IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i16p6858-d1453422.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Stay Two-Meters Apart: Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 Social Distancing Protocols on Subway Station Walkway Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Sheng Dong

    (School of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Ningbo University of Technology, Ningbo 315211, China)

  • Afaq Khattak

    (College of Transportation Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 201804, China)

  • Feng Chen

    (College of Transportation Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 201804, China)

  • Feifei Xu

    (School of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Ningbo University of Technology, Ningbo 315211, China)

Abstract

Ensuring passenger safety in public transportation systems is a critical challenge, especially under pandemic conditions that necessitate adherence to social distancing measures, such as maintaining a two-meter distance between individuals. This research focuses on evaluating the performance of subway station walkways when subjected to these distancing requirements. To conduct this analysis, a discrete-event simulation (DES) approach was implemented. This technique models the movement and interaction of passengers within station walkways as discrete events, allowing for a detailed assessment of system performance under various conditions. Key performance indicators, including the average area occupied by each passenger, the time spent on the walkway (dwell time), and the likelihood of congestion (blocking probability), were evaluated. The DES considered varying passenger arrival patterns by utilizing phase-type (PH) distribution and walkway dimensions to reflect a range of real-world scenarios. The operational outcomes under normal conditions were compared with those observed under pandemic-induced social distancing protocols. Through this comparison, insights were provided into how enforced distancing impacts walkway efficiency, and we identified potential bottlenecks.

Suggested Citation

  • Sheng Dong & Afaq Khattak & Feng Chen & Feifei Xu, 2024. "Stay Two-Meters Apart: Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 Social Distancing Protocols on Subway Station Walkway Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-18, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:16:p:6858-:d:1453422
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/16/6858/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/16/6858/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. J. Macgregor Smith & Wu-Ji Li, 2001. "Quadratic Assignment Problems and M/G/C/C/ State Dependent Network Flows," Journal of Combinatorial Optimization, Springer, vol. 5(4), pages 421-443, December.
    2. Aya Aboudina & Alaa Itani & Ehab Diab & Siva Srikukenthiran & Amer Shalaby, 2021. "Evaluation of bus bridging scenarios for railway service disruption management: a users’ delay modelling tool," Public Transport, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 457-481, October.
    3. Hu, Lu & Jiang, Yangsheng & Zhu, Juanxiu & Chen, Yanru, 2015. "A PH/PH(n)/C/C state-dependent queuing model for metro station corridor width design," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 240(1), pages 109-126.
    4. Aditya Mahatidanar Hidayat & Kasem Choocharukul, 2023. "Passengers’ Intentions to Use Public Transport during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of Bangkok and Jakarta," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-19, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chen, Yanru & Yi, Bing & Jiang, Yangsheng & Sun, Jidong & Wahab, M.I.M., 2018. "Inter-arrival time distribution of passengers at service facilities in underground subway stations: A case study of the metropolitan city of Chengdu in China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 227-251.
    2. Hu, Lu & Zhao, Bin & Zhu, Juanxiu & Jiang, Yangsheng, 2019. "Two time-varying and state-dependent fluid queuing models for traffic circulation systems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 275(3), pages 997-1019.
    3. Min Zhang & Rajan Batta & Rakesh Nagi, 2009. "Modeling of Workflow Congestion and Optimization of Flow Routing in a Manufacturing/Warehouse Facility," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(2), pages 267-280, February.
    4. Zhang, Hui & Xu, Jie & Jia, Limin & Shi, Yihan, 2021. "Research on walking efficiency of passengers around corner of subway station," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 573(C).
    5. Afaq Khattak & Hamad Almujibah & Feng Chen & Hussain S. Alyami, 2022. "Modified State-Dependent Queuing Model for the Capacity Analysis of Metro Rail Transit Station Corridor during COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-14, October.
    6. Khattak, Afaq & Hussain, Arshad, 2021. "Hybrid DES-PSO framework for the design of commuters’ circulation space at multimodal transport interchange," Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 205-229.
    7. W. Hager, 2009. "COAP 2008 best paper award: Paper of P.M. Hahn, B.-J. Kim, M. Guignard, J.M. Smith and Y.-R. Zhu," Computational Optimization and Applications, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 525-530, December.
    8. Karimi, Sina & Samadzad, Mahdi & Lesteven, Gaele, 2024. "Navigating public transport during a pandemic: Key lessons on travel behavior and social equity from two surveys in Tehran," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    9. Silva, Allyson & Coelho, Leandro C. & Darvish, Maryam, 2021. "Quadratic assignment problem variants: A survey and an effective parallel memetic iterated tabu search," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 292(3), pages 1066-1084.
    10. Loiola, Eliane Maria & de Abreu, Nair Maria Maia & Boaventura-Netto, Paulo Oswaldo & Hahn, Peter & Querido, Tania, 2007. "A survey for the quadratic assignment problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 176(2), pages 657-690, January.
    11. Shi, Yihan & Xu, Jie & Zhang, Hui & Jia, Limin & Qin, Yong, 2022. "Empirical investigation on turning behavior of passengers in subway station," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 606(C).
    12. Shi, Yihan & Xu, Jie & Zhang, Hui & Jia, Limin & Qin, Yong, 2022. "Walking model on passenger in merging passage of subway station considering overtaking behavior," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 585(C).
    13. Hamad Almujibah & Afaq Khattak & Saleh Alotaibi & Raed Alahmadi & Adil Elhassan & Abdullah Alshahri & Caroline Mongina Matara, 2023. "Two-Level Full Factorial Design Approach for the Analysis of Multi-Lane Highway Section under Saturated and Unsaturated Traffic Flow Conditions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-14, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:16:p:6858-:d:1453422. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.