TRAIN STATION PASSENGER FLOW STUDY
Janice P. Li Booz-Allen & Hamilton Three Gateway Center, Suite 1625 Newark, NJ 07102, U.S.A.
ABSTRACT
With the increasing demand for public transportation due to congested highways, trains have become one of the most viable alternatives, especially for daily commuting. While transit agencies are excited with the increasing ridership, they are also challenged with a higher volume of passenger flow and longer queuing lines at the existing stations. To improve the current situation and plan for the future, transit agencies are using simulation tools to help evaluate station design, queue management, fare equipment design and fare policy impacts.
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fimction of fare structures, fare collection policies, station layout, equipment design, operating policies and system capacity. Agency staffs often are available only at major terminal stations and their job fimctions are assisting passengers at information booth, selling train tickets, and guarding the areas. In the past, transit agencies have used simulation to help addressed the following train station passenger flow related issues: Fare Equipment Type Mix Optimization - There are various types of fare equipment; such as ticket vending machines, ticket collecting turnstiles, exit only turnstiles and cash dispensing turnstiles. Agencies need to determine an optimal combination of these equipment. An example would be determining the numbers of bidirectional versus one-way fare gates to mitigate the impediments between passengers entering and exiting the various machines at the same time. Fare Policy Change - When there is a proposed fare increase or introduction of a new ticket type, it often increases the time spent purchasing a ticket with cash from a ticket vending machines. Since a passenger may need to put more bill(s) or coin(s) into a machine. Therefore,