Elevator Traffic Analysis Explained: Why Your Building Needs One

Back to Insights

If you've ever waited too long for an elevator in a busy building, you've experienced the consequences of inadequate traffic analysis. Elevator traffic analysis is the data-driven process that determines how many elevators a building needs, how fast they should be, how large the cars should be, and how the system should be configured to deliver acceptable service.

Yet despite its importance, traffic analysis is often overlooked or treated as a formality. Here's why it deserves more attention — and how it works.

What Is Elevator Traffic Analysis?

At its core, elevator traffic analysis is a simulation exercise. Using specialized software, engineers model the movement of people through a building and evaluate how different elevator configurations handle that demand.

The analysis considers:

• Building population — How many people occupy each floor, and what are the peak densities?
• Traffic patterns — When do people arrive (up-peak), leave (down-peak), move between floors (interfloor), and experience lunch-hour traffic?
• Elevator parameters — Number of elevators, speed, acceleration, capacity, door type, and door timing
• System configuration — Zoning, grouping, express service, sky lobbies, and dispatch algorithms
• Performance targets — Maximum acceptable wait time, handling capacity, and quality of service grades

The output is a detailed performance prediction: average wait time, maximum wait time, handling capacity (percentage of population the system can move in a 5-minute peak period), and queue lengths at lobby level.

Why Is It Important?

For New Construction

During the design of a new building, traffic analysis answers a fundamental question: How many elevators do we need, and what should they look like?

Getting this wrong has serious consequences:

• Too few elevators = long wait times, tenant dissatisfaction, reduced rental value
• Too many elevators = wasted capital investment, lost leasable floor space, higher ongoing maintenance costs

Each elevator shaft in a typical high-rise consumes approximately 3-4 square meters per floor. In a 40-storey building, one unnecessary elevator represents 120-160 square meters of leasable space — a significant financial impact over the building's lifetime.

For Existing Buildings

For buildings already in operation, traffic analysis helps diagnose performance issues and evaluate improvement options. Common scenarios include:

• Tenant complaints about wait times — Is the system undersized, or is it a controller/configuration issue?
• Change of use — A floor converting from office to call center dramatically changes population density and traffic patterns
• Modernization planning — What performance improvement can you expect from a controller upgrade, and is it sufficient?

How the Analysis Works

Step 1: Define the Building

The engineer inputs the building's physical characteristics:

• Number of floors and floor-to-floor heights
• Population per floor (or population density per square meter)
• Building usage type (office, residential, hotel, hospital, etc.)

Step 2: Define the Elevator System

The proposed (or existing) elevator configuration is modeled:

• Number of elevators and grouping arrangement
• Rated speed, acceleration, and jerk
• Car capacity and car dimensions
• Door type, width, and operating times
• Controller type and dispatch algorithm

Step 3: Define Traffic Scenarios

Multiple scenarios are simulated to test the system under various conditions:

• Morning up-peak (most critical for office buildings)
• Evening down-peak
• Lunch-hour two-way traffic
• Interfloor traffic
• Emergency evacuation scenarios (in some jurisdictions)

Step 4: Run Simulations

The software simulates thousands of passenger trips, tracking each person from call registration to destination arrival. Modern simulation tools model individual passenger behavior, including arrival patterns, destination choices, and boarding/alighting times.

Step 5: Evaluate Results

Results are assessed against industry benchmarks:

Performance Metric	Office (Grade A)	Residential	Hospital
Average wait time	< 25 seconds	< 40 seconds	< 30 seconds
Handling capacity	> 12% of population	> 6%	> 8%
Time to destination	< 60 seconds	< 90 seconds	< 75 seconds

Note: These are general guidelines. Specific targets vary by region, market, and building class.

Common Mistakes We See

1. Using Rule-of-Thumb Calculations Instead of Simulation

Simple formulas (e.g., "one elevator per X floors") were acceptable decades ago but are inadequate for modern buildings. They don't account for traffic patterns, dispatch algorithms, or the complex interactions between multiple elevators in a group. Simulation is the industry standard.

2. Analyzing Only Up-Peak

Up-peak morning arrival is typically the most demanding scenario for office buildings, but it's not the only one. Lunch-hour traffic, which combines up, down, and interfloor movements simultaneously, can be equally challenging. A system optimized only for up-peak may perform poorly during lunch.

3. Using Unrealistic Population Assumptions

Underestimating building population is the most common source of error. If the traffic analysis assumes 10 square meters per person but actual occupancy is 7 square meters per person, the system will underperform from day one.

4. Ignoring Future Growth

Buildings evolve. Floor usage changes, tenant density increases, and new building features (roof terraces, fitness centers) generate additional traffic. Good traffic analysis accounts for a growth margin — typically 15-20% above current projected population.

When to Commission a Traffic Analysis

• New construction: During concept/schematic design, and updated during design development as the building design evolves
• Modernization: Before defining scope, to establish current performance and target improvements
• Change of use: Whenever a significant change in floor occupancy or building population is planned
• Dispute resolution: When performance is contested between building owner and elevator contractor

What You Get

A professional traffic analysis report from Doug & Danny includes:

1. Executive summary with key findings and recommendations
2. Detailed simulation results for all analyzed scenarios
3. Configuration comparisons showing performance of multiple system options
4. Sensitivity analysis showing how the system handles population growth
5. Clear recommendations on the optimal system configuration
6. Architect coordination notes on shaft dimensions, pit depths, and overhead requirements

The report provides the evidence base for confident design decisions and serves as a benchmark against which installed system performance can later be measured.