Improvement of pedestrian flow by slow rhythm.

We have developed a simple model for pedestrians by dividing walking velocity into two parts, which are step size and pace of walking (number of steps per unit time). Theoretical analysis on pace indicates that rhythm that is slower than normal-walking pace in a low-density regime increases flow if the flow-density diagram is convex downward in a high-density regime. In order to verify this result, we have performed an experiment with real pedestrians and observed the improvement of flow in a congested situation using slow rhythm.