Journal of Korean Society of Transportation ISSN:1229-1366(Print) 2234-4217(Online) 대한교통학회지

Crowding in Seoul railway stations is a serious social problem requiring immediate action as it annually incurs a total social cost of KRW 724.7 billion. To resolve this crowding, a study is needed on ways to estimate crowdedness in a way that reflects railway user behavior. The density of people on platforms is determined by the amount of space on them available per passenger, but there has been insufficient research on spaces where passengers wait for trains and move to and from them, despite the significance. In this study, we analyze the use of platform facilities and passenger behavior and propose the concept of actual space used by passengers and the formula for estimating this usable waiting area for passengers (UWAP). Thirty-five stations in Seoul were analyzed and the coefficients calculated of average UWAP, weighted by space for each type of platform. Our estimation showed that the coefficients for the proportion of total platform area accounted for by UWAP can be used as a representative value of 0.291 for side platforms and 0.270 for island platforms. Since this was statistically significant, these coefficients can be used to more accurately calculate platform crowdedness. In addition, they can be used as criteria for judging the adequacy of platform service level and station size when planning for construction of new stations and platforms and improvements to existing ones.