Congestion Dynamics in Pedestrian Single-File Motion

TL;DR

This paper investigates pedestrian congestion and jam formation in a controlled laboratory setting, analyzing trajectories to understand stop-and-go waves in single-file motion.

Contribution

It introduces a method to analyze pedestrian trajectories in a quasi-one-dimensional system, enabling comparison of straight and curved segments for congestion analysis.

Findings

Trajectories from different parts are comparable.

Stop-and-go waves can be characterized and described.

Residuals follow a common distribution.

Abstract

This article considers execution and analysis of laboratory experiments of pedestrians moving in a quasi-one-dimensional system with periodic boundary conditions. To analyze characteristics of jams in the system we aim to use the whole experimental setup as the measurement area. Thus the trajectories are transformed to a new coordinate system. We show that the trajectory data from the straight and curved parts are comparable and assume that the distributions of the residuals come from the same continuous distribution. Regarding the trajectories of the entire setup, the creation of stop-and-go waves in pedestrian traffic can be investigated and described.