Tackling crowd management in subways during a pandemic
Columbia researchers are working with the MTA to develop machine learning and traffic models to optimize traffic flow during the pandemic. photo: Francisco Anzola
Public transport, especially metros, are critical to the economic viability and environmental sustainability of cities around the world. But public transit has been hit hard during the COVID pandemic, with subways in particular seeing a sharp drop in ridership.
Spurred on by the 2020 Columbia Engineering Transportation Design Challenge, researchers from across the University have been collaborating on a project to strengthen the preparedness and resilience of transportation communities in the face of public health disasters.The team consists of civil Engineering professor Salon Drecently won $2.5 million in grants Research from the National Science Foundation aims to address the problem of crowd management in subways.
this project- “Preparing for future epidemics: Subway crowd management to minimize airborne transmission of respiratory viruses“—Combining sensing, crowd and airflow modeling with public health expertise and applying it to metro crowd management. Researchers are developing coupled airborne transmission and epidemiological models to account for factors affecting respiratory virus transmission Microscopic processes – droplet and aerosol transport.Additionally, they are integrating behavioral science data that will help inform travel choices and policymaking.
The result will be a system that helps transit riders and staff make informed decisions and adjust travel behavior accordingly. The system will also provide recommendations to transit agencies involved in planning and decision-making to mitigate the risk of the virus spreading to passengers and workers.
“We think our system, which we call Way-CARE, will be transformative, especially for people in low-income communities, who are among those most affected by reduced access to safer forms of mobility, said Di, who leads the organization Transportation Management. “We want our projects to improve the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of people who live, work and travel in cities.”
The team included joint PI Jeffrey Shaman (Columbia Climate Institute; Mailman School of Public Health); Marco Giometto, Xiaofan Jiang, and Faye McNeill (Columbia Engineering); Ester Fuchs (School of International and Public Affairs); and Kai Ruggeri (Columbia University Irving Medical Center ).
The researchers are working with New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority and local rider communities in Harlem and Columbia. They hope their system will give smart city transit operators access to real-time sensory information collected from subway stations and/or trains for crowd management purposes.
“This is an important interdisciplinary collaboration,” he said shaman, an epidemiologist, is a leader in the field of infectious disease modeling. “Transmission of respiratory viruses has not been directly observed, and the microscopic processes that affect infection risk are not well understood. Our project will address these by improving our understanding of the physical, biological, and behavioral characteristics that lead to the spread of respiratory viruses in metro environments.” shortcomings and provide real-time information to transportation officials and the public to improve worker and passenger safety.”
Adapted from press release Columbia Engineering
