Design and Construction of a Virtual Bicycle Simulator for Evaluating Sustainable Facilities Design

The rising interest in sustainable modes of transportation has increased demand for the design and implementation of bicycle facilities in the United States. However, as compared to the vehicular mode, bicycle facilities have relatively less development, research, and understanding. The availability of a bicycling simulator has the potential to contribute to the understanding of bicycle facility design and bicyclist behavior. The design and construction of a bicycling simulator differs from a driving simulator in many ways. A bicycling simulator requires interfaces for bicycle speed, braking, and steering angle as well as a visual interface. In addition, a representation of a real-world network, including pavement, buildings, the sky and background, and fixed and moving objects, needs to be modeled using a simulator engine. This paper presents the details of the ZouSim bicycling simulator development and the tradeoffs associated with various design decisions, such as the choice of a steering sensor and graphical display. A sample application of a way finding and detection markings study illustrates the use of ZouSim. The authors hope that this article will encourage other researchers who conduct research in sustainable cities to explore the use of bicycle simulators for improving bicycle facility design and operations.