Experimental feature of bicycle flow and its modeling

Abstract

As a healthy and green transportation mode, cycling has been advocated by many governments. However, compared with vast amounts of works on vehicle flow and pedestrian flow, the bicycle flow study currently lags far behind. We have carried out experimental studies on bicycle flow on a 146-m long circular road. We present the fundamental diagram of bicycle flow and the trajectories of each bicycle. We have analyzed the spatiotemporal evolution of bicycle flow as well as its stability and phase transition behavior. The similarity between bicycle flow and vehicle flow has been discussed. We have proposed a cellular automaton model of bicycle flow, and the simulation results are in good agreement with the experiments.