Making Household Microsimulation of Travel and Activities Accessible to Planners

There is a large gap between the aggregate, trip-based models used by transportation planning agencies and the activity-based, microsimulation methods espoused by those at the forefront of research. The modeling environment presented here is intended to bridge this gap by providing a palatable way for planning agencies to move toward advanced methods. Three components to bridging the gap are emphasized: an incremental approach, a demonstration of clear gains, and a provision of an environment that eases initial implementation and allows for expansion. The modeling environment (called STEP2) is a household microsimulator, developed in TransCAD, that can be used to implement a four-step model as well as models with longer-term behavior and trip chaining. An implementation for southern Nevada is described, and comparisons are made with the region’s aggregate four-step model. The models perform similarly in numerous ways. A key advantage to the microsimulator is that it provides impacts by socioeconomic group (essential for equity analysis) and individual trip movements (for use in a vehicle microsimulator). A sensitivity analysis indicates that the microsimulation model has less inelastic cross elasticity of transit demand with respect to auto travel times than the aggregate model (aggregation error). The trade-off is that microsimulators have simulation error; results are presented regarding the severity of this error. This work shows that a shift to microsimulation does not necessarily require substantial investment to achieve many of the benefits. One of the greatest advantages is a flexible environment that can expand to include additional sensitivity to demographics and transportation policy variables.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.3141/1931-05
• 
• Summary URL:
  http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=Making+Household+Microsimulation+of+Travel+and+Activities+Accessible+to+Planners&author=J.+Walker&publication_year=2005
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://www.trb.org/Main/Public/Blurbs/156933.aspx
• Authors:
  • Walker, Joan L
• Publication Date: 2005

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: pp 38-48
• Monograph Title: Planning and Analysis 2005
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
  • Issue Number: 1931
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Demographics; Elasticity (Economics); Errors; Households; Mathematical models; Microsimulation; Sensitivity analysis; Socioeconomic factors; Transportation planning; Transportation policy; Travel behavior; Travel time; Trip chaining
• Identifier Terms: TransCAD (Computer program)
• Geographic Terms: Nevada
• Subject Areas: Economics; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Policy; Society; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01020689
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309094054
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 24 2006 8:48AM