The influence of macroscopic pedestrian structures on train boarding efficiency

• Waiting boarders form a deboarding channel through which deboarders exit. • Higher number and higher proportion of boarders lower the deboarding channel width. • In turn, the narrower deboarding channel lowers the deboarding efficiency. • Although a social norm is followed by boarders, it is not executed efficiently. • Results provide insights into target areas for developing potential nudges. A deeper understanding of pedestrian dynamics is essential to improve crowd flows in public spaces such as train stations. It is essential to understand both the physical and the psychological processes present in this context. However, current research on train boarding behavior is limited in scope and mainly focuses on how group level variables such as number of boarders/deboarders influence train boarding efficiency. Viewing pedestrian dynamics through a psychological lens is important for a detailed understanding of the train boarding context and to recognize target areas for improvement. At Dutch train stations, boarders follow a social norm of waiting at the train door until deboarding is complete. Although people generally adhere to this norm, the way it is executed may not be optimal for deboarding efficiency. We investigate how waiting boarders form a deboarding channel (a corridor where deboarders exit the train) and how this channel in turn influences the efficiency of deboarding. Analyzing a dataset with 3278 boarding events at Utrecht Centraal Station in the Netherlands from 2017 to 2020 (subset of a trajectory dataset capturing 100,000 trajectories per day), we found that higher numbers of boarders and a higher ratio of boarders to deboarders, reduced the width of the deboarding channel, and a lower width was associated with lower deboarding efficiency. These results shift the focus from group level variables to identifying macroscopic structures that are formed when pedestrians interact within a social system and provide specific target areas where nudges/behavioral interventions could be implemented.