Effect of dynamic train arrival times to passenger congestion in the MRT-3

Abstract

Congestion on the MRT-3, brought about by overcrowding in both trains and station platforms due to high passenger dependence, reduces service quality for passengers. This study aims to simulate passenger traffic across MRT-3 stations by introducing a heterogeneous timetable for train arrivals. Train headway times are varied by generating random Gaussian numbers with varying standard deviations. Analysis of post-simulation data defined critical values for mean time μ and standard deviation σ at which passenger congestion was significantly high, suggesting that more erratic patterns along with longer headway times result to heavier congestion in train stations.