Walking speeds are an important parameter in the process of designing for example arenas, malls and station environments, to be able to make them safe and comfortable for the users. Previous studies have mainly focused on pedestrian walking speeds at zebra crossings and the results of these are the basis for traffic signal timing. The studies have also investigated the relationship between walking speed and gender, age and density of pedestrians. From the results of these studies, conclusions have been drawn that these three factors have an impact on pedestrian walking speeds. To make microsimulations of pedestrians reflect reality as well as possible, pedestrian walking speeds should be investigated at regular intervals, as walking speeds change with the ongoing change of the composition of the population. In the simulation of station environments, pedestrian speeds should also be used that have been measured in these types of environments. Alternatively, the speeds should be measured at locations near stations, rather than using speeds from zebra crossings. As a step in improving the above-mentioned microsimulations, the aim of this work is to study walking speeds at a public transport hub during rush hour. The work also focuses on connecting walking speeds to each sex and level of crowding. To achieve this goal, video recordings were performed at the exchange point between Stockholms östra and Tekniska högskolan in Stockholm, Sweden, where public transport passengers change between light rail and subway. Analysis of the video films resulted in walking speeds which were higher than those previously measured at zebra crossings. The most obvious factors explaining this are the differences in the environment where the studies were conducted and that the walking speeds in this thesis were measured during rush hour. The results show that simulations of stations and locations nearby should not be based on walking speeds measured at zebra crossings. Analysis of the video films also resulted in the calculated mean walking speed of women being marginally lower than for men. Regarding the link between density of pedestrians and their walking speeds a conclusion can be drawn that at low densities pedestrians have good opportunities to freely select their own walking speed. The freely chosen walking speed which can thus be maintained at low densities can vary widely between different individuals. At higher, unlike at lower densities, it is difficult for pedestrians to maintain a freely chosen speed due to interactions with other pedestrians. The calculated average walking speed at higher densities therefor decreases as the density increases. Interactions with other pedestrians can either mean that a pedestrian is forced to lower the speed or that he or she must walk faster to keep up with the current pace. When analyzing the video films, several other factors effecting the walking speed could be noted. Of these factors, grouping of pedestrians and if the pedestrian is using a phone or carrying luggage could be seen to decrease the pedestrian speed. These factors’ impact on walking speeds was only superficially studied in this thesis, and no reliable conclusions can therefore be drawn. Keywords: Pedestrian walking speed, public transport traffic hub, density of pedestrians, Level of
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:kth-209909 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Jegenberg, Minna, Lundström, Kristina |
| Publisher | KTH, Transportplanering, ekonomi och teknik |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | TSC-BT ; 17-001 |
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