Abstract
Given their high efficiency and punctuality, metro systems are widely used by passengers daily. The large volume of passengers tends to cause overcrowding in stations. Therefore, passenger movement efficiency has been a great concern for station designers, engineers, and facility managers. To minimize passenger crowding and improve passenger movement efficiency on metro platforms, this study analyzed the factors affecting passenger flow on platforms and derived useful insights. The findings are expected to be useful for designers, engineers, and facility managers.First, experiment and field survey were designed and conducted to compile the basic parameters and validate the simulation model. In the experiment, pedestrians walked along an 8 m × 0.5 m corridor, their walking characteristics were captured. By extracting and analyzing the pedestrians’ trajectories, we found that the average relaxation time of a typical Chinese pedestrian was 0.694 s and that the maximum speed of free walking was 1.127 m/s. In the field survey conducted in Chengdu Metro, the overall boarding and alighting efficiency benefitted from the strategy of lining up on one side of train doors and the sequence rule of letting passengers alight first. In another field survey, the dwelling time of alighting passengers were collected, we found that the dwelling time reached local minimum values when the train door was close to the exit of the platform. Moreover, long lines formed in the area in front of the stair-escalator group, thereby resulting in delays and inconvenience and decreasing passenger movement efficiency on the platform.
A passenger movement simulation model was then established. The model was validated with field survey data. Passenger characteristics during the boarding and alighting process were detailed. The influence of train door width and the crowd density inside a carriage on passengers’ boarding and alighting efficiency was studied in a single train door scenario. Results showed that the degree of influence increased with increasing crowd density inside the carriage. The influence on boarding and alighting efficiency was weak when the level of service of the carriage was in A, B, or C. It decreased sharply once the level of service of the carriage exceeded level D. Moreover, the carriage with five train doors measuring 1.4 m in width achieved the highest efficiency during boarding and alighting process in most cases. Thus, such layout of train doors was recommended for the design stage.
Given the large number of pedestrians staying inside the paid area of the metro station, a passenger flow model on the metro platform was established to study the influence of waiting pedestrians. Different numbers of waiting pedestrians were randomly distributed on the platform, the dwelling time of alighting passengers from the train door to the entrance of the stair-escalator group on the platform was detailed. Results indicated that the dwelling time of alighting passengers increased as the number of waiting pedestrians increased.
Most passengers alighting the carriage tended to immediately leave the platform with escalators or stairways. To further investigate the efficiency of passenger movement on the platform, we explored different stair-escalator settings and the associated guide mills barrier. The influencing factors of the stair-escalator combination form, time interval between two successively arriving trains from opposite directions, escalator speed, passengers’ willingness to choose the stairs to move up floor levels, and the layout and length of the mills barrier were considered. The passenger efficiency was the highest under the combination form in which a descending escalator was placed between a staircase and an ascending escalator. This form was recommended for designers accordingly. Further study on escalator speed indicated that a high escalator speed improved passenger efficiency. However, the impact was weak with a large number of alighting passengers in the simulation scenario. Meanwhile, the escalator speed should be designed according to the characteristics of the local population. The study of the mills barrier revealed that a mills barrier placed between a staircase and an escalator promoted passenger efficiency. Moreover, a mills barrier length of 1 or 1.5 m was recommended.
The effect of the time interval between two successively arriving trains from opposite directions on passenger dwelling time was also studied. Results revealed a threshold value for the time interval. Passengers’ dwelling time was prolonged when the time interval was shorter than the threshold. Thus, the dwelling time of alighting passengers should be considered when setting up the schedule of metro operations.
For the guidance strategy on the metro platform, the effect of passengers’ willingness to choose the stairs to move up on passenger efficiency was investigated. Results indicated that passenger dwelling time decreased with an increasing proportion of passengers choosing the stairs. The suggested proportion of passengers choosing the stairs was 30%-40%, which could effectively improve passenger efficiency.
| Date of Award | 27 Jul 2021 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
|
| Supervisor | Siu Ming LO (Supervisor) & Chi Kwong WONG (Supervisor) |