Research on bicycle conversion factors

In developing countries, bicyclists have heavy occupation in all travelers. The safety and efficiency are reduced because of the motor vehicle–bicycle conflict under mixed traffic condition that motor vehicles and bicycles use the same road simultaneously. In order to solve the problem, it is necessary to separate motor vehicles from bicycles and to distribute the road resource reasonably between motor vehicles and bicycles. In order to conduct the above work, it is necessary to work on the bicycle conversion factors. The factors are researched under various traffic conditions in the paper. According to traffic characteristics of motor vehicles and bicycles, the conversion factor models are set up for bicycle relevant to pcu (passenger car unit). The bicycle conversion factors are calculated under four situations based on the field data collected in Shenyang, Tianjin and Shijiazhuang in China. The through bicycle conversion factor is 0.28 and the left-turn 0.33 at mixed intersections. The bicycle conversion factor in road section is 0.22 with physical separations and 0.24 without physical separations.