Abstract Corridor with corner may be the potential bottleneck in subway station, and walking behavior of passengers around corner is random. In this study, walking process of passenger around corner is divided into five phases according to field survey, i.e., pre-turning straight-going, ready-turning, turning, distance-adjusting and post-turning straight-going. An advanced social force model is proposed to model the turning behavior of passenger around corner, taking visual angle, walking preference and steering force into consideration. To improve walking efficiency, the influences of geometry of facility, walking preference of passengers and arrival rate of passenger flow are investigated. Results show when angle of corner is less than 120°, the walking speed slows down sharply and walking time extends. To improve the walking efficiency, passengers can be guided to walk in lines orderly. The maximum of throughput can be obtained with proper arrival rate. Once the volume of passengers exceeds the facility capacity, effects of “stop-and-go” and “faster is slower” will occur around corner.