Analysis on Beijing Subway Flows during the 29th Olympics

JOURNAL OF TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS ENGINEERING AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Volume 8, Issue 6, December 2008 Online English edition of the Chinese language journal Cite this article as: J Transpn Sys Eng & IT, 2008, 8(6), 46í51.

RESEARCH PAPER

Analysis on Beijing Subway Flows during the 29th Olympics JIANG Yukun* Beijing Institute of Subway Design, Beijing 100088, China

Abstract: During the Beijing Olympics, as a major mode to support the urban traffic, Beijing subway adopts a series measures to give the guarantee to smooth operation of traffic, which include designing specific train schedule and extending the operation time of subway lines. Viewed from the characteristics of passenger flow in temporal distributions especially the opening and closing ceremony day and directional distributions such as the stations around competition venue, this paper analyzes the variety of the traffic flow of Beijing subway. The results indicate that the influence on passenger volumes from the Olympics is significantly associated with the layout of Olympics stadiums. Subway passenger volumes in central districts experience little increase both in weekdays and holidays. In the other aspect, the passenger flow have little rise in weekdays but reach a much higher amount in the holidays. Key Words: Olympic transport; Beijing subway; passenger flow; temporal and spatial distribution characteristics

1

Introduction

As one of the large events that catch the most attention of the world, the Olympic Games has increasingly expanded in scale. When it came to Beijing in 2008, it saw the largest scale and most participants, with 7–9 million spectators enjoying the show of more than 10 thousand athletes from 205 countries[1]. However, a large event can put great pressure on traffic of its host city and alter the running characteristics of the urban transport system remarkably while it brings opportunities for economic growth and cultural communication[2]. As to Olympics, it has features of short-lasting, intensified, and strict requirements, and gathers millions of people in the host cities at peak days, which makes high demands on the urban traffic organization[3]. That’s why the traffic organization of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games caught more and more attention. Large sports events always involve traffic control measures implemented by governments, Olympic committees, and other departments to provide safe and smooth transport for competition activities and city commuting. At Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, all competition venues were integrated with the public transport system and a 5.3km-long ring rail line that

connected the Olympic Village to the urban rail transit system was constructed in Sydney. This rail system carried 80% of the Olympic traffic or 2.95 million passengers a day (by contrast to 1.4 million prior to the Games) because ticketed spectators, athletes, and officials can access the free travel on public transport to arrive at the venues[4]. When the 2002 World Cup was held in Korea and Japan, Seoul’s public transport absorbed 71.8% of the spectators to access competition venues due to its shorter subway intervals and longer operation hours of public transport[5]. When Athens held the 2004 Olympic Games, it established a decision support system to plan its Olympic public transport network, which included an expansion of its existing public transport network, a new urban rail transit line and two new tramway lines, and 30 additional buses for the Games. All urban subway lines came into operation for 24 hours a day and carried as much passengers as nearly their saturation level[6]. For 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany, the German government issued rail transit tickets with preferential fare to make the public transport most attractive to spectators[7]. When the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics were successfully held in Beijing, their traffic organization was helped by one of the major transportation modes in the

Received date: Sep 13, 2008; Revised date: Nov 7, 2008; Accepted date: Nov 8, 2008 *E-mail: [email protected] Copyright © 2008, China Association for Science and Technology. Electronic version published by Elsevier Limited. All rights reserved.

JIANG Yukun / J Transpn Sys Eng & IT, 2008, 8(6), 46í51

city—the subway. During both events, all subway lines operated for more hours a day against dedicated train schedules, and provided free travel to ticketed spectators, volunteers, athletes, and BOCOG (Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games) officials. From the viewpoint of temporal and spatial characteristics, this paper carries out and reveals the characteristics of Beijing’s subway passenger flow during the events, by comparing the change of passenger flows through all the subway lines and key stations before and during the events.

2

About Beijing subway during the Olympics Games

Although Beijing became China’s first city with a subway as early as in 1969, its subway had grown at an undesirable speed until the end of the 20th century. When Beijing succeeded in applying for the Olympic Games in July, 2001, a booming period of the city’s rail transit construction was unveiled. According to its commitment in the Olympic application, as well as the special plan of Olympic transport developed after that, Beijing completed and opened the 19 km “Batong Line” in December, 2003, and successively commenced the construction of Subway Lines 5, 4, and 10. By the time when the 27.6 km Line 5 was opened for public on October 7, 2007, and the three new lines, including the 24 km Phase 1 of Line 10, the 4 km Olympic Branch, and the 22 km Airport Line, were opened for public on July 19, 2008, Beijing had doubled its operational subway lines to 190.64 km, giving birth to a network of rapid rail transit as the Olympic Games was to begin. This marked that its hardware construction in the eight years following the success of Olympic application was equivalent to that in the 32 years before. Beijing Subway carefully prepared and arranged its hardware and software to improve the service level and operational efficiency to support the Olympic Games. Before the Games’ opening, it technically reconstructed the existing Lines 1 and 2 by replacing some subway vehicles, upgrading the equipment system, and improving their capacity and safety. To meet the highest demand with improved carrying capacity and guaranteed transport service, it worked out train schedules for the Games period. Lines 1 and 2 were so upgraded that their six-car trains ran at a minimum intervals of 2.5 minutes in peak hours and 5–6 minutes in normal hours. It moderated the situation that the traffic was already approaching the saturation capacity of the peak section of 35 thousand passengers/hour of Line 1. On Line 5, the trains with six subway vehicles ran at a minimum interval of only 3 minutes in peak hours and 5 minutes in normal hours. This accommodated the peak section of 28 thousand passengers per hour in workdays, as well as the passengers approaching and exiting the main Olympic venue. The carrying capacities of other lines were also adjusted. The minimum inter-train

intervals were 3 minutes, 3 minutes, 3–3.5 minutes, and 3.5–4 minutes in peak hours on Line 13, Batong Line, Olympic Branch, and Line 10, respectively; 5–6 minutes and 6–7 minutes in normal hours on Line 13 and Batong Line, respectively. To further improve its service level during the Olympic Games, Beijing subway trained all relevant employees on Olympic etiquette, foreign languages, sign language, and working skills. In addition to its full-time employees, it organized more than 10 thousand subway, college, and other volunteers to participate in passenger services. As a result, the guidance service capacity was enhanced on the operational frontline, especially at key lines, stations, and posts.

3 3.1

Temporal characteristics of passenger flow during the Olympics Analysis of total passenger volume

The 29th Summer Olympic Games was held in Beijing from August 8 to 24, 2008. This largest ever Olympics absorbed the most participants from 205 countries, including nearly 90 state chiefs, over 10 thousand Olympic Committee officials, athletes, and coaches, over 10 thousand registered reporters, and about 7–9 million spectators[1]. Statistics indicated that Beijing subway transported 68.13 million passengers during the Beijing Olympic Games (August 8–24, 2008), and 46.987 million passengers during the Paralympic Games that followed (September 6–17, 2008). With the enhanced operational management and control measures, the subway fully utilized its existing carrying capacity, operated safely and smoothly without any event to disturb traffic order caused by operational equipments or passenger transport, and played its role as a core transport network at the city center during both competitions. 3.2

Change of daily average passenger flow during Olympics

Beijing Subway transported more passengers on an average day during the Olympics and Paralympics. This paper analyzes workday and holiday statistics to further study the characteristics of daily passenger flow. Workday passenger flow (WPF) is the passenger flow in weekdays other than public holidays. It mostly consists of commuters who have to go to work or school. WPF features evident peaks. Its total volume is higher than that of holiday passenger flow. The total Olympic WPF was 123% of the non-Olympic volume, primarily driven by the Olympic Branch, Line 5, and Line 10, which passenger flows increased by more than 25% for each due to their passing by the competition venues. The passenger flow increased by 2% on Line 13, and slightly dropped on Lines 1, 2, and 10 at the city center, as well as Batong Line. Fig. 1 illustrates the detailed trend of change.

WPF growth ratio

JIANG Yukun / J Transpn Sys Eng & IT, 2008, 8(6), 46í51

Fig. 1 Olympic WPF growth ratio by operating line



Fig. 2 Olympic HPF growth ratio by operating line 

Holiday passenger flow (HPF) is the passenger flow in public holidays and weekends. When it comes to subway, HPF is generally 75–80% of WPF. According to statistics, the Olympic daily average HPF was about 142% of the non-Olympic volume, again, driven by the Olympic Branch, Line 5, and Line 10 that had their passenger flows increased by more than 60% for each due to their close relationship with the competitions. The passenger flow increased by 10% on Lines 1, 2, and 13 at the city center, and dropped by 9% on Batong Line. Fig. 2 illustrates the detailed trend of change. The above statistics revealed the characteristic difference between the city center and the hotspot region of competition during the Olympics and Paralympics. In the city center, the passenger flow did not increase in weekdays but slightly increased in holidays and weekends; in hotspot regions of Olympic competitions, the passenger flow slightly increased in weekdays but significantly increased in holidays and weekends. The change of WPF was mainly attributed to the lines near the hotspot regions. On the city center lines far away from such points, WPF saw slight drop instead of increase, primarily due to massive suspension of civil works, adjusted working structure of citizens, and Beijing’s reduced temporary residents during the Olympics and Paralympics. The change of HPF was mainly driven by all citizens. Although they cared about the Olympics in workdays, they could rarely make any travel other than commuting to work or school. In weekends, they would inevitably go out for the ongoing Olympic competitions and hotspots.

3.3 Analysis of passenger flow on key dates The key to the traffic support all through the Olympics was the traffic organization on the opening and closing days, when the National Stadium saw 160 thousand floating population, according to statistics. This population included 70 thousand guests, reporters, athletes, actors, actresses, and staff members who mainly accessed the Stadium by dedicated vehicles, and 90 thousand ticketed spectators and volunteers by bus and subway. During the days of three Olympic dress rehearsals, one Paralympics dress rehearsal, and openings and closings of the Olympics and Paralympics, Beijing Subway carried nearly 500 thousand passengers, including 260 thousand entering passengers and 230 thousand exiting ones, averaged about 61 thousand for each. These subway passengers accounted for about 1/3 of those carried by all transport modes. This extremely facilitated the quick assembling, orderly exiting, and healthy and safe performance of mass events in large public places. The following pattern is revealed from the statistics of passenger flow on the key dates: (1) Road resistance caused passengers to choose other transport modes. On each day of the above six events, far more passengers took Olympic Branch than Line 5, with the ratio of 16:1 on average, 30:1 at maximum, and 10:1 at minimum. The major reason was that the Stadium is exactly on the Olympic Branch but about 2 km away from the nearest station (Datun) on Line 5 to its east. To reach the Stadium through Line 5, passengers have to take a bus. This considerably made it more time-consuming and less convenient. (2) When people arrive at the site of a large event from widespread sources, they follow a time-scattering Poisson distribution, and are easy to be guided to take public transport vehicles. But things are different when they have to leave the site in a short time period after the event finishes. Safety is challenging since the intensity of passenger flow entering stations and taking vehicles (the passenger flow per unit time) can be very high, and may cause stampedes if it exceeds the critical limit. On the opening and closing days of the Beijing Olympics, the National Stadium began to accept audiences at 4:00 pm, four hours before the opening/closing ceremony would formally commence at 8:00 pm. But after the ceremony finished, it had to be vacated in two hours, as required by BOCOG. This made it extremely difficult to guide passengers. To organize the passenger flow, emergency plans should be prepared and special measures, such as limiting the number of passengers entering stations, and stopping the ticket check-out when the passengers depart from the stations, may be taken as necessary. These measures, among others, might be why the leaving passengers were fewer than those arriving from the key events of the Beijing Olympics.

JIANG Yukun / J Transpn Sys Eng & IT, 2008, 8(6), 46í51 4.6

3.4 0.3 26.7

11 Line 1 Line 2 Line 5 Line 10

14.6

Line 13 Batong Line Olympic Branch 17

22.4

Airport Line

Fig. 3 Share of each line in the total passenger volume carried by the entire subway network

4

Spatial characteristics of passenger flow during the Olympics

4.1 Change of passenger flow on operating lines Statistics indicated that the entire subway network carried 32% and 29% more passengers (the sum of those carried by all operating lines) on an average day during Beijing Olympics and Paralympics than it did on the first half of 2008, respectively. But different lines contributed differently to the total network volume depending on their geographical locations. Fig. 3 illustrates their shares in the total volume during the Games. Line 1 carried 26.7% of the total, followed by Lines 2, 5, 10, 13, Batong, and Olympic Branch. Airport Line carried the least, accounting for only 0.3% of the total. During the Games, daily average passengers through Lines 1, 13, and 5 increased by 1%, 5%, and 32% respectively, while those through Line 2 and Batong dropped by 8% and 4%, as compared to the non-Olympic months on the first half of 2008. Changes of passengers through Line 10, Olympic Branch, and Airport Line are determined based on their shares in the whole network because they had not been opened for public until late July, 2008. These data indicated that Olympic Branch saw the most change of passengers, followed by Lines 5, 10, Airport, Lines 13, 1, Batong, and 2. The daily average passengers carried by each of Olympic Branch and Line 5, 10, and Airport increased at a ratio higher than the average; those through Lines 13, 1, Batong, and 2 increased by less than 5%. The above analysis indicates the following two regularities: (1) Beijing’s traffic structure (especially that at its city center) was not altered by the additional traffic demand generated by the grand Olympic Games that had so many competitions conducted in a short period, owing to the reasonable traffic measures taken in the city. (2) The regional distribution of competition venues considerably determined how Beijing’s urban transport was affected by the Olympics. During the Olympic period, the evident and most significant three relative changes of passenger flows occurred on Olympic Branch, Line 10, and Line 5. These lines connect to the Olympic Center Region at the north, which absorbed much more people than other regions, because it contained 10 competition venues including

the National Stadium (91 thousand seats, where the opening and closing ceremonies were held), National Aquatics Center (17 thousand seats), National Gymnasium (20 thousand seats), Olympic Sports Center Stadium (40 thousand seats), and Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium (9 thousand seats). The considerably increased passenger flow on Line 10 was also attributed to its short distance to the east region, where a cluster of venues, including the Workers’ Stadium (80 thousand seats), Workers’ Gymnasium (12 thousand seats), and the Beach Valley Ground, absorbed many passengers. Line 1 also saw a somehow increased passenger flow since it supported the access to western venues including the Olympic Basketball Gymnasium (18 thousand seats), Wukesong Sports Center, shooting venues, and bicycle venues, where spectators were absorbed by the basketball and shooting competitions. 4.2 Analysis of passenger flow at key stations In Section 4.1, the authors have revealed that the characteristics of passenger flow varied depending on the geographic locations of subway lines. The passenger flow through the lines passing by or accessing competition venues, instead of those at city center, was significantly affected by the Games. To further understand the spatial characteristics of subway passenger flow during the Games, the authors choose two typical stations, Wukesong and Dongsishitiao, and study their change of passenger flow. Located in west Beijing, Wukesong station is adjacent to Olympic Basketball Gymnasium and Wukesong Sports Center. It is situated on Subway Line 1, one of the important passages from the city center to the venues in west region. Fig. 4 illustrates the weekly number of passengers entering the station in August and September. In the two Olympic weeks of August 11–17 and August 17–24, the number was 45% and 30% more than Wukesong’s weekly average; after the Olympics was finished, it staggered below the average. The reason was the competitions continuously held in the region from August 9–24, especially the USA vs. China Men’s Basketball group competition, a popular match that absorbed many spectators on the week of August 11–17. Dongsishitiao Station is situated on Subway Line 2 and the East 2nd Ring Road. It had been the most convenient approach to the Workers’ Stadium and Workers’ Gymnasium

Fig. 4 Passengers entering Wukesong station per week before and after the Olympics



JIANG Yukun / J Transpn Sys Eng & IT, 2008, 8(6), 46í51

subway lines, especially the stations adjacent to venues of popular Olympic competitions. This leads to another conclusion that the regional distribution of competition venues considerably determined how Beijing’s subway passenger flow was affected by the Olympics.

Fig. 5 Passengers entering Dongsishitiao station per week before and after the Olympics

about 700 m away before Line 10 was opened. Fig. 5 illustrates the weekly passenger volume of the station in August and September. In two weeks of August 11–17 and August 17–24, it was 40% and 35% more than Dongsishitiao’s weekly average; in a week thereafter (September 8–14) during the Paralympics, it was 4% more than the average. Adjacent to the venues of popular Olympic competitions, both Wukesong and Dongsishitiao stations were typical for their concentrated and beyond-average passenger flows during the Games. According to the statistics of weekly passengers entering both stations, the passengers through Beijing’s urban rail were apparently concentrated by the Olympic competitions that absorbed massive spectators during the Games. That is, the regional distribution of competition venues considerably determined how Beijing’s subway passenger flow was affected by the Olympics.

5

Owing to the diversity and multi-level demand of urban transport, the practice of transport organization can be affected by extremely complex factors. For example, the characteristics of subway passenger flow during the Beijing Olympics was considerably affected by the increased carrying capacity of much more public transit lines, the free travel of ticketed spectators and staff members on public transport, the restriction of Beijing’s transient population, the staggered work hours of organizations, the odd-even day vehicle operation, the exclusive Olympic lanes, and the regional traffic control[8]. Based on the data and analysis mostly from the viewpoint of subway operation, the opinion in this paper is inevitably partial. Therefore, further study is required to analyze and evaluate the operational organization of Beijing’s subway based on the specific traffic control measures and the changing patterns of passenger flow during the Olympics.

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Conclusions

In addition to the abundant cultural legacy it has left, the successful Beijing Olympics has provided us with invaluable experience for hosting large events. Based on rich statistics on the temporal characteristics of Beijing’s subway passenger flow during the Olympic Games, the paper analyzes the characteristics of the daily passenger flow when the Games was in progress, especially on the opening, closing and other key dates. This leads to a conclusion that, when the Games were held, the passenger flow (i) did not increase in workdays but slightly increased in holidays and weekends in the city center, and (ii) slightly increased in workdays and significantly increased in holidays and weekends in hotspot regions of Olympic competitions. In case of a large event, the author proposed that (i) emergency plans should be prepared for the arrival and especially for the departure of participants, and (ii) special measures such as keeping passengers from entering stations, and stopping the ticket check-out when passengers depart from stations, may be taken as necessary to quickly and safely evacuate large number of passengers in a short time period. The paper also analyzes the spatial characteristics of the change of passenger flows entering the

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