Simulation of pedestrian counter flow with conflicting preference using a lattice-based simulation model

Pedestrian counter flows widely exist in public pedestrian facilities such as corridors, sidewalks, signalized crossings and so on. There is one specific flow in real life, namely counter flow with conflicting walking preference which often occurs in the case of presence of one-sidedly asymmetry due to shadows, light, snow and so on. It is often overlooked in practice and the related studies are still limited. In this study, to better understand the flow dynamics of pedestrian flow with various walking preference, a simple lattice-based model was proposed in which position exchange and walking preference were simultaneously considered. Specifically, simulations including pedestrian counter flow with preference (Case A), with conflicting preference (Case B), and without preference (Basic case) were performed. Results show that the presented model can capture some essential features of pedestrian counter flow with various walking preference. It is not always necessary to intervene the behavior of pedestrians’ conflicting preference, since appropriate degree of preference is sometimes beneficial to movement of pedestrians. In addition, with the significant influence of position exchange, the flow in Case A with more orderly motion is more efficient in the context of low density, while the flow in Case B with more frequent interactions is more efficient in the case of high density. The findings in this study will be helpful in crowd management as well as the design and operation of pedestrian facilities.