Johannes S. Brunner, Ying-Chuan Ni, Anastasios Kouvelas, Michail A. Makridis
2024
Full text
Cycling as a mode of transport is on an upward trend as a low-emission alternative to driving in urbanised areas nowadays. With the increasing number of cyclists, it is of great importance to assess the capacity of cycling infrastructure in practice. Simulation models are useful tools to investigate bicycle flow performance considering cyclists’ distinct moving behaviours. However, existing bicycle simulation models are restricted by either space discretisation, lane-based setup, adaptation from models for car traffic, or complicated calibration requirements in a force-based environment. In addition, cyclists’ decision-making ability in the operational-level cycling behaviour is not well-captured in these models. This paper proposes a comprehensible microscopic bicycle simulation model which includes a detailed decision-making process and the ability to simulate continuous-space lateral movement. The model consists of three levels: manoeuvre decision, movement planning, and physical acceleration. It is able to simulate bicycle flow dynamics in undersaturated traffic conditions on an exclusive bike path. As we do not intend to show the empirical validity of the proposed model, the simulation experiment aims at verifying the model and exploring bicycle flow performance in various scenarios by estimating the fundamental diagrams (FDs). The effect of different path widths on bicycle flow capacity is first explored. Other behavioural factors, including desired speed heterogeneity, overtaking incentive, and safety region size perceived by cyclists, which can potentially influence the shape of the FD, are also tested. The model can be further extended to simulate relatively complex cycling behaviour with cooperative and anticipative strategies and investigate bicycle flow characteristics in congested traffic conditions.
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