Analysis on Alighting and Boarding Movement Laws in Subway Using Modified Social Force Model

This paper presents a multi-agent simulator based on social force model to simulate each passenger’s boarding and alighting behavior both in a train and on a platform seamlessly. Passengers can be divided into three types: to board, alight and stay in train. They have different individual attributes and follow different walking rules. Due to the characteristics of subway environment and passengers' behavior in boarding and alighting, some adjustment and improvement were made to the basic social force model: (1) In some cases during the process of boarding and alighting, the driving force targeting to destination needs to be doubled, and the repulsion force between two agents needs to be reduced. (2) Passengers who stay in the train show quite different movement from the usual pedestrian. They usually want to remain still, unless they are in front of the door. To describe their behaviors, we introduced a tangent detour force. The scope of the interaction between agents is extended and some passengers out of the visual field also should be counted. (3) Divide the repulsive force between an agent and an obstacle into the frontal force and convex corner force. These two forces have different spheres of influence and calculation methods. The agents could exhibit reasonable intelligence and diversity during alighting and boarding

Analyzing the Effect of Crowds on Passenger Behavior Inside Urban Trains through Laboratory Experiments—A Pilot Study

The objective is to study the distribution of passengers inside urban trains for different levels of crowding. The study is carried out through the observation of videos made by laboratory experiments in which a mock-up of a carriage represented the boarding and alighting process. The Fruin’s Level of Service (LOS) was adopted, but with a different approach, in which the train is divided into five zones (central hall, central aisle, side aisle, central seats and side seats). The experiments are based on the behavior of passengers in the London Underground; however, this study could be expanded to any conventional rail or LRT system. For the laboratory experiments, it is proposed to build a metro carriage and a corresponding platform section, and the scenarios will include different levels of crowding of passengers boarding and alighting to produce a variation in the density on the platform. According to the crowding level, the results allow obtaining the distribution and movements generated by passengers in the five zones for different instants of time during the process of boarding and alighting. It is observed that passengers are distributed according to safety and efficiency conditions. For example, passengers tried to avoid contact with each other unless it is inevitable. In relation to comfort, the seats of the carriage are always used even if there is a low level of crowding. If the crowding level increases, the boarding and alighting time go up. In addition, passengers will spend one or two seconds more if the “let’s get off before getting on the carriage” behavior is breached. This kind of experiment can be used in further research as a way to test “what-if” scenarios using this new method of discretization of the space inside the train, which cannot be tested in existing stations due to restrictions such as the weather, variability of the train frequency, current design of the trains, among others. New experiments are necessary for future research to include other types of passengers such as people with disabilities or reduced mobility

Analyzing the Effect of Yellow Safety Line Designs at the Platform Edge in Metro Stations: An Experimental Approach

The objective of this paper was to analyze the effect of yellow-safety-line designs on the behavior of passengers at the platform edge in metro stations. To achieve this, an experimental approach, based on observation, was used in existing metro stations in Santiago and Valparaiso, Chile. The experiments were carried out for different widths of the yellow safety line: 5 cm, 10 cm, 24 cm, and 40 cm. In addition, the material was also changed to include yellow adhesive tape, PVC material with yellow pods, and carbon- and fiberglass-reinforced material with yellow pods. The experiments considered a mock-up to represent the hall entrance of the train and its adjacent platform, in which 25 participants were recruited, some of whom had reduced mobility. The results obtained from the experiments showed that the greater the width of the yellow safety line at the edge of the platform, the greater the level of compliance that was achieved. In addition, surveys were carried out with the passengers who participated in the experiment; the majority felt more comfortable and safer for a width of 24 cm. Some participants highlighted the phenomenon of “safety offers comfort”. In conclusion, the results of this research will allow the generation of new design and safety standards for the train–platform interface, which can then be tested in existing stations. Future research is expected to study the space occupied by different types of passengers and to study accessibility in other circulation spaces of metro stations

The Influence of Macroscopic Pedestrian Structures on Train Boarding Efficiency

A deeper understanding of pedestrian dynamics is essential to improve crowd flows in public spaces such as train stations. It is essential to understand both the physical and the psychological processes present in this context. However, current research on train boarding behavior is limited in scope and mainly focuses on how group level variables such as number of boarders/deboarders influence train boarding efficiency. Viewing pedestrian dynamics through a psychological lens is important for a detailed understanding of the train boarding context and to recognize target areas for improving crowd flows. At Dutch train stations, boarders follow a social norm of waiting at the train door until deboarding is complete. Although people generally adhere to this norm, the way it is executed may not be optimal for deboarding efficiency. We investigate how waiting boarders form a deboarding channel (a corridor where deboarders exit the train) which is a macroscopic structure formed by pedestrians, and how this channel in turn influences the efficiency of deboarding. Analyzing a dataset with 3278 boarding events at Utrecht Centraal Station in the Netherlands from 2017 - 2020 (a subset of a trajectory dataset that captures 100,000 trajectories per day), we found that higher numbers of boarders and a higher ratio of boarders to deboarders, reduced the width of the deboarding channel, and a lower width was associated with lower deboarding efficiency. These results shift the focus from group level variables to identifying macroscopic structures that are formed when pedestrians interact within a social system and provide specific target areas where nudges/behavioral interventions could be implemented

Passenger Flows in Underground Railway Stations and Platforms, MTI Report 12-43

Urban rail systems are designed to carry large volumes of people into and out of major activity centers. As a result, the stations at these major activity centers are often crowded with boarding and alighting passengers, resulting in passenger inconvenience, delays, and at times danger. This study examines the planning and analysis of station passenger queuing and flows to offer rail transit station designers and transit system operators guidance on how to best accommodate and manage their rail passengers. The objectives of the study are to: 1) Understand the particular infrastructural, operational, behavioral, and spatial factors that affect and may constrain passenger queuing and flows in different types of rail transit stations; 2) Identify, compare, and evaluate practices for efficient, expedient, and safe passenger flows in different types of station environments and during typical (rush hour) and atypical (evacuations, station maintenance/ refurbishment) situations; and 3) Compile short-, medium-, and long-term recommendations for optimizing passenger flows in different station environments

Reducing Dwell Time: London Underground Central Line

Inconsistent and excessive dwell times often cause delays to underground metro systems. The goal of this project was to recommend solutions to minimize dwell times in the Central Line of the London Underground. The team conducted employee interviews, station observation, train observation, CCTV observation, and passenger surveys to more thoroughly understand the issue. Our team identified four system constraints that could be altered to encourage more efficient passenger behavior in order to reduce dwell times

The Influence of Macroscopic Pedestrian Structures on Train Boarding Efficiency

A deeper understanding of pedestrian dynamics is essential to improve crowd flows in public spaces such as train stations. It is essential to understand both the physical and the psychological processes present in this context. However, current research on train boarding behavior is limited in scope and mainly focuses on how group level variables such as number of boarders/deboarders influence train boarding efficiency. Viewing pedestrian dynamics through a psychological lens is important for a detailed understanding of the train boarding context and to recognize target areas for improving crowd flows. At Dutch train stations, boarders follow a social norm of waiting at the train door until deboarding is complete. Although people generally adhere to this norm, the way it is executed may not be optimal for deboarding efficiency. We investigate how waiting boarders form a deboarding channel (a corridor where deboarders exit the train) which is a macroscopic structure formed by pedestrians, and how this channel in turn influences the efficiency of deboarding. Analyzing a dataset with 3278 boarding events at Utrecht Centraal Station in the Netherlands from 2017 - 2020 (a subset of a trajectory dataset that captures 100,000 trajectories per day), we found that higher numbers of boarders and a higher ratio of boarders to deboarders, reduced the width of the deboarding channel, and a lower width was associated with lower deboarding efficiency. These results shift the focus from group level variables to identifying macroscopic structures that are formed when pedestrians interact within a social system and provide specific target areas where nudges/behavioral interventions could be implemented

Modelling passenger distribution and interaction on platform train interfaces

Platform edge doors (PEDs) are now common in metro stations, however it is not clear what their effect is in the distribution and interaction of passengers in the platform train interface (PTI). This study proposed a new area of the platform defined as platform conflict area (PCA), which included the PTI and the relevant space on the platform in front of PEDs. The method consisted on a carriage design to simulate typical boarding and alighting behavior at University College London’s Pedestrian Accessibility Movement Environmental Laboratory (PAMELA), in which the PCA was divided into semi-circular layers that originated at the PEDs. The interaction time (IT) was adjusted and a multinomial distribution function was used to model passengers based on London Underground stations. When the ratio (R) between passengers boarding and alighting was equal to 4, passengers started to board earlier, reaching 38% less IT than the case or R = 0.25 and half the time of R = 1. The distribution model presented no significant differences between the expect and observed data. Further research needs to be conducted to calibrate the coefficient to more accurately predict the IT and verify the assumed multinomial distribution model to determinate the maximum number of passengers waiting to board in each layer on the PCA considering different types of stations

Real-time seat allocation for minimizing boarding/alighting time and improving quality of service and safety for passengers

Rail is considered as one of the most important ways of transferring passengers. High passenger loads has implications on train punctuality. One of the important parameters affecting punctuality is the average boarding/alighting time. Organizing boarding/alighting flows not only reduces the risk of extended dwell time, but also minimizes the risk of injuries and improves the overall service quality. In this paper, we investigate the possibility of minimizing the boarding/alighting time by maintaining a uniform load on carriages through systematic distribution of passengers with flexible tickets, such as season or anytime tickets where no seat information are provided at the time of reservation. To achieve this, the proposed algorithm takes other information such as passenger final destination, uniform load of luggage areas, as well as group travelers into account. Moreover, a discrete event simulation is designed for measuring the performance of the proposed method. The performance of the proposed method is compared with three algorithms on different test scenarios. The results show the superiority of the proposed method in terms of minimizing boarding/alighting time as well as increasing the success rate of assigning group of seats to group of passengers