Traffic Dynamics of Bicycle Flow: Experiment and Modeling

Cycling has been advocated by many governments because it is a healthy and green transportation mode and it helps mitigate traffic congestion. However, compared with vast amounts of works on vehicle flow and pedestrian flow, the bicycle flow study currently lags behind. We have carried out experimental studies on bicycle flow on a 146 meters long circular road and on an on‐ramp system. We present the fundamental diagram of bicycle flow and the trajectories of each bicycle on the circular road. We have analyzed the spatiotemporal evolution of bicycle flow and found that jams spontaneously form above a critical density of approximately 0.37 bicycles/m. For the on‐ramp system, no capacity drop has been observed. The similarity and difference between bicycle flow and vehicle flow has been discussed. We propose a cellular automaton model of bicycle flow, and the simulation results are in agreement with the experiments.