The multi-dimensional challenges of controlling respiratory virus transmission in indoor spaces: Insights from the linkage of a microscopic pedestrian simulation and SARS-CoV-2 transmission model

SARS-CoV-2 transmission in indoor spaces, where most infection events occur, depends on the types and duration of human interactions, among others. Understanding how these human behaviours interface with virus characteristics to drive pathogen transmission and dictate the outcomes of non-pharmaceutical interventions is important for the...

Using pedestrian modelling to inform virus transmission mitigation policies: A novel activity scheduling model to enable virus transmission risk assessment in a restaurant environment

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a large impact on the world. The virus spreads especially easily among people in indoor spaces such as restaurants. Hence, tools that can assess how different restaurant settings can impact the potential spread of an airborne virus and that can assess the effectiveness of mitigation policies are of high value....

Modeling Pedestrian Tactical and Operational Decisions Under Risk and Uncertainty: A Two-Layer Model Framework

Pedestrian tactical choices and operational movement in evacuations essentially pertain to decision-making under risk and uncertainty. However, in microscopic evacuation models, this attribute has been greatly overlooked, even lacking a methodology to delineate the related decision characteristics (bounded rationality and risk attitudes), let...

Bicycle network needs, solutions, and data collection systems: A theoretical framework and case studies

Similarly to Maslow’s pyramid of human needs, we theorize that cities have a pyramid of bicycle network needs that depends on their level of bicycle culture. As an increasing number of data sources emerge for bicycle data collection, transport authorities face the challenge of understanding how to use the data and which data sources are fit for...

Open Experimental Data-Sets to Reveal Behavioural Insights of High-Deck Coach Evacuations

Numerous evacuation performance data for the utilization in evacuation modelling and simulations have been established for the conventional/widely studied scenarios, such as building evacuation scenarios. However, such data are typically scarce for a new scenario in literature — evacuation from high-deck coaches. This paper fulfills this gap...

Invloed van COVID-19 op verkeersafwikkeling

In dit artikel worden de effecten van COVID-19 op de (relevante onderdelen van de) aanbodkant van het mobiliteitssysteem beschreven. Gezien de verwachte impact ligt de focus op voetgangersstromen, fietsstromen, het gebruik van deeldiensten en openbaar vervoer voertuigen. We kijken naar het effect op de capaciteit, via gemeten of theoretisch...

Experimental study on evacuation behaviour of passengers in a high-deck coach: A Chinese case study

High-deck coaches form an essential component of mass transportation systems in China. Safe evacuation from high-deck coaches is facing dire challenges. However, evacuation behaviour from high-deck coaches has not been deeply understood yet. In this study, a novel conceptual framework is firstly proposed to capture the evacuation behaviour of...

Empirical findings on infrastructure efficiency at a bicycle T-junction

In the pursuit of promoting cycling and providing better cycling infrastructure, its design is of great importance. One of the critical locations in a network are intersections, and specifically T-junctions, due to the inverted perception of priority. In this paper, we investigate the behaviour at T-junctions dedicated to cyclists and the effect...

Macroscopic pedestrian flow simulation using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH)

Macroscopic pedestrian models are theoretically simpler than microscopic models, and they can potentially be solved faster while producing reasonable predictions of crowd dynamics. Therefore, they can be very useful for applications such as large-scale simulation, real-time state estimation and crowd management. However, the numerical methods...

Analysis of Bicycle Headway Distribution, Saturation Flow and Capacity at a Signalized Intersection using Empirical Trajectory Data

Predicting the bicycle flow capacity at signalized intersections of various characteristics is crucial for urban infrastructure design and traffic management. However, it is also a difficult task because of the large heterogeneity in cycling behavior and several limitations of traditional capacity estimation methods. This paper proposes several...

Large-Scale Bicycle Flow Experiment: Setup and Implementation

Cycling research at the operational behavioral level is limited, mainly because of the lack of empirical data. To overcome this data shortage, we performed a controlled, large-scale cycling experiment in the Netherlands. In this paper we describe the methodology for setting up and implementing such an experiment, from the motivation of its...

Modelling cyclist queue formation using a two-layer framework for operational cycling behaviour

Operational cycling behaviour is greatly understudied, even lacking a definition of what this behavioural level actually entails in terms of decision making. In this paper, we define the cyclist operational level and argue that it consists of two intertwined processes, a mental and a physical process. The mental process refers to path choices...

Empirical Analysis of the Macroscopic Characteristics of Bicycle Flow during the Queue Discharge Process at a Signalized Intersection

Signalized intersections are one of the most common types of bottleneck in urban cycling networks. Gaining knowledge on the macroscopic characteristics of bicycle flow during the queue discharge process is crucial for developing ways to reduce the delay experienced by cyclists at intersections. This paper aims to determine these...

Investigating cyclist interaction behavior through a controlled laboratory experiment

Nowadays, there is a need for tools to support city planners in assessing the performance of cycling infrastructure and managing bicycles and mixed flows. Microscopic and macroscopic bicycle traffic models can be used to fulfill this need. However, fundamental knowledge on individual cyclist interaction behavior (which should underpin these...

Comparing three types of real-time data collection techniques: Counting cameras, Wi-Fi sensors and GPS trackers

Nowadays, many large scale events are organised in urban areas that are not designed to accomodate these large visitor flows, as not only the sheer number of people is larger than anticipated, but also their behaviour is different. For a timely deployment of crowd management measures, continuous information on the real-time traffic state on the...

Estimating travel times using Wi-Fi sensor data

Determining travel time information from Wi-Fi (or Bluetooth) sensors is not trivial due to various (often technical) reasons. In this contribution, we focus on the problem of distinguishing travel time from the time people spend performing activities (e.g. fuelling the car, standing still to watch the scenery, buying a train ticket). More...

Coordination concepts for ramp metering control in a freeway network

The steadily increasing numbers and lengths of traffic jams on freeways have led to the application of Dynamic Traffic Management (DTM) measures all over the world. Ramp metering control has proven to be one of the most efficient means to reduce freeway congestion. Currently, it is expected that integrated and coordinated application of DTM...