A Quantitative Approach of Subway Station Passengers’ Heterogeneity of Decision Preference Considering Personality Traits during Emergency Evacuation

Abstract

Subway station emergencies are gradually increasing in China. The aim of this research is to study the effects of “Dist”, “Pedestrian flow” and “Crowd density” on the heterogeneity of passengers’ decision-making preference and explore the relationship between heterogeneity and personality. Firstly, a questionnaire of 20 emergency evacuation scenarios, that includes the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, is designed. Secondly, the heterogeneity of passengers’ decision preference is quantified by the random parameter logit model. Finally, personality traits and influencing factors are used as abscissa and ordinate respectively, to study the relationship between personality traits and preference heterogeneity. The results show that the coefficients of “Dist”, “Pedestrian flow” and “Crowd density” are −0.101, 0.236 and −0.442 respectively, which are statistically significant. The proportion of extroverted passengers of the exit is 9% higher than that of introverted passengers when “Pedestrian flow” of the exit is greater than the average value, while the proportion of introverted passengers is 7% higher than that of extroverted passengers when “Crowd density” is smaller than the average value. The conclusion is that the three influence factors are random variables, and “Dist” shows the lowest level of heterogeneity. Extroverted passengers are more likely to follow a large crowd for evacuation, but introverted passengers are more likely to avoid crowded exits.