A study of the bi-directional pedestrian flow characteristics at Hong Kong signalized crosswalk facilities

This paper investigates the bi-directional flow characteristics at signalized crosswalk facilities in Hong Kong. Pedestrian flow measurements were conducted at selected signalized crosswalks in Hong Kong urban area with and without the Light Rail Transit (LRT) railway tracks in the median of the carriageway. The pedestrian speed-flow functions for these crosswalk facilities were calibrated. The relationships between the walking speed at capacity and directional distribution of pedestrian flow (or flow ratio) are determined. The effects of different flow ratio on the effective capacity are also investigated. The bi-directional pedestrian flow effects on signalized crosswalk facilities with LRT tracks are found more significant than those without LRT tracks. The result could be used as a basis to improve the assessment of the crosswalk's capacity and to determine the design walking speeds under different flow ratios at signalized crosswalks in Hong Kong and in other Asian cities with similar environments.     

Simulating pedestrian movements at signalized crosswalks in Hong Kong

This paper presents a new pedestrian simulation (PS) model for signalized crosswalks in Hong Kong. This PS model is capable of estimating the variations of walking speed particularly on the effects of bi-directional pedestrian flows so as to determine the minimum required duration of pedestrian crossing time. Video records taken from the observational surveys at the selected crosswalk in urban area were used to extract the required data for model calibration. It was found that the design walking speed for signalized crosswalks should be varied by the effects of the bi-directional pedestrian flows. It was also interesting to note that the negative impact of the bi-directional flow effects (ranging from uni-directional to bi-directional pedestrian flows) on the chance of pedestrian crossing the crosswalk is increasing from free-flow to at-capacity flow conditions. The new PS model is also validated using an independent data set so as to examine the reliability of the simulation results. The validation results show that the new PS model can provide an accurate evaluation on the changes of walking speed and its standard deviation under different scenarios with particular emphasis on the effects of the bi-directional pedestrian flows. The advancement of this PS model can be applied to assess the effects of each improvement measure and to evaluate the benefits of each scenario in practice.     

Converting mixed pedestrian flows into equivalent commuters using standard pedestrian equivalent factors

This paper develops the concept of standard pedestrian equivalent (SPE) factors for converting a mixed pedestrian flow into an equivalent commuter flow. After a comprehensive review of passenger car equivalent (PCE) methodologies, the equal total travel time method is utilised for SPE estimation. A micro-simulation approach is employed for the formulation of the total travel time–flow relationship. Field data collected on walking speed distributions for commuters and older adults in Australia are used as model inputs. An independent samples t-test confirms the significant difference between walking speeds of commuters and older adults. For this paper, a unidirectional flow on flat walkways is initially considered and evaluated across proportions of older people, different flows and different walkway widths. The introduction of older adults significantly increases total travel time especially under congested conditions. Results of this investigation can be used for evaluation or design of pedestrian facilities experiencing similar flow conditions.     

Assessing the usage and level-of-service of pedestrian facilities in train stations: A Swiss case study

A framework for assessing the usage and level-of-service of rail access facilities is presented. It consists of two parts. A dynamic demand estimator allows to obtain time-dependent pedestrian origin–destination demand within walking facilities. Using that demand, a traffic assignment model describes the propagation of pedestrians through the station, providing an estimate of prevalent traffic conditions in terms of flow, walking times, speed and density. The corresponding level-of-service of the facilities can be directly obtained. The framework is discussed at the example of Lausanne railway station. For this train station, a rich set of data sources including travel surveys, pedestrian counts and trajectories has been collected in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Railways. Results show a good performance of the framework. To underline its practical applicability, a six-step planning guideline is presented that can be used to design and optimize rail access facilities for new or existing train stations. In the long term, the framework may also be used for crowd management, involving real-time monitoring and control of pedestrian flows.     

Bridging the Gap in Planning Indoor Pedestrian Facilities

Abstract

Pedestrians are currently attracting the interest of various researchers and practitioners, particularly urban and transport planners. Analysis of the pedestrian behavior, environment and modeling has been carried out in diverse instances in the context of pedestrian planning. This paper seeks to identify the content of each of these three research areas and designate the linkages that connect their interests providing insights into planning indoor pedestrian facilities. To achieve this objective, a review of the literature on pedestrians walking indoors and indoor pedestrian environments was conducted. Understanding pedestrian behavior is fundamental in the pedestrian planning process. Principles of decision-making, cognition, wayfinding and flows were studied. When analyzing the pedestrian environment, Space Syntax and wayfinding analysis were found to be established methods that are an integral part of this field. Finally, the majority of the existing modeling approaches were identified. It was found that despite the dynamic evolution of each area, the integration of different research perspectives is weak. The paper concluded with the proposal of a mindmap which brings together all the concepts found in the literature and which should be explored for a more comprehensive planning of indoor pedestrian facilities.     

Network equilibrium for congested multi‐mode networks with elastic demand

This paper proposes an elastic demand network equilibrium model for networks with transit and walking modes. In Hong Kong, the multi‐mode transit system services over 90% of the total journeys and the demand on it is continuously increasing. Transit and walking modes are related to each other as transit passengers have to walk to and from transit stops. In this paper, the multi‐mode elastic‐demand network equilibrium problem is formulated as a variational inequality problem where the combined mode and route choices are modeled in a hierarchical logit structures and the total travel demand for each origin‐destination pair is explicitly given by an elastic demand function. In addition, the capacity constraint for transit vehicles and the effects of bi‐directional flows on walkways are considered in the proposed model. All these congestion effects are taken into account for modeling the travel choices. A solution algorithm is developed to solve the multi‐mode elastic‐demand network equilibrium model. It is based on a Block Gauss‐Seidel decomposition approach coupled with the method of successive averages. A numerical example is used to illustrate the application of the proposed model and solution algorithm.     

Microscopic decision model for pedestrian route choice at signalized crosswalks

In this paper, two‐tier mathematical models were developed to simulate the microscopic pedestrian decision‐making process of route choice at signalized crosswalks. In the first tier, a discrete choice model was proposed to predict the choices of walking direction. In the second tier, an exponential model was calibrated to determine the step size in the chosen direction. First, a utility function was defined in the first‐tier model to describe the change of utility in response to deviation from a pedestrian's target direction and the conflicting effects of neighboring pedestrians. A mixed logit model was adopted to estimate the effects of the explanatory variables on the pedestrians' decisions. Compared with the standard multinomial logit model, it was shown that the mixed logit model could accommodate the heterogeneity. The repeated observations for each pedestrian were grouped as panel data to ensure that the parameters remained constant for individual pedestrians but varied among the pedestrians. The mixed logit model with panel data was found to effectively address inter‐pedestrian heterogeneity and resulted in a better fit than the standard multinomial logit model. Second, an exponential model in the second tier was proposed to further determine the step size of individual pedestrians in the chosen direction; it indicates the change in walking speed in response to the presence of other pedestrians. Finally, validation was conducted on an independent set of observation data in Hong Kong. The pedestrians' routes and destinations were predicted with the two‐tier models. Compared with the tracked trajectories, the average error between the predicted destinations and the observed destinations was within an acceptable margin. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Traffic flow on pedestrianized streets

Giving pedestrians priority to cross a street enhances pedestrian life, especially if crosswalks are closely spaced. Explored here is the effect of this management decision on car traffic. Since queuing theory suggests that for a given pedestrian flux the closer the crosswalk spacing the lower the effect of pedestrians on cars, scenarios where pedestrians can cross anywhere should be best for both cars and pedestrians. This is the kind of pedestrianization studied.Analytic formulas are proposed for a pedestrianized street’s capacity, free-flow speed and macroscopic fundamental diagram. Of these, only the free-flow speed formula is exact. The analytic form of the capacity formula is inspired by analytic upper and lower bounds derived with variational theory for a version of the problem where cars are treated as a fluid. The formula is then calibrated against microscopic simulations with discrete cars. The MFD for the fluid version of the problem is shown to be concave and have a certain symmetry. These two geometrical properties, together with the formulae for capacity and free-flow speed, yield a simple approximation for the MFD.Both the capacity and MFD formulae match simulations with discrete cars well for all values of the pedestrian flux – errors for the capacity are well under 0.2% of the capacity before pedestrianization. Qualitatively, the formulas predict that the street’s capacity is inversely proportional to the square root of the pedestrian flux for low pedestrian fluxes, and that pedestrians increase the cars’ free-flow pace by an amount that is proportional to the pedestrian flux.     

The use of gait parameters to evaluate pedestrian behavior at scramble phase signalized intersections

Pedestrian scramble phasing is usually implemented to reduce pedestrian‐vehicle conflicts and therefore increase the safety of the intersection. However, to adequately determine the benefits of scramble phasing, it is necessary to understand how pedestrians react to such an unconventional design. This study investigates changes in pedestrian crossing behavior following the implementation of a scramble phase by examining the spatiotemporal gait parameters (step length and step frequency). This detailed microscopic‐level analysis provides insight into changes in pedestrian walking mechanisms as well as the effect of various pedestrian and intersection characteristics. The study uses video data collected at a scramble phase signalized intersection in Oakland, California. Gait parameters were found to be influenced by pedestrian gender, age, group size, crosswalk length, and pedestrian signal indications. Both average step length and walking speed were significantly higher for diagonally crossing pedestrians compared with pedestrians crossing on the conventional crosswalks. Pedestrians were found to have the tendency to increase their step length more than their step frequency to increase walking speed. It was also found that, compared with men, women generally increase their walking speed by increasing their step frequency more than step length. However, when in non‐compliance with signal indications, women increase their walking speed by increasing their step length more than step frequency. It was also found that older pedestrians do not significantly change their walking behavior when in non‐compliance with signal indications. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Severity of pedestrian injuries due to traffic crashes at signalized intersections in Hong Kong: a Bayesian spatial logit model

The present study intended to (1) investigate the injury risk of pedestrian casualties involved in traffic crashes at signalized intersections in Hong Kong; (2) determine the effect of pedestrian volumes on the severity levels of pedestrian injuries; and (3) explore the role of spatial correlation in econometric crash‐severity models. The data from 1889 pedestrian‐related crashes at 318 signalized intersections between 2008 and 2012 were elaborately collected from the Traffic Accident Database System maintained by the Hong Kong Transport Department. To account for the cross‐intersection heterogeneity, a Bayesian hierarchical logit model with uncorrelated and spatially correlated random effects was developed. An intrinsic conditional autoregressive prior was specified for the spatial correlation term. Results revealed that (1) signalized intersections with greater pedestrian volumes generally exhibited a lower injury risk; (2) ignoring the spatial correlation potentially results in reduced model goodness‐of‐fit, an underestimation of variability and standard error of parameter estimates, as well as inconsistent, biased, and erroneous inference; (3) special attention should be paid to the following factors, which led to a significantly higher probability of pedestrians being killed or sustaining severe injury: pedestrian age greater than 65 years, casualties with head injuries, crashes that occurred on footpaths that were not obstructed/overcrowded, heedless or inattentive crossing, crashes on the two‐way carriageway, and those that occurred near tram or light‐rail transit stops. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Calibrating a social-force-based pedestrian walking model based on maximum likelihood estimation

Although various theories have been adopted to develop reliable pedestrian walking models, a limited effort has been made to calibrate them rigorously based on individual trajectories. Most researchers have validated their models by comparing observed and estimated traffic flow parameters such as speed, density, and flow rate, or replaced the validation by visual confirmation of some well-known phenomena such as channelization and platooning. The present study adopted maximum likelihood estimation to calibrate a social-force model based on the observed walking trajectories of pedestrians. The model was assumed to be made up of five components (i.e., inertia, desired direction, leader–follower relationship, collision avoidance, and random error), and their corresponding coefficients represented relative sensitivity. The model also included coefficients for individual-specific characteristics and for a distance-decay relationship between a pedestrian and his/her leaders or colliders. The calibration results varied with the two density levels adopted in the present study. In the case of high density, significant coefficient estimates were found with respect to both the leader–follower relationship and collision avoidance. Collision avoidance did not affect the pedestrian’s walking behavior for the low-density case due to channelization. The distance limit was confirmed, within which a pedestrian is affected by neighbors. At the low-density level, by comparison with women, men were found to more actively follow leaders, and pedestrians walking in a party were found to be less sensitive to the motion of leaders at the high-density level.     

基于乘客寻路行为的城市轨道交通车站导向标识序化设置研究

为实现轨道交通车站内客流快速疏散,避免因乘客滞留造成站内乘客出行效率低以及大客流压力导致的安全隐患等问题,本文对目前国内导向标识的设置原则及功能进行描述,依托大数据等信息化技术分析行人寻路行为机理及出行特征与导向标识序化设置间的关系,研究导向标识的序化设置,依据行人在不同交通设施的步行速度及信息处理时间,并提出在站内停顿点数量较多的通道、楼梯口及闸机处设置导向标识的位置,进而对导向标识的设置进行人性化和合理化的优化设置,对轨道车站内停顿点位置进行导向标识的合理布设,以快速引导行人进行出行决策,减少停顿点数量。     

Collection, spillback, and dissipation in pedestrian evacuation: A network-based method

We present a method of predicting pedestrian route choice behavior and physical congestion during the evacuation of indoor areas with internal obstacles. Under the proposed method, a network is first constructed by discretizing the space into regular hexagonal cells and giving these cells potentials before a modified cell transmission model is employed to predict the evolution of pedestrian flow in the network over time and space. Several properties of this cell transmission model are explored. The method can be used to predict the evolution of pedestrian flow over time and space in indoor areas with internal obstacles and to investigate the collection, spillback, and dissipation behavior of pedestrians passing through a bottleneck. The cell transmission model is further extended to imitate the movements of multiple flows of pedestrians with different destinations. An algorithm based on generalized cell potential is also developed to assign the pedestrian flow.     

Evaluating effects of traffic and vehicle characteristics on vehicular emissions near traffic intersections

Urban air quality is generally poor at traffic intersections due to variations in vehicles’ speeds as they approach and leave. This paper examines the effect of traffic, vehicle and road characteristics on vehicular emissions with a view to understand a link between emissions and the most likely influencing and measurable characteristics. It demonstrates the relationships of traffic, vehicle and intersection characteristics with vehicular exhaust emissions and reviews the traffic flow and emission models. Most studies have found that vehicular exhaust emissions near traffic intersections are largely dependent on fleet speed, deceleration speed, queuing time in idle mode with a red signal time, acceleration speed, queue length, traffic-flow rate and ambient conditions. The vehicular composition also affects emissions. These parameters can be quantified and incorporated into the emission models. There is no validated methodology to quantify some non-measurable parameters such as driving behaviour, pedestrian activity, and road conditions     

Performance comparison between pedestrian push-button and pre-timed pedestrian crossings at midblock: a Korean case study

Walking has been highlighted as an independent transportation mode as well as an access/egress mode to/from public transit to encourage the use of more sustainable transport systems. However, walking does not seem to have priority over other transportation modes, especially in areas where various modes of movement are in conflict. The pedestrian push-button system seems to be a solution to distribute the right of way. The focus of this study is on the performance issue of the pedestrian push-button. Specifically, this study deals with issues related to mid-block crossings and attempts to answer two questions: whose waiting time is longer at pre-timed and push-button crossings, pedestrians, or vehicles? and which system – pre-timed or push-button – is better in terms of total waiting time? According to our simulation analyses, if the pedestrian flow rate is less than 120, 85, and 70 ped/h for two-, three-, and four-lane roads, respectively, the push-button system is recommended.     

Commuters’ willingness-to-pay for improvement of transfer facilities in and around metro stations – A case study in Kolkata

Although several cities in India are developing the metro system, there are lacunas associated with transfer facilities in and around metro stations. The present work aims to investigate the perception of commuters of Kolkata city, India in terms of their willingness-to-pay (WTP) for improvement of transfer facilities. A stated preference survey instrument was designed to collect choice responses from metro commuters and the database was analysed by developing random parameter logit (RPL) models. The decomposition effects of various socioeconomic and trip characteristics on mean estimates were also investigated in random parameter logit models with heterogeneity. The work indicates significantly high WTP of metro commuters as compared to the average metro fare for improvement of various qualitative attributes of transfer facility such as ‘facility for level change’, ‘visual communication’, ‘pedestrian crossing’, and ‘pedestrian environment’. The WTP values are also found to vary across different groups of commuter formed on the basis of ‘trip purpose’, ‘monthly household income’, ‘station type’ and ‘metro fare’. ‘Work trip’ commuters are found to have higher WTP for improvement of access time, pedestrian environment and use of an escalator over the elevator. On the other hand, ‘high-income group’ commuters have shown higher WTP for improvement of access time, pedestrian crossing, and pedestrian environment. While ‘high fare group’ commuters have higher WTP for access time and pedestrian environment, heterogeneity is also observed in WTP for facility for level change, pedestrian crossing, and pedestrian environment across commuters using different ‘station type’ (underground, at-grade, and elevated). The findings from the study provide a basis for formulating policies for the improvement of transfer facilities in and around metro stations giving due attention to the preference of commuters having different socioeconomic and trip characteristics.     

Continuum theory for pedestrian traffic flow: Local route choice modelling and its implications

This contribution puts forward a novel multi-class continuum model that captures some of the key dynamic features of pedestrian flows. It considers route choice behaviour on both the strategic (pre-trip) and tactical (en-route) level. To achieve this, we put forward a class-specific equilibrium direction relation of the pedestrians, which is governed by two parts: one part describing the global route choice, which is pre-determined based on the expectations of the pedestrians, and one part describing the local route choice, which is a density-gradient dependent term that reflects local adaptations based on prevailing flow conditions.Including the local route choice term in the multi-class model causes first of all dispersion of the flow: pedestrians will move away from high density areas in order to reduce their overall walking costs. Second of all, for the crossing flow and bi-directional flow cases, local route choice causes well known self-organised patterns to emerge (i.e. diagonal stripes and bi-directional lanes). We study under which demand conditions self-organisation occurs and fails, as well as what the impact is of the choices of the different model parameters. In particular, the differences in the weights reflecting the impact of the own and the other classes appear to have a very strong impact on the self-organisation process.     

Mobile phone use by young drivers: effects on traffic speed and headways

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of mobile phone use while driving on traffic speed and headways, with particular focus on young drivers. For this purpose, a field survey was carried out in real road traffic conditions, in which drivers' speeds and headways were measured while using or not using a mobile phone. The survey took place within a University Campus area, allowing to distinguish between settings approximating to either free flow or interrupted flow conditions. Linear and loglinear regression methods were used to investigate the effects of mobile phone use and several other young driver characteristics, such as gender, driving experience and annual distance travelled, on vehicle speeds and headways. Separate models were developed for average free flow, interrupted flow, as well as for total average speed. Results show that mobile phone use leads to a statistically significant reduction in traffic speeds of young drivers in all types of traffic conditions. Furthermore, male and female drivers reduce their speed similarly when using a mobile phone while driving. However, male drivers using their mobile phone drive at lower speeds than female drivers not using their mobile phones. Sensitivity analysis revealed that, among all explanatory variables, the effect of mobile phone use on speed was most important. Accordingly, vehicle headways appear to increase for drivers using their mobile phone. However, this effect could not be statistically validated, due to the strong correlation between speed and headway.     

Using automated walking gait analysis for the identification of pedestrian attributes

Collecting microscopic pedestrian behavior and characteristics data is important for optimizing the design of pedestrian facilities for safety, efficiency, and comfortability. This paper provides a framework for the automated classification of pedestrian attributes such as age and gender based on information extracted from their walking gait behavior. The framework extends earlier work on the automated analysis of gait parameters to include analysis of the gait acceleration data which can enable the quantification of the variability, rhythmic pattern and stability of pedestrian’s gait. In this framework, computer vision techniques are used for the automatic detection and tracking of pedestrians in an open environment resulting in pedestrian trajectories and the speed and acceleration dynamic profiles. A collection of gait features are then derived from those dynamic profiles and used for the classification of pedestrian attributes. The gait features include conventional gait parameters such as gait length and frequency and dynamic parameters related to gait variations and stability measures. Two different techniques are used for the classification: a supervised k-Nearest Neighbors (k-NN) algorithm and a newly developed semi-supervised spectral clustering. The classification framework is demonstrated with two case studies from Vancouver, British Columbia and Oakland, California. The results show the superiority of features sets including gait variations and stability measures over features relying only on conventional gait parameters. For gender, correct classification rates (CCR) of 80% and 94% were achieved for the Vancouver and Oakland case studies, respectively. The classification accuracy for gender was higher in the Oakland case which only considered pedestrians walking alone. Pedestrian age classification resulted in a CCR of 90% for the Oakland case study.