Computer modeling analysis of METRO ticket gates impact to evacuation procedures

Abstract Subway rail system is considered the best choice for big cities to solve surface transportation problems in terms of congestion, efficiency, and speed. The increasing use of these facilities by more and more passengers has made vital the need to ensure high safety standards. The effective structure of the evacuation plan in an emergency event is essential. A critical factor for a successful evacuation is the proper functioning of the egress paths that must be clear of any obstacles. To ensure the passengers’ proof-of-fare (POF) public transport organizations have installed ticket validation machines proportionally in the facilities. In Athens METRO system, ticket gates providing automatic fare collection have replaced these ticket validation machines. Both POF systems may be considered as egress path obstructions that need to be taken into account in the initial evacuation plan design, since these POF installations provide different available width on the evacuation paths. The paper investigates the impact of prior ticket validator and modern automatic fare collector machines on evacuation procedures in Athens METRO stations. The impact evaluation is based on three factors: i) total evacuation time, ii) time spent in queues (overcrowding effect) and iii) egress path flow rate, evacuation obstruction, human behavior.