Hanson, P. (HU) 44 PHH-E001 00 Eo N5 r- Type: IQP PROJECT #: IQP PHH-E001-3111.26-. Date: 7/00 ANALYSIS OF STUDENT CONGESTION AT THE WIMBLEDON CENTRE COURT SHOPPING CENTRE An Interactive Qualifying Project Proposal Submitted to: The Faculty of Worcester Polytechnic Institute Mr. Eddie Taylor, environmental education officer In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science Teodoro Armenteros Matthew Horvay Juan Alejandro Troost Konstantina Tsouroufli Approved: Professor Peter H. Hansen Abstract On behalf of the Borough of Merton, our team offered recommendations for the resolution of the conflict created outside the Wimbledon Centre Court Shopping Centre between students and other pedestrians. The students, on their way home from school, gather outside the Wimbledon Town Centre to socialise while waiting for the public buses. These recommendations were developed based on the analysis of data gathered through observations in the area, student surveys and interviews of people related to the problem. ii Executive Summary Our project investigated problems in the London Borough of Merton associated with pedestrian congestion due to the transportation of teenagers on their way home from school. The area in front of the Wimbledon Centre Court Shopping Centre experiences pedestrian congestion during the period after local high schools close, especially at the bus stop in front of the shopping centre entrance. The congestion problem is caused by students from three different schools that come to the area and socialise while waiting for public transport buses to take them home. The influx of students, combined with shoppers and other people in the Wimbledon Town Centre, leads to heavy pedestrian traffic in the area. The purpose of this project was to understand the problem, its causes, and make concise recommendations of possible solutions. To accomplish this project, we reviewed background literature pertaining to physical design, urban planning, social interaction, and methods of public participation in urban planning. We also explored and researched case studies of similar occurrences of pedestrian congestion elsewhere. The study of these topics facilitated our understanding of the current conflicts in Wimbledon Centre, which led us in the recommendation of possible solutions. To fully understand the problem and suggest ways in which it can be diminished or solved, we utilised different research methods of data gathering. These were both quantitative and qualitative, and included observational studies, surveys, interviews and map representations. We surveyed students from the schools in the area, to examine the origin and destination of their travel and to identify the reason behind the crowding near the shopping centre. By observations, we were able to locate the points of greatest congestion and determine how the layout of the shopping iii centre and surrounding pavements contributes to the problem. We used map representations to illustrate the data gathered from the surveys and observations and visualise the area of the Borough of Merton. In addition, we observed the social interaction of the teenagers with their surroundings. Finally, we gathered background information about the development of the congestion over time, through interviews with people that had been involved with the problem in the past, and got their insights and recommendations on the issue. After the data was obtained, we categorised important information and analysed each group of data to determine the best recommendations. In the Analysis section we address the following six categories: 'The Nature of the Problem,' refers to the degree and level of congestion in the area as determined from our research. 'The Effects of Time,' determines how different dismissal times effect the level of congestion. 'The Location of the Bus Stops,' deals with how the location of the congestion directly depends on the location of the stops. 'The Transportation: Buses and Tram services,' discusses where students need to be transported to, and how this can be done. 'Social Issues and Activities,' discusses what the students do at the shopping centre and how conscious they are of the impact of their actions. Finally, `The Age of Transfer,' suggests the implications of this event on the congestion. Using these categories, we analysed the problem from every useful angle. This enabled us to make informed recommendations on how to decrease crowding in the area. After having completed our analysis, various recommendations were given for the resolution of the conflict in the area of the Centre Court Shopping Centre. Five major ideas to relieve the congestion problem are: the relocation of the current bus stops to different places, the assignment of youth workers to the students, privatising iv school transport, changing the dismissal times of conflicting schools, and integration of the bus station with the current train station. We hope that these recommendations will help decrease the degree of the conflict or even eradicate the problem in the Centre Court Shopping Centre. Table of contents ABSTRACT II EXECUTIVE SUMMARY III TABLE OF CONTENTS VI TABLE OF FIGURES VIII AUTHORSHIP PAGE X 1. INTRODUCTION 1 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 4 2.1 STUDY OF URBAN LAYOUTS AND PAST OCCURRENCES 4 2.1.1 Overview of Urban Planning 4 2.1.2 Design for Pedestrian Streets 5 2.1.3 Street Safety for Students 7 2.1.4 Case Study: West 46 th street, New York City 8 2.1.5 Case Study: Pell and Doyers Street in Chinatown, New York City 9 2.2 SOCIAL ASPECTS TO CONGESTION 10 2.2. 1 Social structure of the group 10 2.2.2 Motivation for the congregation of teenagers 12 2.2.3 Space of people — Levels of comfort 13 2.3 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN PLANNING. 14 2.3.1 Importance of public participation. 14 2.3.2 Techniques for encouraging successful public participation 16 2.3.3 Case Study 23 3. METHODOLOGY 25 1) BACKGROUND RESEARCH 26 2) OBSERVATIONS AT THE AREAS OF THE BUS STOPS 27 3) SURVEY OF THE STUDENTS 28 4) INTERVIEWS 30 4. RESULTS 33 BACKGROUND RESEARCH RESULTS 33 OBSERVATION RESULTS 35 SURVEYS 50 Demographics of population surveyed 51 Arrival 53 Reasons for coming 54 Time at the shopping centre 59 Tramlink 60 Students opinion on the problem at the shopping centre 61 INTERVIEWS 64 5. ANALYSIS OF DATA 72 NATURE OF THE PROBLEM 72 EFFECTS OF TIME OF DISMISSAL 75 TRANSPORTATION: BUSES AND TRAM 83 SOCIAL ISSUES AND ACTIVITIES 89 AGE OF TRANSFER 92 6. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 97 RECOMMENDED SOLUTIONS 98 vi YOUTH WORKERS 98 MOVING THE LOCATION OF Bus STOP #1 100 ACTIVITY CENTRE 102 CHANGING SCHOOL DISMISSAL TIMES 104 SCHOOL BUSES 105 NEW STATION 107 DISMISSED SOLUTIONS 107 No UNIFORMS AT SHOPPING CENTRE 108 RE-ROUTING BUSES 108 BIBLIOGRAPHY 110 APPENDIX A - SPONSOR INFORMATION 113 APPENDIX B - INFORMATION FROM BACKGROUND RESEARCH 114 APPENDIX C - SHEET USED FOR TAKING NOTES DURING OBSERVATIONS 118 APPENDIX D - STUDENT SURVEY 119 APPENDIX E - GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION OF STUDENTS' TRAFFIC AT BUS STOP #1 122 APPENDIX F - GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION OF STUDENT TRAFFIC AT BUS STOP #2 130 APPENDIX G - GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION OF STUDENT TRAFFIC AT BUS STOP #3 138 vii Table of Figures Figure 1 Process of urban planning for pedestrians. 6 Figure 2: Graph of the number of students from each school arriving by bus at the Wimbledon Centre by time of day, from data gathered on 17th of May 2000 at Bus Stop #1. 36 Figure 3: Graph of the number of students from each school leaving by bus the Wimbledon Centre by time of day, from data gathered on 17th of May, 2000 at Bus Stop #1 36 Figure 4: Graph of the number of students from each school arriving by bus at Wimbledon Centre according to the number of bus they used, from data gathered on the 17th of May, 2000 at Bus Stop #1 37 Figure 5: Graph of the number of students from each school leaving by bus from the Wimbledon Centre according to the number of bus they used, from data gathered on 17th of May, 2000 at Bus Stop#1 37 Figure 6: Graph of the average number of students from each school arriving by bus at the Wimbledon Centre by time of day, on a typical day from Monday through Wednesday. 38 Figure 7: Graph of the average number of students from each school leaving by bus from the Wimbledon Centre by time of day, on a typical day from Monday through Wednesday 39 Figure 8: Graph of the average number of students from each school arriving by bus at Wimbledon Centre by number of bus used, on a typical day from Monday through Wednesday. 40 Figure 9: Graph of the average number of students from each school leaving by bus the Wimbledon Centre by the number of bus used, on a typical day from Monday through Wednesday 41 Figure 10: Graph of the average number of students from each school arriving by bus at the Wimbledon Centre by time of day, on a typical Thursday 42 Figure 11: Graph of the average number of students from each school leaving Wimbledon Centre by time of day, on a typical Thursday 43 Figure 12: Graph of the number of students from each school arriving at the Wimbledon Centre by the number of bus used, on a typical Thursday 44 Figure 13: Graph of the average number of students from each school leaving the Wimbledon Centre by number of bus used, on a typical Thursday 45 Figure 14: Graph of the average number of students from each school arriving by bus at the Wimbledon Centre by time of day, on a typical Friday 46 Figure 15: Graph of the number of students from each school leaving by bus the Wimbledon Centre by time of day, on a typical Friday 47 Figure 16: Graph of the average number of students from each school arriving by bus at the Wimbledon Centre by number of bus used, on a typical Friday 48 Figure 17: Graph of the number of students from each school leaving by bus the Wimbledon Centre by the number of bus used, on a typical Friday.