Asymmetry of pedestrian influence area in unidirectional and bidirectional crowd flows: empirical evidence and statistical modeling

Every pedestrian forms an influence area of variable extent at the emergence of an interaction with another pedestrian. The characteristics of this influence area are usually discussed in the framework of pedestrian simulation models. The present work addresses the statistical modeling of this influence area with the aim to reveal the critical microscopic factors that may affect its type and extent using a multivariate structural equation framework. The analysis focuses on overtaking patterns in unidirectional and bi-directional normal crowd flow conditions based on pedestrians’ trajectories derived from video recordings at a highly visited metro station of Athens (Greece). Findings reveal asymmetries between the rear and front part of the influence area. Moreover, both the speed difference between interacting pedestrians and the type of flow (unidirectional or bi-directional) significantly affect the observed asymentries.