The influence of the density inside a train carriage on passenger boarding rate

Passenger alighting and boarding time is an important factor for crowded metros with high-frequency operations. Some operators leave the train doors open until the last passenger boards or passengers voluntarily stop boarding, while others regulate the boarding process. To evaluate whether it is effective to regulate the passenger while boarding or not, this research explores how the density inside the train would influence the passenger boarding rate by conducting a laboratory experiment. The results showed that the passenger boarding rate increased as the density increased, up to approximately 2.5–3.0 passengers/m2. Beyond that point, our results suggested that the boarding rate may have decreased, but the evidence was not conclusive. It is deduced that, under the experimented density (up to around 5 passengers/m2), the density does not have any apparent negative effects on the boarding rate, which implies that there is no strong evidence to recommend passenger boarding regulation. © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.