Title: Assessing escalator pedestrian traffic dynamics amid COVID-19 pandemic using hybrid simulation

Authors: Konstantinos Mykoniatis; Anastasia Angelopoulou; Tianqi Gao Smith

Addresses: Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA ' TSYS School of Computer Science, Columbus State University, Columbus, GA 31907, USA ' Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, USA

Abstract: Pedestrian behaviour in urban spaces has abruptly changed amidst the COVID-19 pandemic due to government-issued restrictions such as social distancing. It is unclear whether pedestrian behaviour will remain altered and/or urban spaces will be changed accordingly post-pandemic. Taking these changes and uncertainties, as well as the unique characteristics of pedestrian traffic as opposed to vehicle traffic, into consideration, this study creates a hybrid simulation model using the AnyLogic simulation software. The simulation model can be used to examine the efficiency of several types of escalator pedestrian behaviours in non-crowded scenarios, such as emergent/evacuation vs. regular operation, capacity and number of available escalators, escalator's dimensions (e.g., height and length) and speed, and pedestrian preference (e.g., standing vs. walking). This generic simulation model allows future users to evaluate the efficiency of the escalator operation scenarios they would like to simulate by providing output measures such as time spent in system and throughput and allowing customisations of escalator dimensions and pedestrian-related parameters based on user-specific requirements.

Keywords: hybrid simulation; escalator; pedestrian; COVID-19 pandemic; social distancing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSPM.2021.117332

International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling, 2021 Vol.16 No.3, pp.237 - 246

Received: 22 Nov 2020
Accepted: 28 Mar 2021
Published online: 31 Aug 2021 *

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