The dynamics of pedestrian crowds has been studied intensively in recent years, both theoretically and empirically. However, in many situations pedestrian crowds are rather static, e.g. due to jamming near bottlenecks or queueing at ticket counters o
r supermarket checkouts. Classically such queues are often described by the M/M/1 queue that neglects the internal structure (density profile) of the queue by focussing on the system length as the only dynamical variable. This is different in the Exclusive Queueing Process (EQP) in which the queue is considered on a microscopic level. It is equivalent to a Totally Asymmetric Exclusion Process (TASEP) of varying length. The EQP has a surprisingly rich phase diagram with respect to the arrival probability alpha and the service probability beta. The behavior on the phase transition line is much more complex than for the TASEP with a fixed system length. It is nonuniversal and depends strongly on the update procedure used. In this article, we review the main properties of the EQP. We also mention extensions and applications of the EQP and some related models.
Experimental results for congested pedestrian traffic are presented. For data analysis we apply a method providing measurements on an individual scale. The resulting velocity-density relation shows a coexistence of moving and stopping states revealin
g the complex structure of pedestrian fundamental diagrams and supporting new insights into the characteristics of pedestrian congestions. Furthermore we introduce a model similar to event driven approaches. The velocity-density relation as well as the phase separation is reproduced. Variation of the parameter distribution indicates that the diversity of pedestrians is crucial for phase separation.
