Paper No.

542

STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF TRAFFIC VOLUME AND ROAD WIDTH ON

PCU VALUE OF VEHICLES USING MICROSCOPIC SIMULATION†
V. THAMIZH ARASAN* AND K. KRISHNAMURTHY**

ABSTRACT
The knowledge of traffic volume is an important basic input required for planning, analysis and operation of roadway
systems. Expressing traffic volume as number of vehicles passing a given section of road or traffic lane per unit time will be
inappropriate when several types of vehicles with widely varying static and dynamic characteristics are comprised in the
traffic. The problem of measuring volume of such heterogeneous traffic has been addressed by converting the different types
of vehicles into equivalent passenger cars and expressing the volume in terms of Passenger Car Unit (PCU) per hour. The
vehicles of highly heterogeneous traffic with widely varying physical and operational characteristics such as the one
prevailing on Indian roads, occupy based on the availability of space, any convenient lateral position on the road without
any lane discipline. The interaction between moving vehicles under such heterogeneous traffic condition is highly com-
plex. The results of the study, provides an insight into the complexity of the vehicular interaction in heterogeneous traffic.
The PCU estimates, made through microscopic simulation, for the different types of vehicles of heterogeneous traffic, for a
wide range of traffic volume and roadway conditions indicate that the PCU value of a vehicle significantly changes with
change in traffic volume and width of roadway.

1. INTRODUCTION adopted unit of measurement of traffic volume, derived

The information on traffic volume is an important input
required for planning, analysis, design and operation of
roadway systems. Highway capacity values and speed-
flow relationships used for planning, design and operation
of highways, in most of the developed countries, pertain
to fairly homogeneous traffic conditions comprising
vehicles of more or less uniform static and dynamic
characteristics. But the traffic scenario in developing
countries like India differs significantly from the conditions
of developed countries in many respects. In Indian road
traffic, the heterogeneity is of high degree with vehicles
of widely varying static and dynamic characteristics. Under
this condition, it becomes difficult to make the vehicles to
follow traffic lanes. Consequently, the vehicles tend to
choose any advantageous lateral position on the road based
on space availability. Under the said traffic conditions
expressing traffic volume as number of vehicles passing
a given section of road per unit time will be inappropriate
and some other suitable base needs to be adopted for the
purpose. The problem of measuring volume of such
heterogeneous traffic has been addressed by converting
the different types of vehicles into equivalent passenger
cars and expressing the volume in terms of Passenger
Car Unit (PCU) per hour. The PCU is the universally
* Professor Transportation Engineering Division, Dept. of
** Research Scholar } Civil Engineering, IIT Madras, Chennai - 600 036
† Written comments on this Paper are invited and will be received upto 15th November, 2008.
by taking the passenger car as the ‘standard vehicle’.
The interaction between moving vehicles in a traffic stream
is highly complex and is influenced by a number of
roadway and traffic factors. The accurate estimation of
the magnitude of vehicular interaction for different
roadway and traffic conditions is the prerequisite for better
operation and management of roadway facilities in their
prevailing conditions.
Since the traffic flow phenomenon is influenced by
several stochastic variables of random nature, micro-
simulation technique has been found to be a versatile tool
to model complex traffic systems for study of their
characteristics over a wide range of operating conditions.
The present study is aimed at studying the vehicular
interactions in heterogeneous traffic under different
roadway and traffic conditions and hence check for the
accuracy of the available PCU estimates for the different
categories of vehicles on Indian roads for a range of traffic
volume and roadway conditions.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
After the introduction of the term PCU in the
Highway Capacity Manual (HCM), USA in the year
1965, considerable research effort has been made toward
E -mail: arasan@iitm.ac.in
} E- mail : akashkrishna1972@rediffmail.com
 134 ARASAN & KRISHNAMURTHY ON

the estimation of PCU values for different vehicle types subject matter reveals that studies conducted are mostly
under various roadway conditions. For example, Huber related to fairly homogeneous traffic conditions, and the
(1982); Krammes and Crowely (1986) suggested that few studies conducted under heterogeneous traffic
the factors which are considered in evaluating the level conditions are not comprehensive enough to replicate the
of service may be taken as the variables to describe the field conditions accurately. Hence, it was decided to make
impedance to travel in PCU estimation. Keller and James an attempt to study the vehicular interaction in heterogeneous
(1984) developed a procedure to estimate Passenger traffic in a comprehensive manner and derive PCU values
Car Equivalent (PCE) values for large vehicles moving for different vehicle types through this research work.
over an urban network using TRANSYT simulation
model. As per this procedure, the amounts of delay caused 3. SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES
by different vehicle types were taken as the basis to
The proposed research work aims at analyzing the
estimate the PCE values.
characteristics of the heterogeneous traffic flow to
Srinivas Peeta et al. (2003) modelled the car-truck identify appropriate theoretical distributions for various
interactions on freeway sections using microscopic traffic traffic variables influencing the traffic stream
flow models. The car-truck interactions were modelled by characteristics, and study of the flow characteristics and
associating a “discomfort level” for every non-truck driver vehicular interactions at micro level. The specific
in the vicinity of the trucks. It was observed that this objectives of the research work are as follows.
discomfort is affect by the driver socioeconomic
1. To quantify the impedance caused to traffic flow
characteristics, and situational factors such as time-of-day,
by the different categories of vehicles in
weather, and ambient traffic congestion levels. Al-Kaisy
heterogeneous traffic in terms of PCU, over a wide
et al. (2005) found that the HCM suggested PCU factors
roadway and traffic conditions using simulation
for heavy vehicles is applicable only under free-flow
technique and
conditions and hence, attempted to derive passenger car
equivalents for heavy vehicles during congestion. It is found 2. To study the effect of road width and traffic volume
from the review of the literature that several studies on on PCU values of vehicles.
estimation of PCU values of vehicles in heterogeneous
traffic have been conducted. For example, Terdsak and 4. THE SIMULATION FRAMEWORK
Chanong (2005) studied the effect of motor cycles on traffic
Simulation being a versatile tool for modelling traffic
operations on arterial streets of Bangkok. They found that
flow, the simulation technique has been used to study
the derived PCU of motor cycles showed a decreasing
the heterogeneous traffic flow characteristics on Indian
trend with increase in share of motor cycles in the traffic
Roads by a few researchers in the past (e.g., Ramanayya
stream. Zhang et al. (2006) adopted the vehicle moving
(1988), Kumar and Rao (1996) and Marwah and Singh
space (VMS) as the measure to derive passenger car
(2000)). These modelling attempts, however, are not
equivalents for vehicles of different categories for Chinese
comprehensive enough to replicate the field conditions
roadway and traffic conditions. Chandra and Sikdar (2000)
fully due to various limitations of the studies. Research
through an empirical study found that for a given road width,
attempts made at IIT Madras (Arasan and Koshy, 2004
an increase in volume level of heterogeneous traffic causes
& 2005) to comprehensively model heterogeneous traffic
more density on the road resulting in reduced uniform speed
flow has resulted in replication of the field conditions
of vehicles. The lower speed difference between cars and
satisfactorily. This simulation model has been used to
subject vehicles yield smaller PCU value for the vehicle
simulate the heterogeneous traffic flow over a wide range
type. Chandra and Kumar (2003) studied the effect of road
of roadway and traffic conditions. The model is capable
width on PCU of vehicles on two-lane highways and found
of simulating the traffic flow for any specified composition
that the PCU value increased with increase in width of
and traffic volume on a given width of roadway over
roadway. Justo and Tuladhar (1984) developed mathematical
specified time duration. As the variables influencing the
models to derive PCU values for vehicles on urban roads
traffic flow are random and stochastic in nature,
based on empirical data under mixed traffic flow. Ramanayya
appropriate statistical distributions are used to represent
(1988) estimated the PCU factors for different vehicle types
them in the model. The inter-arrival times (time
at different levels of services taking the Western car as the
headways) of vehicles are randomly generated from
Design Vehicle Unit DVU. The review of literature on the
 STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF TRAFFIC
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COUNCIL WIDTH ON PCU VALUE OF
VEHICLES USING MICROSCOPIC SIMULATION
specified statistical distributions. As per the methodology,
the entire road space is considered as single unit. The
road space will be considered to be a surface made of
small imaginary squares (cells of convenient size 100
mm in this case); thus, transforming the entire space
into a matrix. The vehicles will be represented with
dimensions as rectangular blocks occupying a specified
number of cells whose co-ordinates will be defined
before hand. The front left corner of the rectangular
block is taken as the reference point, and the position of
vehicles on the road space is identified based on the
coordinates of the reference point with reference to the
origin chosen at a convenient location on the space. This
technique will facilitate identification of the type and
location of vehicles on the road stretch at any instant of
time during the simulation process (Fig. 1).
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135
this issue, an additional clock for scanning with a precision of
0.05s is provided, so that a maximum of 20 vehicles can be
added in one second. The precision of 0.05s, decided based
on field studies, is intended to account for the maximum
possible number of smaller vehicles, like motorised two
wheelers, auto-rickshaw, etc. that may arrive in large numbers
in short periods on multilane highways. Thus, the logic
formulated for the model also permit admission of vehicles in
parallel across the road width, since it is common for smaller
vehicles such as Motorised two-wheelers to move in parallel
in the traffic stream without lane discipline. Vehicles admitted
to the simulation road stretch are then allowed to move based
on the various movement logics formulated. Various
manoeuvre for a vehicle moving on the simulation road stretch
include free forward movement with desired speed,
acceleration manoeuvre, movements leading to lateral shifting
and overtaking of slower vehicles, movements involving
deceleration and following of the front vehicle for want of
sufficient gaps for overtaking, etc. When the cumulative
precision time is equal to the scan interval, the module for
vehicle movement ‘Move All Vehicles’ will be activated to

Fig. 1. Reference axes for representing vehicle positions

The simulation process, which is intended to model

traffic flow through mid-block sections of urban roads,
basically, consists of the following three modules: (i) Vehicle
generation; (ii) Vehicle placement; and (iii) Vehicle
movement. The flow chart shown in Fig. 2 depicts the major
logical steps involved in the overall simulation process
involving the three modules.
For the purpose of simulation, the time scan procedure
is adopted. The scan interval chosen for the simulation is 0.5
second. The arrival of vehicles on the road stretch will be
checked for every 0.5 second and the arrived vehicles will
be put on to the entry point of the study stretch of the road, on
first-come-first-served basis. In the vehicle-generation module,
the first vehicle is generated after initialization of the various
parameters required to simulate heterogeneous traffic flow.
Then, the generated vehicle is added to the system when the
Fig. 2. Simulation framework
current time (clock time) becomes equal to the cumulative
headway. At this stage, the module for adding vehicles named move all the vehicles in the simulation road stretch, with their
‘Add Vehicle’ will be activated to facilitate the process. At current parameter values. The above process will be
higher traffic flow levels, there is a chance of more than one continued until the clock time matches with the assigned total
vehicle arriving during each scan interval (0.5s). To address simulation time.
 136 ARASAN & KRISHNAMURTHY ON

5. TRAFFIC CHARACTERISTICS TABLE 2. MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM LATERAL CLEARANCES

The different types of vehicles present in the Lateral-clearance share (m)

heterogeneous traffic, for the purpose of this study, were Vehicle type At zero speed At a speed of 60 km/h
grouped into eight different categories as follows. 1. (1) (2) (3)
Motorized two-wheelers (M.T.W), which include motor Buses 0.3 0.6
cycles, scooters and mopeds, 2. Motorized three-
Trucks 0.3 0.6
wheelers (M.Th.W), which include Auto-rickshaws –
three wheeled motorized paratransit vehicles to carry a LCV 0.3 0.5
maximum of three passengers and tempos – three Cars 0.3 0.5
wheeled motorized vehicles to carry small quantities of M.Th.W. 0.2 0.4
goods, 3.Cars including jeeps and small vans, 4. Light
M.T.W. 0.1 0.3
commercial vehicles (LCV) comprising large passenger
vans and small four wheeled goods vehicles, 5. Bus, 6. Bicycles 0.1 0.3*
Truck, 7. Bicycle and 8.Tricycle, which includes cycle- Tricycles 0.1 0.3*
rickshaw- three wheeled pedal type paratransit vehicles * Maximum speed of these vehicles is 20 km/h
to carry a maximum of two passengers and three wheeled
pedal type vehicles to carry small amount of goods over TABLE 3. ACCELERATION RATES OF DIFFERENT CATEGORIES
short distances. As this study pertains to traffic flow on OF VEHICLES

urban arterials, animal drawn vehicles were not Rate of acceleration at various
considered as these vehicles are not permitted/present speed ranges (m/s2)
in negligible number on these roads. Each animal drawn Vehicle type 0-20km/h 20-40 km/h Above
vehicle, if present, was taken to be equivalent to two 40 km/h
tricycles for the purpose of simulation. (1) (2) (3) (4)
The average overall dimensions of the vehicle types Buses 0.89 0.75 0.67
and the field observed lateral and longitudinal clearances Trucks 0.79 0.50 0.43
between the vehicles are as shown in Tables 1 and 2 LCV 0.82 0.45 0.35
respectively. The lateral clearance-share values are used
Cars 1.50 1.10 0.95
to calculate the actual lateral clearance between vehicles
based on the type of the subject vehicle and the vehicle M.Th.W. 1.01 0.45 0.30
by the side of it. For example, at zero speed, if an auto- M.T.W 1.35 0.80 0.60
rickshaw is beside a bus, then the clearance between Bicycles 0.10 - -
the two vehicles will be 0.2 + 0.3 = 0.5 m. The longitudinal
Tricycles 0.07 - -
clearance, at zero speed can be calculated by the same
procedure. The field observed acceleration rates of the
6. MODEL VALIDATION
different types of vehicles, for three different speed
ranges, are shown in Table 3. 6.1 Data Collection

TABLE 1. OBSERVED VEHICULAR DIMENSIONS Heterogeneous traffic flow, in one direction, on

straight and level stretch of a four-lane divided road with
Overall dimension (m)
raised curbs, in the southern part of Chennai city, India
Vehicle type Length Breadth
was considered for model validation. The width of the
(1) (2) (3)
road space available for each direction of flow is 7.5 m.
Buses 10.3 2.5 Out of the total width of 7.5 m, a 1.5 m wide road space,
Trucks 7.5 2.5 adjacent to the curb, is reserved for bicycles by making
LCV 5.0 1.9 paint marking on the pavement surface. The traffic flow
Cars 4.0 1.6 on the stretch was measured for one hour by video
M.Th.W. 2.6 1.4 capturing the traffic flow and making classified count of
vehicles after transferring the video data to a computing
M.T.W. 1.8 0.6
work station. A total of 3704 vehicles were observed to
Bicycles 1.9 0.5
pass through the section during the observation period
Tricycles 2.5 1.3 of one hour. It was found during the traffic count that
 STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF TRAFFIC
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VEHICLES USING MICROSCOPIC SIMULATION
there were no animal drawn vehicles present on the study
stretch. Also, trucks and tricycles constituted respectively
0.28 and 0.15 per cent of the vehicles. The percentages
being very small for the purpose of simulation, the trucks
which are close to buses in respect of size and speed,
were considered as buses and each of the tricycles, which
are close to bicycle in dynamic characteristics were
considered to be two bicycles. The observed composition
of the traffic after the above said modification is depicted
in Figure 3. The simulation model requires the free speed
parameters of vehicles to initialize and assign the speed
during their placement in the simulation stretch. The free
speed parameters obtained through field measurement
during lean traffic periods on the study stretch, are shown
in Table 4. The free speed of cars (for any vehicle)
depends on the make of the car, the age of the car, the
level of maintenance of the car, the age, sex and the
behaviour of the driver. These factors fall over a wide
range under Indian conditions. This is the reason for a
wide range in the value of free speeds of cars.
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6.2. Model Calibration
There are several probability distributions available
to describe the vehicle arrival pattern and headway
distribution of traffic flow. In this study Poisson
distribution and Negative exponential distributions were
found to fit well for vehicle arrival pattern and headway
distribution respectively (Rao et al. (1988)). The Chi-
square goodness of fit test shows that observed
frequencies have significant fit with Poisson distribution
for vehicle arrival pattern. The calculated chi-square
value is 12.136 against the critical value from chi-square
table for 9 degrees of freedom at 5 per cent level of
significance of 16.92. Thus, it is found that, the
calculated chi-square value is less than the table value
as shown in Table 5. This confirms the goodness-of-
fit. The Poisson arrival pattern is also pictorially
depicted in Fig. 4.

Fig. 4. Observed vehicle arrivals pattern

Fig. 3. Composition of field observed traffic

For the observed traffic volume of 3704 vehicle/h
the inter arrival time between successive vehicles,
TABLE 4. FREE SPEED PARAMETERS OF DIFFERENT TYPES namely the time headway (λ) has been found to be
OF VEHICLES 1.03 seconds. The grouped headway data with a class
Free speed parameters in km/h interval of 0.8s, was found, using chi-square test, to
fit into Negative Exponential distribution. The
Vehicle Mean Minimum Maximum Standard
type Deviation calculated chi-square value is 12.19 which is less the
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) critical value from chi-square table for 7 degrees of
Bus 53 38 68 7
freedom at 5 per cent level of significance of 14.07
and thus confirms the goodness-of-fit. The details of
LCV 50 37 65 7
the χ2 test are given in Table 6.
Car 60 40 90 14
The cumulative frequency of the field observed and
M.Th.W 45 30 55 7 theoretical headways, plotted on the same set of axes, is
M.T.W. 48 25 60 12 shown in Fig. 5. It can be seen that both are matching
Bicycle 14 10 18 3 with each other well.
138 ARASAN & KRISHNAMURTHY ON

TABLE 5. GOODNESS - OF - FIT TEST FOR VEHICLE ARRIVAL PATTERN

No. of Veh. Observed No. Expected No. Theoretical Frequency Observed Frequency (O − E)2
Arrivals ( r ) of Arrivals of Arrivals in the Class (E) in the Class (O) χ2 =
E
in 5 seconds
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
0 2 4 23 14 3.606
1 12 19
2 60 51 51 60 1.622
3 89 89 89 89 0.000
4 117 117 117 117 0.000
5 136 122 122 136 1.561
6 105 107 107 105 0.028
7 71 80 80 71 0.996
8 48 52 52 48 0.364
9 28 30 30 28 0.204
10 14 16 16 14 0.246
11 10 8 12 18 3.508
12 & Above 8 4
χ2 Value at 5 per cent level of Significance for 9 degrees of freedom is = 16.92 12.136

TABLE 6. GOODNESS-OF-FIT TEST FOR HEADWAY DISTRIBUTION

Class Interval Theoretical Frequency of Theoretical Frequency Observed Frequency (O − E)2

χ2 =
headway >Lower class limit in the class (E) in the Class (O) E
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
0.0 – 0.8 3704 2000 2055 0.486
0.8 – 1.6 1704 920 944 0.624
1.6 – 2.4 783 423 395 1.872
2.4 – 3.2 360 195 175 1.976
3.2 – 4.0 166 90 72 3.423
4.0 – 4.8 76 41 32 2.040
4.8 – 5.6 35 19 18 0.046
5.6 – 6.4 16 9 5 1.578
6.4 – 7.2 7 7 8 0.143
7.2 & More 3
χ2 Value at 5 per cent level of significance for 7 degrees of freedom = 14.07 χ2 Value = 12.19
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VEHICLES USING MICROSCOPIC SIMULATION
statistical basis, are shown in Table 7. It can be seen
that the simulated speed values significantly replicate
the field observed speeds of the different categories of
vehicles.
TABLE 7. DETAILS OF COMPARISON OF THE OBSERVED AND
SIMULATED SPEEDS ON STATISTICAL BASIS
Vehicle Observed Simulated Difference Squared
type average speedin (Deviation) deviation
speed in km/h
km/h
Buses & 31.47 30.39 1.08 1.17
Trucks
Fig. 5. Observed and theoretical headways
LCV 30.86 30.50 0.36 0.13
Cars 33.4 32.31 1.09 1.19
6.3. Model Validation
M.Th.W 31.18 32.31 -1.13 1.28
It is desirable to validate simulation models based M.T.W 33.59 35.12 -1.53 2.34
on traffic characteristics that are derived out of the
Bicycles 13.63 15.73 -2.1 4.41
simulation process. Accordingly, it was decided to
Total 7.29 10.51
compare the speeds of each categories of vehicles
obtained through simulation with the corresponding dmean = Mean of observed difference =7.29/6 = 1.21
observed values. The speed values were derived by t statistic, to = dmean /(Sd/√K),
where K = Number of data sets =6
simulating the traffic over a 7.5 m wide straight stretch
Sd2 = 10.51/5= 2.102, where Sd is the Standard Deviation;
of road of 1400 m length. The middle 1000 m was the
Sd =1.449
observation stretch. The initial 200 m length at the entry
to = 1.21/(1.449/√6) =2.06
point was used as a warm up zone and a 200 m length at
The critical value of t statistical for 0.05 level of significance and
the exit point was also excluded from the analysis. To 5 degrees of freedom, obtained from standard t-distribution table,
ensure stable flow condition during the measurement, is 2.57. Thus, it can be seen that the value of t statistic calculated
the simulation clock was set to start only after the first based on the observed data (to) is less than the corresponding
50 vehicles crossed the exit end of the road stretch. Table value. This implies that the simulated speeds significantly
represent the observed speeds
During the simulation process, the time taken by each
vehicle to traverse the specified simulation stretch was
observed to estimate the speed maintained by each 7. VEHICULAR INTERACTION
vehicle. Then, a histogram of simulated and observed
The study of vehicular interaction is intended to quantify
speeds was made as shown in Fig. 6. It can be seen that
the relative impact of the presence of each of the different
the observed and simulated speeds are matching to a
types of vehicles on traffic flow. This can be achieved by
greater extent in all the cases.
estimating the PCU values for the different categories of
The details of the comparison of the simulated and vehicle in the traffic. After a careful study of the various
observed speeds of different categories of vehicles on approaches adopted for estimation of PCU of vehicles, it
was found that the methodology of approach of Transport
and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL), London, UK
may be appropriate for the heterogeneous traffic being
dealt with. The PCU has been defined by TRRL (1965)
as follows: “on any particular section of road under
particular traffic condition, if the addition of one
vehicle of a particular type per hour will reduce the
average speed of the remaining vehicles by the same
amount as the addition of, say x cars of average size
per hour, then one vehicle of this type is equivalent to
Fig. 6. Comparison of observed and simulated speeds x PCU. This definition has been taken as the basis for
 140 ARASAN & KRISHNAMURTHY ON
derivation of PCU values, in this study.
7.1. Vehicular Interaction in Cars-only Traffic
Though the prime objective of this study is to quantify
the vehicular interactions in terms of PCU under
heterogeneous traffic, it will be appropriate to estimate
the PCU values of different vehicle types while moving
with cars-only traffic stream to provide a set of basic
PCU values of the different types of vehicles. This will
provide information on the absolute amount of impedance
caused by a vehicle type while moving in the traffic
stream, which comprises of cars and the subject vehicles
only. In this regard, the model was first used to simulate
homogeneous traffic (100 per cent passenger cars) in
one direction, on four-lane, divided urban road to develop
the fundamental speed-flow diagram. Thus, the width
of road space available for movement of traffic in one
direction will be 7.5 m. The total length of road stretch
considered for the experiments is 1400 m, with 200 m
sections at the entry and exit excluded from output data
collection as warm-up and stabilizing section. The central
1000 m stretch was considered as the observation stretch,
the various traffic flow parameters were recorded while
vehicles were moving through it. To account for the
variation due to randomness, the simulation runs were
repeated using three different-random number streams
to check for the consistency of the results. Then a
graphical relationship between average speed and traffic
volume was developed as depicted in Fig. 7. Using the
speed-flow curve, the capacity of 7.5 m wide road space
under homogeneous traffic condition, with traffic flow
in one direction, was then obtained to be about 3250
passenger cars per hour as shown in Fig. 7.
Since, speed is the performance measure identified
to estimate the PCU values, average speed of cars-only
Fig. 7. Speed-flow relationship on 7.5 m wide road under
homogeneous traffic condition
traffic for a set of selected volume levels were estimated
by simulating the homogeneous traffic flow, starting from
very low volume to capacity level. The impedance caused
by a vehicle type, in terms of PCU, for a chosen volume
level was estimated by replacing a certain percentage
(the observed percentage composition of the subject-
vehicle in the field- Fig. 3) of cars in the homogeneous
traffic stream with the subject-vehicle type, such that,
the average speed of cars remained the same as before
the replacement of the cars. The number of subject
vehicle can be adjusted on trial basis by observing the
average speed of cars in each trial. If the average car
speed is more, after replacement, than the average car
speed under homogeneous traffic, it is to be inferred
that, the introduced number of subject vehicles is
inadequate to compensate for the removed cars. Similarly,
if the average speed of cars, after replacement, is less
than the average car speed under homogeneous traffic,
it is to be inferred that the introduced subject-vehicle
volume is more than the equivalent volume of cars. After
regaining the original speed of cars by adjusting the
number of subject vehicles, the PCU value of the vehicle
type can be estimated using the relation,
Number of cars removed
PCU Value of subject − vehicle type =
Number of subject − vehicle type added
The logic behind the above approach is that, as stated
in the definition of PCU, the introduced subject vehicle
type creates more or less the same effect on the traffic
stream that is equivalent to that of the cars removed
from the stream. The PCU value of the subject-vehicle
was determined, following the said procedure, for the
same set of traffic volume levels selected for cars-only
traffic. Then a plot relating the chosen traffic volume
levels and the corresponding PCU values of the subject
vehicle was made. Such plots made for the different
vehicle categories are shown in Figs. 8 through 12.
Fig. 8. Variation of PCU values of buses
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VEHICLES USING MICROSCOPIC SIMULATION
It can be seen that in all the cases (Fig. 8 through 12) that at
lower volume levels, the PCU value of the subject vehicle
increases with increase in traffic volume. Whereas, at higher
volume levels, the PCU value of the subject vehicle
decreases with increase in traffic volume. The reasons for
these trends can be explained as follows. The lower
magnitude of PCU values at the low-volume level may be
attributed to the longer space headway between the vehicles
at lower volume levels. Then, the presence of subject
vehicles may not impose severe impedance to movement
of cars, even though the free speed of subject vehicle is
less than the free speed of cars. Due to the availability of
larger gaps, cars can overtake the subject vehicle without
considerable reduction in speed. As the volume of traffic Fig. 11. Variation of PCU values of motorised two-wheelers
increases, however, the headway between the vehicles tends
to decrease, resulting in increased magnitude of impedance
caused to the movement of cars. It was observed that, the
relative difference between the average speeds of cars
and the subject vehicles decreases as the traffic volume
increases. At volumes near capacity level, the speed
difference between cars and subject vehicles tends to vanish,
due to reduced speed of the vehicles irrespective of their
free speed and operational capabilities. This causes
considerable reduction in the impedance caused by the
subject vehicle to the movement of cars, which results in
lesser PCU value for the subject vehicle.

Fig. 12. Variation of PCU values of bicycles

7.2. Vehicular Interaction under Heterogeneous

Fig. 9. Variation of PCU values of light commercial
vehicles
Fig. 10. Variation of PCU values of motorised three-wheelers
Traffic
As a first step towards quantifying the vehicular
interactions under heterogeneous traffic, speed-flow
relationship for heterogeneous traffic flow was developed
on 7.5 m wide road space by conducting simulation
experiments taking the field observed traffic composition
as the basis. The developed relationship is depicted in Fig.
13. The average stream speed for a traffic volume level
was estimated by taking the weighted average speed of
different vehicles obtained from the simulation output. It
can be seen that, the developed speed-flow relationship
under heterogeneous traffic follows the well established
parabolic trend, indicating the validity of the model for
simulating highly heterogeneous traffic flow. The capacity
of 7.5 m wide road space under heterogeneous traffic,
for the observed traffic composition, was estimated to be
about 4150 vehicles per hour.
 142 ARASAN & KRISHNAMURTHY ON

Fig. 13. Speed-flow relationship under heterogeneous traffic

on 7.5 m wide road
Fig. 15. Variation of PCU values of light commercial vehicles
The PCU values for the different types of vehicles,
at various volume levels, were estimated by taking the
average stream speed as the measure of performance.
Accordingly, the stream speed of the heterogeneous traffic
for a chosen volume level was first determined by
conducting simulation experiments with the specified traffic
composition. Then certain percentage (50 per cent) of
cars were replaced by the subject vehicle type in the mixed
traffic stream, such that the average stream speed
remained the same as before the introduction of the
additional subject vehicles in the stream. This was
achieved by varying the number of the subject vehicles
introduced to substitute the removed cars until the original
speed of the traffic was obtained by simulation. Then, the
number of cars removed divided by the number of subject
vehicles introduced will give the PCU value of that vehicle
type. To account for the variation due to randomness,
three random number seeds were used for simulation and Fig. 16. Variation of PCU values of motorised three-wheelers
the average of the three values was taken as the PCU
value. This procedure was repeated for different volume
levels falling over a wide range. The trends of variation of
PCU values for the different types of vehicles, along with
the variation of the traffic stream speed, over traffic
volume, are shown in Figures 14 through 18.

Fig. 14. Variation of PCU values of buses Fig. 17. Variation of PCU values of motorised two-wheelers
 STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF TRAFFIC
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VEHICLES USING MICROSCOPIC SIMULATION
heterogeneous traffic conditions using the same set of
axes, the traffic volume has been represented using
volume-to-capacity ratio.

Fig. 18. Variation of PCU values of bicycles

It can be seen that the general trend of variation of

the PCU values of vehicles over volume is the same as Fig. 19. PCU values of buses on 7.5 m wide road
in the case of cars-only traffic. Hence, the explanation
provided for the trend in the case of cars-only traffic is
valid for heterogeneous traffic condition also, the only
minor difference being the flattening of the curve at very-
high-volume levels. This implies that the constrained
condition of movement experienced by the vehicles at
capacity-flow level in cars-only traffic is reached well
before the capacity-flow level in the case of
heterogeneous traffic.
7.3. Effect of Traffic Composition on PCU Values
It is clear that the degree of heterogeneity of traffic
stream affects the speed and other traffic flow
parameters, and influences the magnitude of interaction
between the moving vehicles significantly. The presence Fig. 20. PCU values of light commercial vehicles on 7.5 m
of a vehicle type, other than car, in the cars-only traffic wide road
stream, creates a traffic condition, which is totally
different from the cars-only traffic condition. The change
in the traffic condition make the vehicles to offer varying
amount of impedance to the movement of adjacent
vehicles in the traffic stream, depending upon the extent
of variation of traffic stream from cars-only
(homogeneous) traffic condition.
In the light of the said fact, a comparison of the
interactions of different vehicle types in cars-only traffic
and in heterogeneous traffic, the amount of interaction
having been measured in terms of PCU, will be useful.
Figs.19 through 23 illustrate the comparison of PCU
values of different vehicle type and their variations over
traffic volume, in cars-only traffic and heterogeneous
traffic flow conditions. It may be noted that, to facilitate Fig. 21. PCU values of motorised three-wheelers on 7.5 m
plotting of the variation of PCU in homogeneous and wide road
 144 ARASAN & KRISHNAMURTHY ON

7.4. Effect of Roadway Width on PCU Values

As one of the objectives of this research work is to
study the effect of roadway width on PCU values of
vehicles, the PCU values of the different categories of
vehicles were estimated, by simulating traffic flow on
different widths of roads. For the purpose of this study
heterogeneous traffic flow of a selected composition on
three different widths of road, namely, 7.5 m, 11.0 m and
14.5 m (equivalent to the widths of 2,3 and 4 lane roadways
of urban roads) was considered. The PCU values of the
different types of vehicles were considered for a wide
range of traffic-volume levels on the three roadways. Since
Fig. 22. PCU values of motorised two-wheelers on 7.5 m wide the capacity of a roadway section varies with its width,
road the PCU values on these roads needs to be compared
based on some common traffic flow criterion. For this
purpose, volume-to-capacity ratio (v/c ratio) was selected
as the traffic flow criterion common to different widths of
roads. In order to make the above comparison, the PCU
values of different vehicle types were estimated at the
selected volume-to-capacity ratio levels. The plots relating
the PCU values of a vehicle type and the selected volume-
to-capacity ratios, made for the three roadway widths, on
the same set of axes, are shown in Figs. 24 through 27.

Fig. 23. PCU values of bicycles on 7.5 m wide road

It can be seen that, the magnitude of vehicular

interactions measured in terms of (PCU), under cars-only
traffic condition, are significantly higher for all the vehicle
types, when compared to their corresponding values under
heterogeneous traffic condition. Higher PCU values under
cars-only traffic condition may be attributed to the higher Fig. 24. Variation of PCU values of buses on 7.5 m, 11.0 m
speed difference between the cars and the subject vehicle and 14.5 m wide roads
speed in cars-only traffic than the difference between car
speed and subject vehicle speed under heterogeneous traffic
condition. For example, at volume-to-capacity ratio value
of 0.75, under cars-only traffic condition, the average speed
of cars is 53.94 km/h and buses is 48.36 km/h, with a speed
difference of 5.58 km/h. Whereas under heterogeneous
traffic condition, the average car speed for the same volume-
to-capacity ratio is 30.95 km/h and the average bus speed
is 28.40 km/h, resulting in a speed difference of 2.55 km/h.
The PCU values of buses at this level of traffic flow under
cars-only traffic and heterogeneous traffic conditions were
3.5 and 2.5 respectively. Fig. 25. Variation of PCU values of light commercial
vehicles on 7.5 m, 11.0 m and 14.5 m wide roads
 STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF TRAFFIC
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VEHICLES USING MICROSCOPIC SIMULATION

Fig. 26. Variation of PCU values of motorised three- Fig. 29. Speed-flow relationships for buses on 7.5 m,
wheelers on 7.5 m, 11.0 m and 14.5 m wide roads 11.0 m and 14.5 m wide roads

Fig. 30. Speed-flow relationships for light commercial

Fig. 27. Variation of PCU values of motorised two wheelers vehicles on 7.5 m, 11.0 m and 14.5 m wide roads
on 7.5 m, 11.0 m and 14.5 m wide roads

It is observed (Fig. 24 through 27) that the PCU value

of a vehicle type, at a given volume-to-capacity level,
increases with increase in width of roadway. There has
been marginal increase in magnitude of PCU values on
14.5 m wide road when compared to the corresponding
values on 11.0 m road. Similarly, there is marginal increase
in the PCU values on 11.0 m wide road when compared
with 7.5 m wide road spaces. It would be useful to know
the reason for the higher PCU values on wider roads. As
the first step in this regard, plots connecting the volume Fig. 31. Speed-flow relationships for motorised three-
(volume to capacity ratio) and the speed of the different wheelers on 7.5 m, 11.0 m and 14.5 m wide roads
types of vehicles were made for 7.5 m, 11.0 m and 14.5
m wide roads as shown in Figs. 28 through 32.

Fig. 28. Speed-flow relationships for cars on 7.5 m, 11.0 m Fig. 32. Speed-flow relationships for motorised two-wheelers
and 14.5 m wide roads on 7.5 m, 11.0 m and 14.5 m wide roads
 146 ARASAN & KRISHNAMURTHY ON

It can be found from the plots that in all the cases, TABLE 8. SPEEDS ON 7.5 m AND 11.0 m WIDE ROAD SPACES
for a given volume to capacity ratio, the speed of a Speed of the vehicle
vehicle type increases with increase in the width of type (km/h)
road space. The reason for this may be attributed to Vehicle Volume to On 7.5 m On 11.0 m Percentage
the fact that when vehicles do not follow traffic lanes type capacity wide road wide road increase
and occupy any lateral position on the road space, while ratio in speed
manoeuvring forward, the manoeuvring process (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
becomes relatively easier on wider roads facilitating Cars 0.25 53.20 56.95 7.0
faster movement of vehicles. 0.50 41.60 47.50 14.2
As all the vehicles are able to move relatively faster 0.75 30.95 35.70 15.3
on wider roads, the reason for higher PCU values on Buses & 0.25 46.50 49.40 6.2
wider roads cannot be explained using the speed data Trucks 0.50 36.90 42.00 13.8
shown in Figs. 29 through 34. The increase in width of 0.75 28.40 31.50 10.9
roadway invariably provides relatively higher LCV 0.25 45.90 48.60 5.9
manouverability for all vehicle types on wider roads. The 0.50 38.00 42.40 11.6
interaction between the vehicles is quantified in terms
0.75 29.00 32.50 12.1
of PCU, which is the amount of impedance caused by a
M.Th.W. 0.25 42.80 43.50 1.6
vehicle type in comparison with that of passenger cars
as the reference vehicle. Comparing the change in 0.50 38.00 42.00 10.5
performance of cars while increasing the width of 0.75 31.50 35.50 12.7
roadway, with that of subject vehicle will be the M.T.W. 0.25 45.20 45.80 1.3
appropriate way to investigate the PCU variation on 0.50 41.20 44.00 6.8
different road widths. 0.75 34.60 38.50 11.3
Hence, it was decided to calculate the percentage
TABLE 9. SPEEDS ON 11.0 m AND 14.5 m WIDE ROAD SPACES
increase in speeds of all types of vehicles, with increase
in road width, so that the increase in car speed can be Speed of the vehicle
type (km/h)
compared with the increase in the speed of other vehicles.
The comparison of speeds of different vehicles at Vehicle Volume to On 11.0 m On 14.5 m Percentage
type capacity wide road wide road increase
selected volume-to-capacity levels between 7.5 m to 11.0 ratio in speed
m and 11.0 m to 14.5 m wide road spaces are as shown (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
in Tables 8 and 9 respectively. Cars 0.25 56.95 64.90 14.0
It can be seen from the tables 8 and 9 that at all the 0.50 47.50 54.00 13.7
chosen volume-to-capacity ratio values, the percentage 0.75 35.70 37.70 5.6
increase in speed of cars is higher than the percentage Buses & 0.25 49.40 56.00 13.4
increase in speed of all the other categories of vehicles.
Trucks 0.50 42.00 46.20 10.
The higher free speed, acceleration and other mechanical
capabilities of cars facilitate cars to gain more speed 0.75 31.50 33.10 5.1
with increase in the road width when compared to other LCV 0.25 48.60 54.00 11.1
vehicle categories. Hence, it is clear that the increase in 0.50 42.40 47.00 10.8
speed difference between cars and other categories of 0.75 32.50 34.00 4.6
vehicles with increase in width of road space, has resulted
M.Th.W. 0.25 43.50 46.40 6.7
in increased PCU values with increase in the width of
0.50 42.00 44.50 6.0
road space.
0.75 35.50 36.60 3.1
8. CHECK FOR ACCURACY OF PCU ESTIMATES M.T.W. 0.25 45.80 51.50 12.4
The check for the accuracy of the PCU estimates 0.50 44.00 49.25 11.9
was done by simulating homogeneous (cars-only) traffic 0.75 38.50 40.45 5.1
 STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF TRAFFIC
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COUNCIL WIDTH ON PCU VALUE OF 147
VEHICLES USING MICROSCOPIC SIMULATION
and the heterogeneous traffic flows on the same road
space. For this purpose, first, the cars-only traffic flow
was simulated on 7.5 m wide road space and the road
capacity was obtained as 3250 cars per hour by making
the speed-flow curve. Then, the flows in cars per hour
corresponding to a set of volume-capacity ratios were
determined. The capacity of 7.5 m wide road, under the
heterogeneous traffic condition is 4150 vehicles per hour.
Knowing the composition of the heterogeneous traffic,
it is possible to know the number of vehicles of each
category present in the traffic stream at the capacity
flow level of 4150 vehicles per hour. The PCU values of
the different vehicle categories, at capacity-flow condition
were obtained from Figures 24 through 28. Then, the
number of vehicles in each category multiplied by the
Fig. 33. Traffic volumes in PCU on 7.5 m road space
corresponding PCU value gives the PCU equivalents of
each category of vehicles. The sum of the equivalent per hour for the selected set of volume-to-capacity ratios
values, then, gives the capacity flow of heterogeneous and the corresponding heterogeneous traffic flows
traffic in PCU per hour. On the same lines, the flow in expressed in PCU per hour. The details of t test conducted
PCU per hour of the heterogeneous traffic, for the for 7.5 m wide road space is shown in Table 10.
selected set of volume-capacity ratios were estimated.
Then, plots, relating the set of volume to capacity ratios dmean = Mean of observed difference = 140 / 9 = 15.56
and the corresponding flow were made for cars-only t statistic of observed speeds, to = dmean /(sd /√k), where
and the heterogeneous traffic as shown in Fig. 33. k = Number of data sets = 9
sd2 = 481934.4/ (k-1) = 481934.4/8 = 60241.78, where
It can be seen that both the plots are closely related
sd is the standard deviation; sd = 245.44
to each other indicating that the PCU estimates made,
Therefore, |to| = 15.56 / (245.44 / √9) =0.20
are fairly accurate at all volume levels. To explain the
accuracy of estimates on statistical basis, paired t test The critical value of t statistic for 0.05 level of
was performed by relating the flow in number of cars significance and 9 degrees of freedom, obtained from
TABLE 10. STATISTICAL TEST FOR PCU VALUES ON 7.5 m WIDE ROAD SPACE

V/C Ratio Volume in PCU Difference Deviation Square of

Homogeneous Heterogeneous from mean Deviation
traffic Traffic difference from mean
difference
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
0.118 382 369 13 -2.6 6.9
0.235 765 766 -1 -16.6 276.7
0.353 1147 1233 -86 -101.6 10,329.4
0.471 1529 1845 -416 -431.6 186,307.8
0.588 1912 2028 -116 -131.6 17,327.5
0.706 2294 2357 -63 -78.6 6183.3
0.824 2676 2596 80 64.4 4143.0
0.941 3059 2778 281 265.4 704,19.2
1.000 3250 2802 448 432.4 186,940.4
∑= 140 - 481,934.3
 148 ARASAN & KRISHNAMURTHY ON
standard t-distribution Table, is 2.26. Thus, it can be seen
that the value of t statistic calculated based on the
observed data (t0) is less than the corresponding table
value. Based on the closeness of the plots made for
homogeneous and heterogeneous traffic volumes at
selected volume to capacity ratios, and based on the
statistical test, it may be concluded that the estimated
PCU values are accurate. The results of similar exercises
done for 11.0 m and 14.5 m wide road spaces indicate
that, in these cases too, the respective plots match with
each other. To check for the statistical significance in
this regard, paired t tests were conducted. The calculated
values of t (t0) are 1.42 and 1.01 against the table values
of 2.13 and 2.18 respectively for 11.0 m and 14.5 m
wide road spaces indicating that there are no significant
differences in the volumes of cars-only and
heterogeneous traffic, measured in PCU, at the selected
volume to capacity ratios, in both the cases.
9. CONCLUSIONS
The following are the important conclusions drawn
based on this study:
1. The validation results of the simulation model of
heterogeneous traffic flow indicate that the model is
capable of replicating the heterogeneous traffic flow
on mid block sections of urban roads to a highly
satisfactory extent. The validity of the model is further
confirmed by the speed-flow relationships developed,
using the simulation model, for 7.5 m, 11.0 m, and
14.5 m wide road spaces, which are found to follow
the well established trend of the speed-flow curves.
2. The PCU estimates, made through simulation, for
the different types of vehicles of heterogeneous
traffic, for a wide range of traffic volume levels
indicate that the PCU value of a vehicle significantly
changes with change in traffic volume.
3. It is found that, by virtue of the complex nature of
interaction between vehicles under the heterogeneous
traffic condition, at low volume levels, the PCU value
of vehicles increases with increases in traffic volume,
whereas under higher volume conditions the PCU
value decrease with increase in traffic volume.
4. The results of the simulation experiment to study
the effect of road width on PCU values indicate
that for any vehicle type in heterogeneous traffic,
the PCU value increases with increase in the width
of road space.
5. The check performed to ascertain the accuracy of
the PCU estimates by comparing the flow of cars-
only and the PCU equivalent of heterogeneous
traffic on 7.5 m, 11.0 m, and 14.5 m wide road spaces
indicate that, the estimates are fairly accurate.
6. Thus, for the traffic condition considered for this study,
there is reason to treat PCU value of a vehicle type as
a dynamic quantity rather than treating it as a constant.
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