Optimization of passengers boarding in the BRT system based on the security protocols established by the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

According to the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI), the city of Lima has more than 9,485,405 inhabitants. This causes problems of pedestrian crowding in public places. The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system called Metropolitano transports 650,000 passengers a day, of which 81,800 of them use the boarding platform of the Naranjal station located in one of the most populated districts of Lima. In this station are concentrated 12.6% users of the entire transportation system. This research proposes a pedestrian microsimulation model with the objective of optimizing the pedestrian area of one of the most demanded platforms in Lima, considering the security protocols established by the Covid-19 Pandemic. To obtain results, the parameters of pedestrian density, bus frequency and queuing time were considered. The effectiveness of the proposed design is validated using a model made with the software Vissim. The results showed that the maximum number of pedestrians that can occupy the Naranjal station following the Covid-19 security protocols are 4166 persons, considering a 180 second bus frequency on lines with the highest demand and a maximum queuing time of 764.51 seconds.