The adaptive, on-line, traffic control system, SCOOT has been successfully installed in many cities in the UK. Large benefits have been measured when compared to the best Fixed Time systems. In 1985 the Beijing Research Institute for Traffic Engineering (BRITE) decided to install SCOOT in the East District of Beijing, China. Bicycles are the dominant mode of transport at some times of day in China. Therefore, in order to work successfully in China, any traffic control system must take account of bicycles as well as motor vehicles. The TRRL (UK) and BRITE have developed Bicycle SCOOT a new version of SCOOT suitable for Chinese conditions. The system was installed in Beijing in November 1987 and has been running successfully since then. The normal loops used by SCOOT to detect vehicles are unsuitable for detecting bicycles. Separate bicycle loops were therefore designed. Research indicated that these new loops should be sited 50 to 100 m before the stopline. The bicycle detector outputs are processed differently from those from vehicle detectors and the behaviour of the bicycles is modelled to form bicycle links. These are included, together with vehicle links in the SCOOT optimisers (Split, Offset and Cycle time) which calculate optimum signal timings for the particular mix of vehicles and bicycles on the road at any time. Priority can be given to bicycles or to vehicles by weighting appropriate links.
Abstract