Analysis of Pedestrian Movements on Sidewalks: A Case Study in Kolkata, India

Abstract

This paper focuses on investigating the effect of sidewalk frictions on pedestrian movements. The study accordingly analysed the characteristics of pedestrians on five sidewalk zones selected on the basis of their land-uses. Traffic data was videotaped and bi-directional movement was captured. Empirical investigations demonstrate that hourly flow at the public transport terminal is significantly high throughout the day, while in recreational area usually it starts increasing since afternoon. Presence of buffer has an effect on speed of female pedestrians; however, such effect was insignificant in case of males. Speed of pedestrians reduces considerably if they carry baggage. Notably, it was more in commercial areas compared to public transport terminals. This is attributable to the fact that majority of daily commuters carry lighter baggage which has little or no effect on their speeds. Capacity drops down with the decrease in effective width which however does not have considerable impact on free-flow speeds. Also, the study found that sidewalk frictions affect speeds of pedestrians’ irrespective of their age and gender and capacity as well.