Elevator traffic analysis answers a practical question: will the proposed lifts move the expected population comfortably at the times when demand is highest? The useful answer is rarely just “add another lift.” It comes from testing the building, its occupants, and the proposed equipment as one system.
What the analysis measures
A study estimates how passengers arrive, wait, board, travel, and leave the system. The results normally include handling capacity, interval, average waiting time, and journey time. Each describes a different part of the passenger experience, so no single number should be read in isolation.
- Handling capacity
- The share of the building population that the lift group can move during a defined peak period.
- Interval
- The average time between successive lift departures from the main terminal during an up-peak calculation.
- Waiting time
- The time between a passenger registering demand and entering a lift.
- Time to destination
- The wider passenger journey, including waiting and travel to the destination floor.
Inputs that deserve careful attention
Results are only as credible as the assumptions behind them. Before comparing lift arrangements, confirm the floor populations, building use, entrance floors, travel heights, rated capacities, speeds, door timings, and dispatching approach. A small change in door time or population distribution can matter more than a polished chart suggests.
A simple comparison workflow
- Describe the building and agree on a realistic traffic period.
- Record the proposed lift data without rounding away important door and travel times.
- Run a baseline arrangement and keep its assumptions visible.
- Change one design variable at a time—capacity, speed, number of lifts, zoning, or control strategy.
- Compare passenger outcomes alongside shaft area, cost, and operational resilience.
How designers should use the result
The study is a decision aid, not a substitute for engineering judgement. It can reveal an undersized group, but it can also show when extra speed or capacity produces little passenger benefit. The most defensible proposal is the one whose assumptions can be explained and whose trade-offs remain acceptable when demand changes.
Explore the scenario yourself
Use the Lift-Traffic simulator to test passenger demand and compare proposed elevator arrangements.
Open Traffic Analysis