Modified Effective Area Approach to Estimate Motorcycle Equivalent Units in Ahmedabad City

Abstract

This paper presents a methodology for estimation of Motorcycle Equivalent Units (MEU) in mixed traffic flow for motorcycle dominated traffic with increased accuracy by considering dynamic characteristics of subject vehicles, like speed and effective area. Besides, this increased accuracy is the result of the inclusion of speed of adjacent motorcycles in the form of speed ratios to estimate the effective area required by the subject vehicle at a particular speed. The effective area for each sample is computed with consideration of the effective dimensions and speed of that subject vehicle and its adjacent motorcycles on both sides in the proposed methodology. Two mid-block sections of urban roads in Ahmedabad city were selected for field data collection by videography method in this case study. The collected field data was analysed through Speed Estimation from Video Data (SEV) software. A table of classified speed ratios is also presented to derive an idea regarding the magnitude of change in lateral clearances of subject vehicles. The MEU values obtained for cars, motorcycles, rickshaws, buses, Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV), and bicycles were 3.02, 1.00, 1.84, 9.82, 6.2, and 1.9 respectively. Further, the proposed model was compared with a previously developed model to justify the increase in accuracy and to observe the variations in MEUs. The values estimated can be used to establish speed-flow relations, measure roadway capacity in urban roads, analyse the level of service in order to plan suitable traffic control and regulatory measures.