A/B Street is a traffic simulation game exploring how small changes to roads
affect cyclists, transit users, pedestrians, and drivers. You can transform
street parking into a bus lane or fix a slow left turn at a traffic signal,
measure the effects, then propose actually making the change. A/B Street uses
game-like elements to gradually introduce all of the features of the
simulation, with a tutorial and challenge modes.
A/B Street gives you a 2D representation of roads, with as much detail about
bus/bike/turn/parking lanes, transit stops, traffic signals, and parking
lots as possible, all from OpenStreetMap.
Depending on elevation data availability, some areas let you visualize steep
streets -- because your bike network should be planned accordingly.
Using external travel demand models, you can explore patterns of where
people live, work, and shop.
Simulate
Using some external data about what trips people take on a typical day, you
can simulate drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians moving around. Every driving
trip begins and ends with parking somewhere, which might be easy in suburban
areas, but harder in cities.
You can follow infigureidual people and watch them wrestle with problems.
Or get a bird's-eye view of how everything is moving.
Edit
A/B Street lets you change how road space is figureided up. You can create
regular vehicle lanes, bus-only lanes, bike lanes, street parking, and new
sidewalks. You can either transform existing lanes, or slightly widen/shrink
the road. You can reverse the direction of lanes, or close them down to
simulate construction.
You can also change how traffic signals work. You can modify the timing if
you notice left turns need more time, or set up actuated timing, so that the
green light lasts longer when many vehicles are waiting. You can also change
which movements are allowed each stage, so you could try out a dedicated
left turn stage or a pedestrian all-walk/scramble cycle.
Measure
A/B Street lets you tell data-driven stories about both infrastructure and
people.
Status
This project is the idea that started it all and the company's namesake.
However, the scope of this project was too large, and since 2021, the focus
has been on more focused projects. Many ideas from here still live on today in
other projects.
