Enhancing Transit Facility Design

The use of simulation as an integral element of transit facility design has become increasingly popular with the development of new software in a transportation engineer’s toolbox. Beyond the most basic operational assessments, these tools have the ability to demonstrate people movements, frequently traveled paths, and separately, levels of service. Of particular interest to architects and designers, the simulations provide improved and, at times, more realistic results that better clarify and illustrate the “effectiveness” of their work in a dynamic manner. Furthermore, gone are the days of only relying on spreadsheets and bringing to the public a few rudimentary tables listing analysis results. It is now commonplace for public interest groups to frequently expect consultants to have such a dynamic graphical tool at the ready for them to examine. STV is involved in a number of projects that require input as to how transportation terminals and stations will function well before design alternatives have been finalized. In fact, the provision for simulation efforts has been a required evaluation criterion for the acceptance of specific conceptual and preliminary design schemes. Given today’s heighten security concerns, accounting for rapid emergency egress is of paramount interest to designers. Pedestrian simulation modeling allows for the relatively quick analysis of multiple pedestrian scenarios including emergency evacuation and normal circulation possibilities, which realistically assigns people to the nearest exits, measures egress times, identifies points of congestion, and requires minimum preparation time. The capabilities and advantages of pedestrian simulation modeling will be demonstrated based on analyses performed for projects such as the design of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s World Trade Center Transportation Hub and the reconstruction of New York City Transit’s Cortlandt Street 1 Train station within WTC Site. Both projects are intermodal in nature, and involve the complex “mixing” of people from many origins and destinations. The images and videos provided by the simulation, and included with this paper, have proven to serve as powerful and conclusive input to designs that provide for the smooth and efficient movement of people through stations and terminals.