Driver–passenger guidance model for Chinese freeway service areas based on path selection and parking delay

Abstract

Abstract The driver–passenger guidance model proposed in this article is designed for large-scale freeway service areas that integrate various services such as shopping, leisure and catering. The model focuses on analyzing the impact of perceived travel distance and parking delay on path selection and parking space selection to optimize passenger flow efficiency. A perceived travel distance function is used to construct a pedestrian path selection model whose parameters are calibrated by a stated preference survey. An optimal parking space selection model is established based on the analytic hierarchy process-technique for order of preference based on similarity to the ideal solution method and considers parking distance, outdoor walking distance, indoor perceived travel distance after parking, and the impact of pedestrian crossings on parking delays. The model also calculates the vehicle arrival rate with parking time and the critical gap to ensure pedestrian safety. A parking delay calculation model is established based on the acceptable gap theory. The model is verified using the Yihezhuang service area of the Xiongan freeway as an example. The results show that the pedestrian path selection model improves passenger flow balance and reduces the variance in road passenger flow by 12% and per capita travel time by 9%. The proposed parking delay calculation model reduces parking delays by 30 s compared to models that do not consider pedestrian crossings, indicating its smoothness and convenience.