Bicycle Austin forum

dougmc

Administrator

Registered: 2008-06-01

Posts: 623

Re: The Mopac Pedestrian bridge over the greenbelt is almost done ...

This must be the sensor.  I guess it determines direction by which side of the path you're on?

And I wonder how often it doesn't trigger, either due to cyclists not riding where the loops are or just because they don't have enough metal?

Also ... I can't tell how it would detect pedestrians.  The "pedestal" at the end has a small hole near the top -- does it detect them optically?

Darron

Member

Registered: 2014-05-22

Posts: 131

Re: The Mopac Pedestrian bridge over the greenbelt is almost done ...

And I wonder how often it doesn't trigger, either due to cyclists not riding where the loops are or just because they don't have enough metal?

These can be tuned to be very sensitive and since this inductive loop is not being used to trigger a traffic light my guess is it set up to catch almost anything.  Quick way to test is to ride back and forth over it 50 times on a weekday and see if it shows up on the online counter!

http://www.eco-public.com/public2/?id=100139981

Darron

dougmc

Administrator

Registered: 2008-06-01

Posts: 623

Re: The Mopac Pedestrian bridge over the greenbelt is almost done ...

Quick way to test is to ride back and forth over it 50 times on a weekday and see if it shows up on the online counter!

Didn't work.

Yesterday (Tuesday, Jan 16th, a bad weather day, so I expected low traffic) I passed the sensor 20 times on the "Northbound" side on my bike -- about five seconds between pass.  11 of them in the morning, 9 in the afternoon.

Can't tell on the stats for the day, which say: 21 bikes, 12 pedestrians, 16 direction 1, 17 direction 2.

Darron

Member

Registered: 2014-05-22

Posts: 131

Re: The Mopac Pedestrian bridge over the greenbelt is almost done ...

Thanks Doug,

Definitely looks like it under counted your rides.  Did you report this on the City of Austin 311 app?  It never hurts to try and get it fixed.