Walking and Cycling to the Moon on Centurion Way (Counter Data for March 2022)

On the first of April 2022 The Friends of Centurion Way people counter had registered a total of 452910 journeys being made on the path since the counter was installed on the 1st Jan 2021. The average journey distance made by people walking or cycling past the counter is bound to be at least one kilometre. The distance to the moon is only 384,400 km. FoCW believe people have walked and cycled at least 452,910 km. Ian Swann (Chair of FoCW)  was first to notice, the total distance walked and cycled by people using Centurion Way that we have counted, is in total significantly greater than the distance to the moon. That’s literally an astronomical distance walked and cycled by people on the path! Although it sounds like the figure could be an April fool exaggeration, people really appear to have walked that far on Centurion Way.

The data collected from the counter in March has some error messages showing that in the middle of the day, the counter has been unable to record people going by. We had a similar problem last year in March and discovered that repositioning the counter and transmitter could be a way to solve the problem. We hope to make changes to the counter and transmitter position to remedy the issue of significant undercounting in next April’s figures.

Despite a likely significant undercount in March 2022 due to the increasingly strong sunlight in the middle part of the day interfering with the counter, the counter still registered 27797 journeys in March.

A chart of the March count data is shown below

Chart of path usage in March 2022. Blue bars are Northbound and red bars are Southbound

The hour by hour count of path usage recorded by the counter is available in CSV format here (March 2022 hourly figures)

Raw data recorded by the counter during March 2022 is available here http://centurionway.org.uk/CounterData/2022-04-01.MEM

The raw data can be read using the IMMotion software available here https://www.im-motion.com/downloads/

Path Usage Feb 2022

26,184 journeys were counted by the Friends of Centurion Way Path Counter this February 2022. The counter is situated where the Southern end of the path passes Bishop Luffa by the green railway foot bridge.

The image below shows a chart of the paths daily usage during February 2022:

Chart of path usage in February 2022
Chart of path usage in February 2022. Blue bars show Northbound traffic and Red bars show southbound traffic

Hourly Count Data for February 2022 is available in .csv format on this link.

Raw data recorded by the counter during February 2022 is available here http://centurionway.org.uk/CounterData/2022-03-05.MEM

The raw data can be read using the IMMotion software available here https://www.im-motion.com/downloads/

Centurion Way Path Usage January 2022

During January 2022 the Centurion Way Path Counter located at the southern end of the path by Bishop Luffa School, recorded 32,223 individual journeys made by pedestrians and cyclists.

That is an average of 1,039 journeys recorded per day by the counter.

Saturday the 8th of January was quiet with only 479 journeys made on the path but by contrast 1,310 were made on the path on Thursday the 24th of January.

path usage in January 2022
Chart of path usage in January 2022. Blue bars show Northbound traffic and Red bars show southbound traffic

Raw data recorded by the counter during September is available here http://centurionway.org.uk/CounterData/2022-02-05.MEM

A day by day count of traffic on the path during January 2022 is available in CSV format here 2022 January Count

The raw data can be read using the IMMotion software available here https://www.im-motion.com/downloads/

 

We have now collected a Full Year of Path Use Data

On New Years Day 2021, Philip Maber and Mark Record switched on the FoCW people counter for the first time and it has been collecting data (virtually) ever since .

The counter is positioned  immediately to the South of the green railway bridge by Bishop Luffa school.

During the year of 2021 a total of 365706 people were counted going past the FoCW counter.

That is an average of 1002 people passing the counter per day over the whole year.

A .csv data table containing daily counts over the whole of 2021 is available here http://centurionway.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/2021DecHourly.csv

The chart shown below shows path usage over the whole of 2021.

Chart of path use in 2021
Chart of path use in 2021. Blue bars represent Northbound Traffic and Red bars represent Southbound Traffic

December 2021 was a relatively quiet month with only a total of 25993 people counted going past the counter over the whole month. Christmas day was surprisingly quiet with only 337 people going past the counter in total that day. I find this surprising as I always like to take a walk on Centurion Way on Christmas Day to help digest my Christmas Dinner.

The cart below shows path usage over the whole month of Dec 2020.

Couner Data 2021
Blue bars represent Northbound Traffic and Red bars represent Southbound Traffic

Raw data recorded by the counter during December is available here http://centurionway.org.uk/CounterData/2022-01-03.MEM

An hour by hour count of traffic on the path during December 2021 is available in CSV format here http://centurionway.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/2021DecHourly.csv

The raw data can be read using the IMMotion software available here https://www.im-motion.com/downloads/

There have been only a couple of minor counting glitches over the whole year.

  • Philip Maber and Mark Record only first got the recorder up and running at around mid day on the 1st of Jan 2021 so we missed counting any people on the first morning of the year.
  • In early spring we found that in the middle of the day, the bright sun overwhelmed the counter in the middle couple of hours of the day causing the counter to record error messages and loose some counts at those times. We boosted the infrared beam during the Spring and Summer months and this has solved the problem of loosing counts when the sun is too strong.
  • Monday morning 24th May 2021, a woven dandelion decoration was found hung over the counter obscuring the infrared light beam. A few people going past the counter that morning will have been missing from the count if they went past before the decoration was removed.
  • On the 25th Aug 2021 survey work was undertaken on the path using distinctive paint to mark the paths of cables and pipes running beneath the ground. At the precisely the same time surveyors were marking the path, somebody sprayed identical survey paint through the counters optical windows, rendering the counter inoperable until repairs were carried out on the 27th Aug 2021.

Philip Maber would like to reiterate that the recorded count is only a lower bound to the total number of people using the path. Because it is an  infrared beam counter, people going past next to each other are usually only counted as a single person. Particularly in the festive season couples like to walk past arm in arm causing an undercount. It is likely the actual total number of people passing the counter is around 15% higher than the counter has recorded. All traffic recording devices are compromise solutions and the FoCW has had verification checks made showing it performs impresivly.

Happy New Year to everyone using Centurion Way in 2022

Mark Record

Join the New Years Day 2022 Walk and Cycle on Centurion Way (Starts 12:00 Hours)

The Friends of Centurion Way are meeting up again on New Years Day.

We will meet up on the Centurion Way path by the Tesco Footbridge (next to Bishop Luffa School) at 12:00 Hours on New Years Day.

We plan for people joining us to either walk or cycle up to the Amphitheatre (located at the Railway men sculptures) to show our community support for maintaining and extending exelent quality local walking and cycling routes.

Some FoCW members plan to continue cycling from the Amphitheatre up to West Dean but some of the group will return to Chichester. People are welcome to join either party when we split up at the Amphitheatre.

Beating The Bounds on New Years Day 5

Previous New Years Day 2019 cycle ride/walk image shown above

Looking forward to many of us joining together for a community walk and cycle event to begin a happy New Year.

Mark Record (on behalf of the Friends of Centurion Way)

Please also consider joining residents half an hour earlier at Westgate to create a press release photo (11:30)

Some people may wish to arrive half an hour earlier (11:30) to meet at the Westgate/Sherborne-Rd mini-roundabout for new post photograph. Mark Record is campaigning against imminent construction of a scheme intending to dangerously reroute cyclists onto the pavements around this mini roundabout. The route will require cyclists to ride around blind corners on narrow pavements which will cause serious problems for cyclists and pedestrians alike. These changes are an incremental step towards a proposed staggered junction layout that will make riding continuously along Westgate difficult for cyclists. The longer term proposed changes are shown below.

The interim arrangement, after relocating cyclists onto the pavements but before joining the southern access road, will still cause danger and inconvenience.

A particular concern is what will happen to cyclists turning left at the northern side of the roundabout. Cyclists and pedestrians approaching each other at these corners will see one another in the last second before collision. If you believe this might be a problem, please consider joining Mark to create a press release photo highlighting the issues.

The interim layout and its particular dangers involving cyclists turning left is illustrated in the images below.

interim layout

issue turning left

issue turning left

Count of path use during November 2021

Centurion Way people counter is mounted between two gates leading into Bishop Luffa School and consequently it counts few of the staff or students arriving or leaving the school each day. Nonetheless, significant numbers of other types of user are counted travelling on the path each day. 33,305 individual journeys were counted on the path during the month November 2021. This averages out at around 1,110 journeys made per day! Assuming the city’s population has change little since the 2011 census, Chichester has approximately 26,795 residents. This means on average around one journey is made per person in Chichester every month on Centurion Way. Although, Westgate sees higher numbers of car journeys made (at around 5,000 per day), many of these journeys are from through traffic with many passengers not stopping to interact with the city’s community. However, most journeys counted on Centurion Way are likely local journeys made by pedestrians and cyclists travelling only a few miles. Moreover, the Centurion Counter under counts slightly giving only a lower bound to the number of people who pass the sensor. The reason the counter undercounts is because it uses an infrared beam and some people walk through in unison preventing the counter differentiate them as individuals. This makes the number of journeys counted on the path all the more impressive! As Centurion Way increasingly serves an expanding community including new residents from West of Chichester development, the path will become ever more important as a vital comunity sustainable transport hub.

The chart below shows the path usage over the month of November 2021

November traffic on Centurion Way
Chart of path usage in November 2021. Blue bars show Northbound traffic and Red bars show southbound traffic

Raw data recorded by the counter during November is available here http://centurionway.org.uk/CounterData/2021-12-06.MEM

A day by day count of traffic on the path during November 2021 is available in CSV format here 2021NovemberCount.

The raw data can be read using the IMMotion software available here https://www.im-motion.com/downloads/

Centurion Way Path Usage October 2021

During October 2021 the Centurion Way people counter recorded 33417 individual journeys.

That is an approximate average of 1078 journeys recorded per day by the counter.

Because the counter is situated between two of Bishop Luffa’s school gates, most of the school students do not pass the counter. The figure recorded by the counter is therefore in addition to the number of students using Centurion Way to get to Bishop Luffa school.

Daily counts varied significantly during the month of October and presumably this is because peoples transports habits change on the days with heavy wind and rain.

The chart below shows path usage figures for October 2021

October 2021 chart
Chart of path usage in October 2021. Blue bars show Northbound traffic and Red bars show southbound traffic

Raw data recorded by the counter during October is available here http://centurionway.org.uk/CounterData/2021-11-07.MEM

A day by day count of traffic on the path during October 2021 is available in CSV format here 2021OctoberCount

The raw data can be read using the IMMotion software available here https://www.im-motion.com/downloads/

Path Usage September 2021

September 2021 had the greatest monthly recorded traffic of people walking and cycling on the Centurion Way path since installation of the counter on January the 1st 2021. A total of 37250 people were recorded passing the counter in September 2021 compared with 25299 in the previous month August.

There was a particularly high number of people travelling southbound on the evening of the 11th September between 7pm and 11pm.

Path Usage Chart for Sept 2021
Chart of path usage in September 2021. Blue bars show Northbound traffic and Red bars show southbound traffic

Raw data recorded by the counter during September is available here http://centurionway.org.uk/CounterData/2021-10-03.MEM

An hour by hour count of traffic on the path during September 2021 is available in CSV format here sept2021hourly-count-bishop-luffa

The raw data can be read using the IMMotion software available here https://www.im-motion.com/downloads/

Path usage data for Aug 2021

The number of people passing the FoCW counter at Bishop Luffa school during August 2021 is shown in the chart below.

Chart of path usage in August 2021. Blue bars show Northbound traffic and Red bars show southbound traffic.

Counting was interrupted between 10:29 am on Wed 25th August 2021 and 03:00 pm Friday 27th Aug 2021

Raw data recorded by the counter during Aug is available here http://centurionway.org.uk/CounterData/2021-09-02.MEM

The raw data can be read using the IMMotion software available here https://www.im-motion.com/downloads/

Counter at Bishop Luffa Footbridge has been Rendered Inoperable by Spray Paint

Unfortunately the FoCW counter has been rendered inoperable with spray paint!

Paint has been sprayed into the optical windows of the counter making the lenses and sensors within the equipment opaque. This leaves the counter unable to sense pedestrians or cyclists on the path.

Scratching the paint with my thumbnail revealed it can be removed with mild abrasion.

Fortunately, the paint sprayed into the counter appears designed to be impermanent and it is possible the counter can be dismantled and its optics and sensors successfully cleaned to allow continued counting. Spray paint also applied to the ground appears to be of an identical type of impermanent paint. Presumably the impermanent paint is designed to weather from the road after a few weeks.

The time paint was sprayed into the counter (10:29 Am Wed 25th Aug 2021) coincides with the time surveying work was seen to take place on Westgate and Centurion Way. On Wednesday I noticed several people using cable detectors and placing spray paint marks onto sections of Westgate. Westgate Resident Julia Smith has confirmed she saw the survey team operating at 10:20 Am on Wednesday. This will have been only 9 minutes before the paint was sprayed into the counter.

Paint markings presumably indicate where cables run under ground and these marking go past the front of the counter.

In the image above a paint marking can be seen at the base of the counter . A close up of the same paint marking is also shown in the image below.

It is not yet clear who is responsible for the survey or why they felt they should render the FoCW counter inoperable by spraying  marker paint inside its works?

Paint markings were sprayed on vegetation and the earth and these presumably mark cable runs. Numbers adjacent to the markings presumably indicate the estimated depth of the cable runs.


A lamp post close to the counter has spray makings at its base, presumably indicating the cables may have something to with the lighting.

Similar paint has been applied to a section of Westgate with many arrows apparently indicating where cables are run beneath the pavement.

We have now collected samples of the paint in case there is any dispute over it being identical to the marker paint used by surveyors to mark cable runs. The video link below shows the paint being collected from the counter and shows that it it can be scraped off reasonably easily with a fingernail. This helps to demonstrate that it is road marker paint rather than from a can of cellulose spray that used for graffiti.

DSCF8338

Paint samples from the counter were scraped off with a Stanley knife blade and collected in bag B.

Bramble leaves with maker paint from around the lamp posts were collected in bag A.

The optical windows within the counter were covered by a thick layer of spray paint

The counter recorded the time when both IR beams were broken by the spraying survey marker paint into the counter. The data stream giving the time of interruption is shown below.