Modeling the Waiting Behavior of Pedestrians
The distribution of passengers waiting for a train is one of the limiting factors when improving the performance of a train station, as it heavily influences the boarding and alighting times of trains. Pedestrian's waiting behavior is highly influenced by personal preferences, some choose a waiting position and wait there till the train arrives, others stroll around aimlessly at the platform. We focus on modeling the choice of a waiting position.
We introduce a probability-based model for the pedestrians' choice of a waiting position.
Different factors as the geometry and the positions of other waiting pedestrians are taken into account. A static and a dynamic floor field determine the probability of a position to be chosen as waiting position. The static floor field takes geometrical influences, as the distance to exits, walls, and door areas into account. Whereas the dynamic floor field considers the distance to a specific position, including detours forced by other pedestrians. Additionally, a third field is used to reward a certain distance to other pedestrians.
For further improving the model an iterative approach will be used. Thus the pedestrians will react to changes in their surrounding and adapt their choice of the waiting position accordingly. The surrounding will display the currently visible areas on the platform. Hence, moving on the platform and discovering new areas may lead to a more suitable waiting position.
Further Information:
Contact Person: Tobias Schrödter