Passenger Car Equivalents for Battery-Operated Rickshaws under Varying Queue Length Conditions at Signalized Intersections in Heterogeneous Traffic Stream

Abstract

The increasing presence of battery-operated rickshaws (BOR) in urban traffic streams has added complexity to signalized intersection operations in developing cities. These vehicles interact with passenger cars under heterogeneous, non-lane-based conditions, influencing queue discharge behavior and overall intersection performance. This study examines the effects of battery-operated rickshaws on mixed traffic flow and estimates their Passenger Car Equivalent (PCE) values under two queue length conditions: 40 m and 50 m. Field data were collected at two signalized intersections in Dhaka, Bangladesh, during peak traffic periods. Basic flow rates, mixed discharge flow, and BOR proportions were computed for each observation cycle. Linear regression and one-way ANOVA were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics. Results show that increasing BOR percentage is significantly associated with lower mixed discharge flow, with a moderate relationship at 40 m (R² = 0.253, F = 73.598, p < 0.001) but only a weak one at 50 m (R² = 0.021, F = 4.660, p = 0.032). Mean PCE values of 1.098 and 1.518 were estimated for the 40 m and 50 m conditions, respectively. ANOVA showed that mixed discharge flow (F = 14.221, p < 0.001) and PCE values (F = 90.295, p < 0.001) differed significantly between the two queue-length sites. The study suggests that queue length should be explicitly considered when

 estimating PCE for battery-operated rickshaws, and that locally calibrated values are needed for accurate intersection capacity analysis under heterogeneous traffic conditions. Because each queue length was observed at a different intersection, site-specific effects cannot be fully excluded.