Nicholas Molyneaux

Technical reports [3]

2021

Molyneaux N., Bierlaire M. (2021). Analysis and modelling of intra-hub pedestrian dynamics. Report TRANSP-OR 210526


@TechReport{MolyBierTF21,
  author = {Nicholas Molyneaux and Michel Bierlaire},
  title = {Analysis and modelling of intra-hub pedestrian dynamics},
  institution = {Transport and Mobility Laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique F\'ed\'erale de Lausanne},
  year = {2021},
  type = {Technical Report},
  number = {TRANSP-OR 210526},
  address = {Lausanne, Switzerland}}}

Molyneaux N., Bierlaire M. (2021). Controlling pedestrian flows with moving walkways. Report TRANSP-OR 210218


@TechReport{MolyBier21,
  author = {Nicholas Molyneaux and Michel Bierlaire},
  title = {Controlling pedestrian flows with moving walkways},
  institution = {Transport and Mobility Laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique F\'ed\'erale de Lausanne},
  year = {2021},
  type = {Technical Report},
  number = {TRANSP-OR 210218},
  address = {Lausanne, Switzerland}}}

2019

Molyneaux N., Scarinci R., Bierlaire M. (2019). Design and analysis of control strategies for pedestrian flows. Report TRANSP-OR 191031


@TechReport{MolyScarBier19,
  author = {Nicholas Molyneaux and Riccardo Scarinci and Michel Bierlaire},
  title = {Design and analysis of control strategies for pedestrian flows},
  institution = {Transport and Mobility Laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique F\'ed\'erale de Lausanne},
  year = {2019},
  type = {Technical Report},
  number = {TRANSP-OR 191031},
  address = {Lausanne, Switzerland}}}

Articles in conference proceedings [8]

2019

Molyneaux N., Scarinci R., Bierlaire M. (2019) The impact of counter-flow on pedestrian walking times. Proceedings of the 19th Swiss Transport Research Conference (STRC), 15-17 May, Ascona, Switzerland


@InProceedings{MolScaBie_STRC2019,
  author = {Nicholas Molyneaux and Riccardo Scarinci and Michel Bierlaire},
  title = {The impact of counter-flow on pedestrian walking times},
  booktime = {Proceedings of the 19th Swiss Transport Research Conference (STRC), 15-17 May},
  year = {2019},
  address = {Ascona, Switzerland}}}

Molyneaux N., Scarinci R., Bierlaire M. (2019) Improving pedestrian dynamics by preventing counter-flow. Proceedings of the Tenth Triennial Symposium on Transportation Analysis (TRISTAN X), 17-21 June, Hamilton Island, Australia


@InProceedings{MolScaBie_TRISTAN_2019,
  author = {Nicholas Molyneaux and Riccardo Scarinci and Michel Bierlaire},
  title = {Improving pedestrian dynamics by preventing counter-flow},
  booktime = {Proceedings of the Tenth Triennial Symposium on Transportation Analysis (TRISTAN X), 17-21 June},
  year = {2019},
  address = {Hamilton Island, Australia}}}

2018

Molyneaux N., Scarinci R., Bierlaire M. (2018) Controlling Pedestrian Flows Using a Dynamic Traffic Management System. Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on Dynamic Traffic Assignment: Smart Transportation (DTA), 6-8 June, Hong Kong, China


@InProceedings{MolScaBie_DTA2018,
  author = {Nicholas Molyneaux and Riccardo Scarinci and Michel Bierlaire},
  title = {Controlling Pedestrian Flows Using a Dynamic Traffic Management System},
  booktime = {Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on 

Dynamic Traffic Assignment: Smart Transportation (DTA), 6-8 June},
  year = {2018},
  address = {Hong Kong, China}}}

Jeanbart C., Molyneaux N., Scarinci R., Bierlaire M. (2018) Network design of moving walkways in transportation hubs. Proceedings of the 18th Swiss Transport Research Conference (STRC), 16-18 May, Ascona, Switzerland


@InProceedings{JeaMolScaBie_STRC2018,
  author = {Charles Jeanbart and Nicholas Molyneaux and Riccardo Scarinci and Michel Bierlaire},
  title = {Network design of moving walkways in transportation hubs},
  booktime = {Proceedings of the 18th Swiss Transport Research Conference (STRC), 16-18 May},
  year = {2018},
  address = {Ascona, Switzerland}}}

Molyneaux N., Scarinci R., Bierlaire M. (2018) Two management strategies for improving passenger transfer experience in train stations . Proceedings of the 18th Swiss Transport Research Conference (STRC), 16-18 May, Ascona, Switzerland


@InProceedings{MolScaBie_STRC2018,
  author = {Nicholas Molyneaux and Riccardo Scarinci and Michel Bierlaire},
  title = {Two management strategies for improving passenger transfer experience in train stations },
  booktime = {Proceedings of the 18th Swiss Transport Research Conference (STRC), 16-18 May},
  year = {2018},
  address = {Ascona, Switzerland}}}

2017

Molyneaux N., Scarinci R., Bierlaire M. (2017) Pedestrian management strategies for improving flow dynamics in transportation hubs. Proceedings of the 17th Swiss Transport Research Conference (STRC), 17-19 May, Ascona, Switzerland


@InProceedings{MolScaBie_STRC2017,
  author = {Nicholas Molyneaux and Riccardo Scarinci and Michel Bierlaire},
  title = {Pedestrian management strategies for improving flow dynamics in transportation hubs},
  booktime = {Proceedings of the 17th Swiss Transport Research Conference (STRC), 17-19 May},
  year = {2017},
  address = {Ascona, Switzerland}}}

2014

Hänseler F., Molyneaux N., Bierlaire M., Stathopoulos A. (2014) Schedule-based estimation of pedestrian demand within a railway station. Proceedings of the Swiss Transportation Research Conference (STRC), 14-16 May, Ascona, Switzerland


@InProceedings{Haens_STRC_2014,
  author = {Flurin H\"anseler and Nicholas Molyneaux and Michel Bierlaire and Amanda Stathopoulos},
  title = {Schedule-based estimation of pedestrian demand within a railway station},
  booktime = {Proceedings of the Swiss Transportation Research Conference (STRC), 14-16 May},
  year = {2014},
  address = {Ascona, Switzerland}}}

Molyneaux N., Hänseler F., Bierlaire M. (2014) Modelling of train-induced pedestrian flows in railway stations. Proceedings of the Swiss Transportation Research Conference (STRC), 14-16 May, Ascona, Switzerland


@InProceedings{MolHaeBie_STRC_2014,
  author = {Nicholas Molyneaux and Flurin H\"anseler and Michel Bierlaire},
  title = {Modelling of train-induced pedestrian flows in railway stations},
  booktime = {Proceedings of the Swiss Transportation Research Conference (STRC), 14-16 May},
  year = {2014},
  address = {Ascona, Switzerland}}}

Talks [9]

2019

Molyneaux N., Scarinci R., Bierlaire M. Improving pedestrian dynamics by preventing counter-flow June 20, 2019. Tenth Triennial Symposium on Transportation Analysis (TRISTAN X), Hamilton Island, Australia.


@Misc{Moly_TRISTAN_2019,
  author = {Nicholas Molyneaux and Riccardo Scarinci and Michel Bierlaire},
  title = {Improving pedestrian dynamics by preventing counter-flow},
  howpublished = {\url{https://transp-or.epfl.ch/documents/talks/Moly_TRISTAN_2019.pdf}},
  year = {2019},
  note = {Presented at Tenth Triennial Symposium on Transportation Analysis (TRISTAN X), Hamilton Island, Australia}}}

Molyneaux N., Scarinci R., Bierlaire M. The impact of counter-flow on pedestrian walking times. May 17, 2019. 19th Swiss Transport Research Conference (STRC), Monte Verità, Ascona, Switzerland.


@Misc{Moly_STRC2019,
  author = {Nicholas Molyneaux and Riccardo Scarinci and Michel Bierlaire},
  title = {The impact of counter-flow on pedestrian walking times.},
  howpublished = {\url{https://transp-or.epfl.ch/documents/talks/Moly_STRC2019.pdf}},
  year = {2019},
  note = {Presented at 19th Swiss Transport Research Conference (STRC), Monte Verit\à, Ascona, Switzerland}}}

Molyneaux N., Scarinci R., Bierlaire M. Improving pedestrian dynamics by controlling pedestrian flows April 04, 2019. (http://www.trans-form-project.org/)TRANS-FORM workshop, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland.


@Misc{Moly_TF2019,
  author = {Nicholas Molyneaux and Riccardo Scarinci and Michel Bierlaire},
  title = {Improving pedestrian dynamics by controlling pedestrian flows},
  howpublished = {\url{https://transp-or.epfl.ch/documents/talks/Moly_TF2019.pdf}},
  year = {2019},
  note = {Presented at TRANS-FORM workshop, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland}}}

2018

Molyneaux N., Scarinci R., Bierlaire M. Reducing variability in passenger transfer times with two management strategies inside transportation hubs September 14, 2018. International Conference on Operations Research, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.


@Misc{Moly_OR2018,
  author = {Nicholas Molyneaux and Riccardo Scarinci and Michel Bierlaire},
  title = {Reducing variability in passenger transfer times with two management strategies inside transportation hubs},
  howpublished = {\url{https://transp-or.epfl.ch/documents/talks/Moly_OR2018.pdf}},
  year = {2018},
  note = {Presented at International Conference on Operations Research, Universit\é libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium}}}

Molyneaux N., Scarinci R., Bierlaire M. Gating as a management strategy for controlling pedestrian flows September 05, 2018. 7th Symposium of the European Association for Research in Transportation, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece.


@Misc{Moly_hEART2018,
  author = {Nicholas Molyneaux and Riccardo Scarinci and Michel Bierlaire},
  title = {Gating as a management strategy for 

controlling pedestrian flows },
  howpublished = {\url{https://transp-or.epfl.ch/documents/talks/Moly_hEART2018.pdf}},
  year = {2018},
  note = {Presented at 7th Symposium of the European Association for Research in Transportation, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece}}}

Molyneaux N., Scarinci R., Bierlaire M. Controlling Pedestrian Flows Using a Dynamic Traffic Management System June 06, 2018. 7th International Symposium on Dynamic Traffic Assignment: Smart Transportation, The University of Hong Kong, China.


@Misc{Moly_DTA2018,
  author = {Nicholas Molyneaux and Riccardo Scarinci and Michel Bierlaire},
  title = {Controlling Pedestrian Flows Using a Dynamic Traffic Management System},
  howpublished = {\url{https://transp-or.epfl.ch/documents/talks/Moly_DTA2018.pdf}},
  year = {2018},
  note = {Presented at 7th International Symposium on Dynamic Traffic Assignment: 

Smart Transportation, The University of Hong Kong, China}}}

Molyneaux N., Scarinci R., Bierlaire M. Two management strategies for improving passenger transfer experience in train stations . May 18, 2018. 18th Swiss Transport Research Conference (STRC), Monte Verità, Ascona, Switzerland.


@Misc{Moly_STRC2018,
  author = {Nicholas Molyneaux and Riccardo Scarinci and Michel Bierlaire},
  title = {Two management strategies for improving passenger transfer experience in train stations .},
  howpublished = {\url{https://transp-or.epfl.ch/documents/talks/Moly_STRC2018.pdf}},
  year = {2018},
  note = {Presented at 18th Swiss Transport Research Conference (STRC), Monte Verit\à, Ascona, Switzerland}}}

2017

Molyneaux N., Scarinci R., Bierlaire M. Pedestrian management strategies for improving flow dynamics in transportation hubs May 18, 2017. 17th Swiss Transport Research Conference (STRC), Monte Verità, Ascona, Switzerland.


@Misc{Moly_STRC2017,
  author = {Nicholas Molyneaux and Riccardo Scarinci and Michel Bierlaire},
  title = {Pedestrian management strategies for improving flow dynamics in transportation hubs},
  howpublished = {\url{https://transp-or.epfl.ch/documents/talks/Moly_STRC2017.pdf}},
  year = {2017},
  note = {Presented at 17th Swiss Transport Research Conference (STRC), Monte Verit\à, Ascona, Switzerland}}}

2014

Molyneaux N., Hänseler F., Bierlaire M. Modelling of train-induced pedestrian flows in railway stations May 15, 2014. 17th Swiss Transport Research Conference (STRC), Monte Verità, Ascona, Switzerland.


@Misc{Moly_STRC2014,
  author = {Nicholas Molyneaux and Flurin H\"anseler and Michel Bierlaire},
  title = {Modelling of train-induced pedestrian flows in railway stations},
  howpublished = {\url{https://transp-or.epfl.ch/documents/talks/Moly_STRC2014.pdf}},
  year = {2014},
  note = {Presented at 17th Swiss Transport Research Conference (STRC), Monte Verit\à, Ascona, Switzerland}}}

Research projects [1]

2016

TRANS-FORM: Smart transfers through unravelling urban form and travel flow dynamics

TRANS-FORM, a cooperation between universities, industrial partners, public authorities and private operators, will develop, implement and test a data driven decision making tool that will support smart planning, and proactive and adaptive operations. The objective of the project is to better understand transferring dynamics in multi-modal public transport systems and develop insights, strategies and methods to support decision makers in transforming public transport usage to a seamless travel experience by using smart data. The tool will integrate new concepts and methods of behavioral modelling, passenger flow forecasting and network state predictions into real-time operations. TRANS-FORM is funded under the European Commission Horizon 2020 ERA-NET program.
- Mar 03, 2016 - Mar 03, 2019
- Sponsor: The Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC)
- Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
- Project managers: Shadi Sharif Azadeh, Riccardo Scarinci, Yuki Oyama
- Collaborators: Nicholas Molyneaux, Nikola Obrenovic

EPFL courses [4]

Fall 2021

Introduction to optimization and operations research .
- Level: Bachelor
- Sections: Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Electrical and Electronics Engineering
- Lecturer: Virginie Lurkin
- Teaching assistants: Nour Dougui, Negar Rezvany, Nicholas Molyneaux, Gael Lederrey, Marija Kukic, Tom Haering, Stefano Bortolomiol, Cloe Cortes Balcells

Fall 2019

Introduction to optimization and operations research .
- Level: Bachelor
- Sections: Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Electrical and Electronics Engineering
- Lecturer: Michel Bierlaire
- Teaching assistants: Nour Dougui, Selin Atac, Stefano Bortolomiol, Nicholas Molyneaux, Gael Lederrey
- Webpage: https://moodle.epfl.ch/course/view.php?id=14491

Fall 2018

Mathematical modeling of behavior.
- Level: Master
- Sections: Mathematics, Master in Financial Engineering
- Lecturer: Michel Bierlaire
- Teaching assistants: Meritxell Pacheco, Yuki Oyama, Nicholas Molyneaux
- Webpage: http://transp-or.epfl.ch/courses/dca2018

Spring 2017

Enjeux mondiaux : Mobilit� A.
- Level: Bachelor
- Section: All sections
- Lecturer: Michel Bierlaire
- Teaching assistants: Nicholas Molyneaux, Stefan Binder
- Webpage: http://moodle.epfl.ch/course/view.php?id=13982

MSc theses [2]

2020

Risk assessment of pedestrian crossings, Adrien Nicolet (Civil Engineering)
- Supervision: Nicholas Molyneaux, Gael Lederrey, Michel Bierlaire
- External expert:

2017-2018

Moving walkways in train stations, Charles Jeanbart (Civil Engineering)
- Supervision: Nicholas Molyneaux, Riccardo Scarinci, Michel Bierlaire
- External expert: TBD

Semester projects [10]

2024

Comparison of different methodologies for interpolating traffic count data, Mya Jamal Lahjouji (Civil Engineering)

Supervision: Marija Kukic, Nicholas Molyneaux, Michel Bierlaire
In this project, our objective is to evaluate various methodologies for interpolating gaps in traffic count data, assessing their effectiveness in relation to computational and data requirements. We focus on the case study of Switzerland using the data provided by Canton Vaud. This data has been collected from different locations over several years using different data collection procedures which resulted in having unbalanced data with different missing information and inconsistencies. In order to construct a realistic network, we want to investigate the different methodologies to fill these missing information and compare it with the existing solution provided by Canton.

2019-2020

Risk assessment of pedestrian crossings, Adrien Nicolet (Computer science)

Supervision: Nicholas Molyneaux, Gael Lederrey, Michel Bierlaire

2019

Calibrating pedestrian control strategies., Léopold Bouraux (Computer science)

Supervision: Nicholas Molyneaux, Gael Lederrey, Michel Bierlaire
The objective of this semester project is to calibrate two pedestrian control strategies using heuristic methods and/or optimization methods like simulated annealing or genetic algorithms. Two strategies are under investigation: gating to prevent a gridlock situation and flow separators which prevent counter flow. The student will have to use the pedestrian simulator I have implemented and integrate it with an optimization approach like simulated annealing.

2018

Goodness of fit in DCMs, Jessica Hopkins (Mathematics)

Supervision: Gael Lederrey, Michel Bierlaire, Nicholas Molyneaux
In these last years, with the arrival and wide-spreading of Big data, the discrete choice modeling community has gained access to larger datasets, more computing power and the possibility to drastically increase model complexity. It has therefore become crucial to establish precise measures of the goodness of fit as well as techniques to detect and reduce overfitting. We propose to apply known techniques from machine learning � such as cross-validation � to discrete choice models. We investigate the existence of overfitting in discrete choice models using a linear and a polynomial multinomial logit model on the Optima dataset. We adopted a train-test approach to evaluate model performance. Model estimates for both models were computed on N = 100, 200 and 500 runs of random train-test splits, using an 80-20 ratio. The results show that the polynomial model has better fit on the training samples, but performs worse than the linear model on the testing set, indicating the presence of overfitting. The use of K-fold cross-validation for simple multinomial logit models has also been explored. However, model estimates obtained using K-fold cross-validation did not differ from the model estimates estimates obtained from a single model fitting, due to underfitting. The distributions of the results obtained on the Optima dataset motivated the exploration of an empirical hypothesis test to determine the presence of overfitting. The test is based on the assumption that training and testing samples of a model which is not overfitting will have the same mean. This test was implemented using the t-test for two samples with unequal variances, also known as Welch test. This empirical test presented in this report did not differentiate the models in terms of overfitting. However, it could be a starting point of our future research, which will be aimed at establishing a statistical definition of overfitting.

Development of a heuristic algorithm for a hub location problem, Thibaut Guillaume Marie Richard

Supervision: Nikola Obrenovic, Nicholas Molyneaux, Michel Bierlaire
In railway networks, the location of marshalling and shunting yards, i.e. facilities used for sorting and consolidation of transported goods, determines the costs of cargo transport to a great extent. Hence, each railway company is highly motivated to determine the optimal location of these yards. Such task can be represented as a multi-level facility location problem or a hub location problem. The aim of this project is the development of an heuristic algorithm for solving a facility location problem with facilities split in multiple hierarchical layers. The project will be a part of a larger research project done in the cooperation with SBB. The student will start from understanding the exact mathematical model of the mentioned problem and encode it into a heuristic algorithm, e.g. a local search algorithm or VNS. Also, the student will have to solve the problem on a smaller data set using an exact method and compare the solution with the results of the heuristic algorithm. The student needs to have good programming skills (Java or some other OO language) and knowledge of mixed integer linear programming and heuristics.

Building offline and online optimization algorithms for dispatchment of teams at Nez Rouge., Colin Ducommun

Supervision: Gael Lederrey, Nicholas Molyneaux, Michel Bierlaire
Nez Rouge (http://nezrouge.ch) is a swiss charitable association with the purpose of driving people back home safely during the cold nights of December. They have to find many volunteers across the whole country and the demand never stops growing. Instead of helping them find new volunteers, I propose to solve one difficult task: dispatching efficiently the volunteers, the idea being to reduce the waiting-time of customers. Using data provided by Nez Rouge, we will first build an offline optimization problem to find a lower bound on the estimated waiting-time and compare it to the actual waiting-time. The second step will be to build an online optimization problem using the API of OpenStreetMap to solve this problem in real-time. The third and final step will be to build a webpage for the volunteers at Nez Rouge. Note: This project can be done as a master project or split between multiple semester projects, depending on the number of credits you have to do.

2017-2018

From public transport vehicles to pedestrian flows., Rodolphe Farrando

Supervision: Nicholas Molyneaux, Gael Lederrey, Michel Bierlaire
The objective of this semester project is to extend the notion of "train induced flows" to other modes of public transport. When public transport vehicles arrive in the station, many passengers disembark. From the infrastructure's point-of-view, there is a flow of pedestrians arriving. The characteristics of such flows depend on the vehicle's characteristics (door width for example) and the characteristics of the infrastructure (width of the corridors for example). The student will explore the different interactions and characterize the different flows by using models similar to the "train induced flows" model, already published. The specifications will be different based on the various modes and platform setups. The second objective is to explore the feasibility of using a Poisson distribution to model the pedestrians arriving onto platforms. Similarly to alighting flows, different configurations can lead to different model specifications. The student will start by exploring the literature then, based on the pre-existing models, some new formulations can be proposed. Data is available for calibration of pedestrian flows boarding trains. Synthetic data can be used for the calibration of other models. This project can be done during the spring 2018 semester.

2017

Modeling public transport transfers in the “new” Lausanne train station, José Ramón Rodriguez

Supervision: Nicholas Molyneaux, Riccardo Scarinci, Michel Bierlaire
Exploration of the tracking data collected in the main station of Basel. The objective is to calculate passenger-centric variability indicators and perform some simple modelling tasks.

Building an integrated model for modelling pedestrian movements inside hubs, Charles Jeanbart

Supervision: Nicholas Molyneaux, Riccardo Scarinci, Michel Bierlaire
The objective of this project is to build a simulator for measuring the impact of management strategies inside transportation hubs.

2016

Measure of user-oriented service variability in hubs, Anouk Allenspach and Dieynaba Dia (Civil Engineering)

Supervision: Nicholas Molyneaux, Riccardo Scarinci, Michel Bierlaire
This project's goal is to explore the service variability (reliability) in public transport hubs. Three operator oriented service characteristics are common in literature (robustness, reliability and punctuality). As these measures are operator oriented, they might not reflect actual level-of-service (LOS) experienced by users (pedestrians). To account for this difference, user-centered measures will be defined then observed using an already secured data set. Some examples of variability measures are OD travel time, passenger transfer times, passenger waiting times, train punctuality, etc. The main data sets used for this project is the pedestrian tracking data from the Lausanne and Basel train stations and possibly some effective train time tables.