestrian management. These results are expected to provide new ideas for pedestrian statistics and pedestrian flow management in densely populated buildings.

Modeling the interactions of pedestrians and cyclists in mixed flow conditions in uni- and bidirectional flows on a shared pedestrian-cycle road

The mixed flow of pedestrians and cyclists is frequently observed on the roads they share, but investigations of the dynamics of this kind of mixed flow have been very limited. This study proposes a heuristic-based model to reproduce the mixed-flow dynamics of pedestrians and cyclists, and the model is calibrated with an experiment on the mixed traffic flow of pedestrians and cyclists. Pedestrians/cyclists were asked to walk/ride on a ring-shaped track. In the uni/bidirectional flow scenario, pedestrians and cyclists moved in the same/opposite direction. A genetic algorithm was used for parameter calibration. The model could reproduce the experimental results well. Under both scenarios, pedestrians and cyclists formed their own lanes. The pedestrians walked in the inner lane, and cyclists rode in the outer lane in a self-organized process. The widths of the pedestrian lane and the cyclist lane were found to be more uniform during bidirectional flow. The pedestrian flow rate was higher in the unidirectional flow scenario than in the bidirectional flow scenario. In contrast, at low cyclist densities, the cyclist flow rate was essentially the same in both scenarios. When the density was high, the cyclist flow rate is higher in the unidirectional flow scenario. Sensitivity analyses showed that cyclist speed had little effect on the pedestrian flow rate. A higher cyclist speed led to a higher cyclist flow rate at low densities, but the cyclist flow rates approached the same value at high cyclist densities. As the proportion of pedestrians/cyclists increased, the flow rate of cyclists/pedestrians decreased. The simulation results on a straight track were largely consistent with those on a ring-shaped track.

Land use characteristics of Xi'an residential blocks based on pedestrian traffic system

As the most basic travel mode of residents, walking trip takes place more frequently in residential districts. It is of great significance to study the land use characteristics of the residential district suitable for walking in order to create a good walking environment and land use model. In this paper, 18 residential blocks in Xi'an are taken as the research object, based on the relevant data of the pedestrian flow rate and land use of residential blocks, this paper analyzes the interactive relationship between the non-commuting hours during the week, the commuting hours during the week and the weekends by using the multiple linear regression model, and the land use characteristics of residential blocks under the guidance of walking trip are revealed. The results show that the land use factors related to pedestrian flow rate are mainly 9 factors, such as building density, buildings mixing degree, mixing degree of business functions and density of functional formats. In different hours, walking trips have different demands on various elements of land use. During the non-commuting hours during the week, the demand for walking trips for building density, mixing degree of business functions, density of functional formats and footpath area ratio is large. During the commuting hours during the week, the demand for walking trips for buildings mixing degree, density of functional formats, road network connectivity, and green area ratio of footpath is large. During the weekends, the demand for building density, density of functional formats, road network density, and footpath density is large. Through the above analysis, the optimization strategy is proposed for residential blocks in Xi 'an, which provides a theoretical basis for the optimization and transformation of the space environment of residential blocks to promote walking trip.

Effects of pedestrian motivation and opening shape on pedestrian flow rate at an opening

In a general evacuation time calculation, a single value is used for the specific flow for any bottlenecks. However, the specific flow can actually depend on the situation or the spatial constraints of the bottleneck. In this study, an experiment with 189 participants under laboratory conditions was carried out to analyze the behavior of pedestrians at openings with/without sidewalls after the opening. Participants walked through an opening of 0.8, 1.2, 1.6, or 3.0 m in width, with sidewalls of 0, 1.0, or 2.0 m. Moreover, two different situations of pedestrian motivation for walking were set and compared. From the experiment, detailed walking trajectories were obtained. The results revealed that the specific flow at a bottleneck differed according to pedestrian motivation and spatial conditions. First, the presence of sidewalls reduced the specific flow by approximately 10%–15%. Concerning opening width, participants used a wider opening more efficiently. Participant motivation had the largest impact on the flow. People walked more quickly and queued more densely in front of the opening in the hurried situation. Then, when entering the opening, especially without sidewalls, they entered narrow gaps between other people and the wall more by twisting their shoulders when hurried.

A methodology for the assessment of pedestrians-cyclists shared space level of service

The limited available public space and the intention to promote active mobility, enhance the importance and the interest about pedestrians-cyclists shared spaces. This paper proposes a new methodology for determining the level of service (LOS) in shared spaces, based on the hindrance concept. In this context: a) the types of events between the users were identified, b) regression tree models for predicting the events’ frequency were developed, c) weights were assigned to the various events, based on their negative impact on users’ perceived comfort and safety. The assignment of weights consists a novelty of the proposed methodology since there is no other study attempting to identify their negative impact. Eventually, a mathematical formula suitable for optimizing the design and management of pedestrians-cyclists shared spaces, by minimizing users’ hindrance, is being produced. The objective of the methodology is to be a reliable and easy to use tool for planners and decision-makers. From the application of the methodology in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece, it is identified that: a) the pedestrian and bicycle flow rates play a decisive role in the frequency of experiencing events, b) “delayed passing” is the most disturbing situation for both pedestrians and cyclists, c) “passings” have similar negative impact on users’ perceptions with “meetings”.

Enhancing emergency pedestrian safety through flow rate design: Bayesian-Nash Equilibrium in multi-agent system

To optimally design and safely manage public facilities (e.g. pedestrian tunnel), one need to understand the safe pedestrian flow rate. In this research, we employed a multi-agent system to simulate the pedestrians and use Bayesian-Nash Equilibrium to model their decision-making process. In the model, the tunnel is divided into cells, with each pedestrian in a cell receiving a utility based on the distance to the exit and the number of pedestrians in the cell. Then, each pedestrian uses the Bayesian-Nash Equilibrium to search for the target cell with the maximum expected utility, takes collision avoidance action before moving into the target cell and then searches for the next target cell until exits the tunnel. The proposed model is validated from a real-world scenario. We also conduct sensitivity analysis to derive insights and study the robustness of our model. From the proposed model, we find expanding the tunnel width by one meter will allow the safe pedestrian flow rate to increase by about 3 pedestrians per second. We contribute to the literature by combining incomplete information game with multi-agent system and to practice by offering a novel method for reducing potential losses caused by crowd emergencies. Our work could be a valuable reference for managing dense pedestrian flows and designing public places.

Can pedestrians and cyclists share the same space? The case of a city with low cycling levels and experience

Transport policy objectives, as well as lack of space in the built environment make clear that the coexistence of pedestrians and cyclists is an important issue. For that reason, a survey was conducted on two sidewalks and one pedestrian street in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece where the cycling volumes and cycling experience are still low; however efforts are being made to promote active transport modes (e.g. cycling, walking). In the analysis made in this paper, an ordinal regression model was developed that utilizes questionnaire survey data and field measurements. The aim of the ordinal regression model is to identify and quantify the impact of geometric, functional and social factors on pedestrians' perception about the presence of bicycles and the infrastructure level of service (LOS). The results show a clear difference in the perceptions according to gender and age. Females tend to perceive lower LOS and the same applies for the younger people. Regarding the geometric and functional attributes, pedestrian unit flow rate has been found to affect perceived LOS to a large extent. Another conclusion that emerges from the analysis is the importance of a proper distribution of the available space between pedestrians and cyclists, as over-dimensioning of the bicycle lane has a significant impact on the perceptions of pedestrians, regardless the bicycle volumes.