Study on the Invasion Behavior of E-Bikes with Motor Vehicle Traffic at a Signalized Intersection

Abstract

In many developing countries like China, many queuing electric bikes (e-bikes) passing an intersection simultaneously greatly reduces the capacity of the intersection for motor vehicles, by invading the passing area of motor vehicles. To study the invasion effect of e-bikes on the traffic flow of motor vehicles at an urban signalized intersection, this paper proposes a social force model for the heterogeneous traffic flow of motor vehicles and e-bikes. The proposed model is calibrated and validated using real data collected in Chengdu, China. The validation results show that the proposed model can replicate the heterogeneous traffic flow with low errors. Simulations based on the proposed model are conducted to investigate what strategies can reduce the invasion of e-bikes in normal motor vehicle traffic. The results show that when the number of queuing e-bikes before the stop line is more than 20, the two strategies can be applied: the stop-line-ahead strategy and the green-signal-ahead strategy. The study suggests that the 2–4 s of green signal ahead or 3–5 m of stop line ahead for non-motor vehicles can significantly reduce the interference of e-bikes on motor vehicle traffic. In addition, the combination of the two strategies can also obtain the same effect but with smaller change to the original intersection design.

An operational simulation framework for modelling the multi-interaction of two-wheelers on mixed-traffic road segments

“…Actually speaking, several studies have attempted to simulate two-wheeler flows. In respect of microscopic models, longitudinally continuous models [44,45], Cellular automata (CA) [46,47], and force-based models [48,49] are the most utilized underlying methods. As for the former two kinds of models, virtual lanes and cells are hypothesized as the basic unit to simulate road users' movements and interactions [50,51].…”

Modeling and Simulation of Nonmotorized Vehicles’ Dispersion at Mixed Flow Intersections

“…3.5m is one of the commonly suggested nonmotorized vehicle lane width listed in the national standard of Chinese transport planning on urban road [31]. Such configuration has been utilized in most recent research articles on nonmotorized vehicles' behavior in China [13,32,33]. The lengths of the intersections are 47 m at the Changji-Moyu intersection and 50 m at the Xianxia-Jianhe intersection.…”

Obstacle Avoidance Model of Two-Wheeled Vehicles for Nonrigid Obstacles Based on Social Forces

“…Tese research studies established the related social force dynamics model based on the interference characteristics. Te study scenarios of the motor vehicle-nonmotor vehicle microdynamics model mainly include motor vehicle-nonmotor vehicle shared trafc areas such as single carriageway road, dual carriageway road [19,20], and intersection areas [21,22]. Te relevant humannonmotor vehicle microdynamics model not only studies the disturbing efect of pedestrians on two-wheeled vehicles [23,24] but also considers the disturbing behavior of twowheeled vehicles on pedestrians [25].…”