Citation

Patra M, Perumal V, Rao KVK. Case Stud. Transp. Policy 2020; 8(2): 460-470.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, World Conference on Transport Research Society, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.cstp.2019.10.010

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Pedestrian foot overbridges are sparsely used compared to the at-grade crosswalks in Indian cities. At the signalised intersections, in the presence of at-grade crosswalk, the usage rate of foot overbridge is even less despite the additional pedestrian waiting time. The uneven utilization of the crossing facilities affects the safety and mobility of pedestrians. The objective of this study is to analyse the behaviour of pedestrians and their choices between an at-grade signalised crosswalk and a coexisting foot overbridge (which is quite common in Indian cities) for crossing the street. The actual crossing choice behaviour of 1134 pedestrians was observed from a video survey in Mumbai city, India. The usage rate of foot overbridge in the sample was 26% only. Binary logit model was estimated to find the significant variables influencing the pedestrian choice of crossing facility. The results showed that pedestrian's total crossing time ratio (ratio of crossing time by foot overbridge to total crossing time by at-grade crossing which includes additional waiting time at signal) affects the choice of crossing facilities significantly. The probability of selecting foot overbridge increases by about 60% as the pedestrian's total crossing time ratio reduces from 1.5 to 0.5, For more than 50% of pedestrians to use foot overbridge, the total crossing time ratio should be within 0.75. It was also inferred that choices of women and older pedestrians are influenced primarily by convenience to cross, whereas the choices of pedestrians accompanied by children are driven by the safety benefits of the crossing facility. Another important finding from the study was that pedestrians' crossing behaviour depends on the level of risk they take while crossing (in terms of signal violation). The conclusions from this study may be helpful in strengthening the policy measures in the direction of the design of safe and efficient pedestrian crossing facilities.

Language: en

Keywords

Behavioural modelling; Choice modelling; Foot overbridge; Pedestrian behaviour; Pedestrian crossing; Signalised crosswalk