Traffic slowdown due to single tricycle intrusion

Abstract

We show the slowdown induced by mixing tricycles among cars in a two-lane switch-allowed cellular automata model of city traffic. In this model vehicles with uniformly distributed speed capacities aim for minimum travel time. As expected, the presence of tricycles, even a single one, slows down traffic flow seen as a significant increase in normalized average travel time. A patience factor we call tolerance, which is a measure of delay in switching, is introduced. In a tricycle setting, traffic significantly improves up to a certain tolerance level. However, in a no-tricycle setting, tolerance-related improvement is not observed. Our results show the wisdom in segregating roads used by tricycles from those used by cars.