Operational Impact of Microcars on Urban and Suburban Road Corridors

Abstract

Efficient utilization of a private car is achieved when it is used to transport many travelers. A single-occupancy vehicle (SOV) is a private vehicle whose only occupant is the driver. The existence of SOVs in the traffic stream leads to unjustified congestion and shortage of available parking spaces, especially in megacities. Microcars can be beneficial for cities where it is infeasible to construct new roads or upgrade the existing ones because of limited space. Microcars offer many advantages compared with motorcycles and bicycles as they provide shelter from adverse weather conditions, allow for personal storage space, and are more culturally accepted in eastern societies like Egypt. This research investigates the operational impacts of using microcars on roads by using microsimulation. VISSIM was used to model two case studies: a hypothetical urban corridor and a suburban expressway in Greater Cairo. Mixed and exclusive lane scenarios were analyzed using different modal shares for microcars. The results showed that replacing a portion of private cars by microcars increased the throughput volume and reduced the overall travel time. Exclusive lanes for microcars showed better results than mixed lanes on an urban corridor. On the suburban expressway, however, average travel time was shown to be lower for mixed lane usage compared with exclusive lanes. The results of this research support the idea of promoting microcars as a potential mitigation measure to relieve congestion, especially in urban areas.