01623091

Component

Personal mobility vehicles (PMVs) are emerging as a new transport mode, particularly for short-distance trips in indoor and outdoor settings. This user- and environment-friendly mode is expected to become more common on urban sidewalks in the near future. Accordingly, the designs of shared sidewalks and implementation policies should be properly evaluated before authorizing PMVs on these shared sidewalks, particularly in cities with high pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Properly calibrated microscopic simulation tools can be used to facilitate such purposes. The applicability of a social force-based microscopic model, which was initially utilized to simulate realistic pedestrian movements and interactions, is explored in this paper to simulate PMV and pedestrian movements and interactions in shared spaces. The parameters related to all model components (i.e., individual or free-flow movements and interactions of PMVs and pedestrians) are calibrated with data collected through controlled experiments under different possible PMV–pedestrian interacting situations. The calibration results suggest that existing microscopic simulation models can be used with proper calibration to simulate PMV and pedestrian movements on shared sidewalks, even without exhaustive modifications and enhancements. That is, the calibrated model in this study can be implemented in existing simulation platforms and conveniently utilized in real-world and practical applications. The modeling concepts and calibration methods discussed in this paper can also be utilized to model other traffic mixes in a shared space.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AHB45 Standing Committee on Traffic Flow Theory and Characteristics.

01618707

17-02818

English

18p

2017

Transportation Research Board 96th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References

Calibration; Electric vehicles; Microscopic traffic flow; Pedestrian flow; Sidewalks; Sociology; Sustainable transportation; Two wheeled vehicles; Urban design; Vehicle mix

Motorized personal transportation devices

Environment; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Society; Vehicles and Equipment

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2017 Paper #17-02818

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 8 2016 11:03AM