CIE4801: Transport modelling in OmniTRANS

Case study: City of Delft

Introduction
The exercise book that you treated in the past few weeks taught you how to use OmniTRANS
for transport modelling. In this case study you will apply this knowledge to solve a transport
planning problem for the city of Delft. The city council has the objective to have a sustainable
centre. Demand and supply changes in the transport system are expected in the future. Your task
is to investigate the consequences and to resolve arisen issues. You are asked to act as a
consultant for the city council and to present your analysis and solution in a written report.
You will work in couples on the case study. There is a base project Delft for OmniTRANS
available; it contains the current demand and supply schemes as well as prototype jobs for
modelling and analysis. You will consider the future scenario that is the combination of changes
in the demand and changes in the supply. The demand changes are modelled by changing the
zonal data in the matrix cube; the supply changes are modelled by modifying the network.
In the future scenario, travellers will make different decisions. They can travel to different
destinations and use different modes. Congestion will therefore build up at other locations and the
accessibility of the zones might change. You will have to come up with several solution
candidates for undesired consequences. You are allowed to invent all types of solutions, as long
as you can model them. So be creative. Finally you analyse each of the candidates and come up
with conclusions and an advice.

Approach
This document contains information on the base scenario, the future scenario and several
analysis tools. Your task is to use OmniTRANS for performing your analyses and for developing
candidate solutions. The following step-by-step plan will guide you through the case study:
1.
Explore base scenario: The section Base scenario of this document contains all the
information on the network of the city, the used data and available models. Run the
different steps of the model (jobs), make sure you understand the structure of the base
scenario.
2.
Model future scenario with changes: The demand changes and supply changes are
described the section Future scenario. The prototype variant Future is available in
OmniTRANS, you have to perform all modelling steps (i.e. run the jobs). Make sure
that the jobs produce the correct output and that your results are stored at the correct
location.
3.
Analyse future scenario: Apply several techniques to quantify the performance of the
future scenario. Some basic indicators are: travel times between zones, total travel time,
distances travelled, volume/capacity ratios on links, modal split, etc. There are analysis
tools available in the project, others are described in the exercise book.
4.
Identify issues: Investigate your analysis results and identify transport and/or traffic
issues. Formulate at least two issues. Topics where you can think of are accessibility of
zones and congestion levels. The city council of Delft focuses on the accessibility of
the centre and does not want a further growth of car traffic in this area. Furthermore,

5.

6.

7.

you should not focus on the motorways. (Although you can observe severe congestion
problems on them.)
Design candidate solution scenarios: Create two scenarios in which you give
solutions to the formulated issues. To do this you have to duplicate the completed
Future variant in OmniTRANS for each candidate solution, implement your changes
in each of them. You are allowed to use all features of OmniTRANS to model your
solution. You can think of both demand and supply changes for your candidate
solutions. When you develop your solutions you should consider which parts of the
model are influenced and how they should be adjusted.
Your two candidate solutions have to be clearly different; furthermore, al least one on
the solutions should be either pricing or electric vehicles. For pricing you can think of a
cordon charge or parking charges. Electric vehicles (e.g., bicycles or cars) can be
introduced or stimulated by the city council. Both demand and supply approaches can
model the impact of electric vehicles.
Analyse candidate solutions: Apply your analysis techniques again to benchmark
your solutions. The analysis should point out if the solutions did solve the formulated
issues. Use the same indicators as in step 3.
Devise recommendations: You are now the expert on
this transport planning project. Reconsider your
identified issues and candidate solutions, and then draw
your conclusions. Write down your recommendations
for the city council.

Base scenario
The project for the case study is named Delft and can be found
on Blackboard. The current situation is described in the variant
called base; this scenario is derived from the default
OmniTRANS tutorial project. The city of Delft served as model
for the network and socio-economic data, but since it is solely
used for demonstration and education purposes it is not factual.

Dimensions
At the start of each OmniTRANS project the dimensions have to
be set. Dimensions for the Delft project are listed at the right.
There are four different trip Purposes: (11) home to work, (12)
work to home, (21) home to education and (22) education to home.
So the trips are classified per purpose. The education purpose
contains all trips to and from school and university; i.e., the trips
performed in order to follow education.
There are four different main Modes: (10) driving a vehicle/car,
(20) using bicycles, (30) going by public transport and (40)
walking. Each of these modes can be present in the network. The
walking mode (40) is only used for access and egress for public
transport. In this project it is not considered as a mode that can be
chosen for a complete trip. The four sub-modes for public transport
can be used for specific public transport properties.
There is one single Time dimension, namely (10) the morning
peak. All matrices and other data represent one hour of morning
peak traffic.

The User dimension is not in use.

There are two categories of Results, (1) load results are related to links and (10) impedance
results are related to O-D pairs. Load results can either come from (2) All-or-Nothing, (3)
deterministic user equilibrium, (4) stochastic, (5) selected link or (6) selected area assignments.
The latter two are used for analysis and will be explained later.
The Iteration dimension is not in use. This means that only the final iterations of the models are
saved and no intermediate results

Network
The network contains 25 centroids, 692 links and 473 nodes. It covers the city of Delft and a
small region around it. There are 17 public transport lines that share a total of 43 stops. These are
several bus lines and the tram line in the direction of The Hague. The roads are classified into 16
types, ranging from cycle tracks to 4-lane motorways to bus lanes. You can look up the different
speeds and capacities in the project setup. The planned A4 to the south is already included in the
network.

Zones and zonal data

The 25 zones are classified in two types. Zones 1 to 8 are external zones that represent traffic
going to and coming from areas outside Delft; zones 9 to 25 are internal zones that represent
areas inside Delft. Zone 8 is a special external zone; it represents the trips to and from the train
station.
The internal zones have productions and attractions that can be calculated from the zonal data
fields that represent socio-economic characteristics. The zonal data variables in this project are
residents, jobs, education places and research places in the area. The zonal data values are stored
in matrix cube 2011; this is the cube that contains the demand scheme belonging to the current
situation.

Productions and attractions

Productions and attractions in OmniTRANS are calculated per combination (see the
combination tab in the project setup). The Delft project distinguishes the trip ends per purpose, i.e.
there are productions and attractions for HomeWork, WorkHome, HomeEdu and EduHome. The
productions combination numbers are respectively 11,12,21,22 and the attractions combination
numbers are respectively 511,512,521,522. For all eight combinations and for each zone the trip
end will be calculated,
The internal zones calculate the trip ends with trip end functions. These functions are obtained
from statistical (regression) models. All the functions can be found in the job Trip generation
which will be explained later. For example the attraction for trips with the purpose home to
work (511) is given by:
0.20 * (jobs + research + education)
For the external zones the productions and attractions are given. This type of external data can
come from traffic counts or surveys. The job Trip generation automatically imports this
information in the trip ends. The given trip ends for zones 1 to 8 are listed on the next page. (the
rows represent zones and the columns represent purposes)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

11
4660
120
3440
1380
80
650
547
1200

12
4660
400
3440
1380
320
650
547
1200

21
1320
400
530
380
320
272
224
1100

22
1320
120
530
380
80
272
224
1100

511
4660
600
3440
1380
400
650
547
1200

512
4660
160
3440
1380
80
650
547
1200

521
1320
120
1320
380
80
272
224
1100

522
1320
320
530
380
160
272
224
1100

Jobs
There are several jobs available, detailed descriptions on how they work are given as comments
in the script. This section provides an overview, there are jobs for modelling and for analysis.
Modelling:
Trip generation: Produces the trip ends based on zonal data, trip end functions and
external data. For internal zones the trip end function is used. Data for the external zones
are automatically imported.
Skim generation: Produces skim matrices for all available modes based in the network.
It gives as well skim for the generalized costs, distance and time, as well as some public
transport specific types. Furthermore, the intrazonal impedances are calculated for the
internal zones. The diagonals of each skim for each skim of the external zones are set to
99.999.
Trip distribution: Produces O-D matrices for all modes and for all purposes. For each
purpose the destination and mode choice is calculated simultaneously. The doubly
constrained gravity model is used for this purpose. A top-lognormal distribution function
for each mode has been defined. The functions are based on travel time; however, the
public transport fares are also converted to travel time and included in the calculation.
Afterwards the O-D matrices are added over purposes, resulting in total O-D matrices per
mode.
Assignments: Produces the loads on the network for each mode. Vehicles are assigned
with the all-or-nothing and deterministic user equilibrium assignment. You should use the
deterministic user equilibrium results for your analysis. Bicycles are assigned using a
stochastic assignment. The public transport is assigned with OtTransit. You should note
that access and egress (the trip between centroid and station) is done by walking.
Analysis: (see also OmniTRANS Manual
The Job Engine
OmniTRANS Classes
Modelling Classes OtTraffic OtTraffic.selectedLinks for more information)
Analyse select link car (DUE): Run this job if you have one or more vehicle links
selected in your network. It calculates where the traffic over the links came from and
where goes to. The results are based on the deterministic user equilibrium assignment of
vehicles; they can be visualized with the predefined bandwidth design.
Analyse select link bicycle: Run this job if you have one or more bicycle links selected
in your network. It calculates where the traffic over the links came from and where goes
to. The results are based on the bicycle assignment; they can be visualized with the
predefined bandwidth design.
Analyse select area car (DUE): Run this job if you have one or more centroids
selected in your network. It calculates where the vehicle traffic, originating from the

centroids, goes to. The results are based on the deterministic user equilibrium assignment
of vehicles; they can be visualized with the predefined bandwidth design.
Analyse select area bicycle: Run this job if you have one or more centroids selected in
your network. It calculates where the bicycle traffic originating from the centroids goes to.
The results are based on the bicycle assignment; they can be visualized with the
predefined bandwidth design.

Future scenario
The future scenario is the situation in 2020; the population of Delft is increased, new residential
and commercial areas are developed and the university has more students and research places.
Because of the construction and maintenance some major roads will become unavailable. There is
a variant in the project called Future, it already contains the adjustments described below, but
you will have to run the modelling jobs for this variant.

Demand change
The growth of the city of Delft is captured in the zonal data. Prognoses of the number of
residents, jobs, research places and education places are made for the year 2020. New
development of houses and commercial infrastructure in zones 24 and 25 will be realized. There
is an expected increase of 16% of demand for external zones.
The variant Future is associated with matrix cube 2020, the new demand is modelled in this
matrix cube. The zonal data of this cube contains the prognoses of the socio-economic variables;
note that it also contains the data for zones 24 and 25. The 16% increase in external demand is
automatically performed in the Trip generation job. In the script you can identify that the
growth factor changes for matrix cube 2020.

Supply change
There are plans to extend the current tram line to the university area and Technopolis near zone
23. To construct the tramway the St. Sebastiaansbrug (link 9929) has to be reconstructed; the
current strength is insufficient. This will mean that the bridge will be closed for vehicles and
bicycles; some small capacity for the public transport will remain available, so the crossing bus
lines remain unaffected. On the other hand there is a planned maintenance closure of the
Abtswoudsebrug (link 10430). The renovation will take longer than a year since shipping traffic
cannot be blocked.
To connect zones 24 and 25 to the network additional road infrastructure is added in the eastern
part of Delft. Although infrastructure is developed in the areas Emerald and Brasserhout, there are
no plans for improving supply at the western side of the A13.
These changes are implemented in the network of the variant Future. The St. Sebastiaansbrug
link has road type Bus only now. The Abtswoudsebrug link has road type undefined now. Setting
the road type to undefined is preferable above removing the links; this can cause problems when
you want to compare variants.

Model itself
You should not consider the Omnitrans model for Delft to be a perfect model. In reality any
model might have some flaws, especially if youre trying to model something that wasnt
considered when building the model. If you notice such flaws, please report them in an appendix.
Youre not asked to repair them, however, in some cases youll have to find a way to cope with
them. Such a work-around should be described in the report.

Tips & Tricks

General

Make sure you manage your OmniTRANS variants correctly. The base scenario, future
scenario and solutions candidate scenarios all belong in different variants.
Inspect the project carefully before you start. Check all the available data and modelling
components, and make sure you understand what is going on.
Make sure that you work from the d-drive if you work on a University machine, and,
since data on the d-drive is local, make sure to bring your project with you (e.g., via email, USB stick).
The conditions on the motorways influence the city of Delft. However, the motorways
are regulated by the national government, and therefore not in the scope of the analysis of
this case study. So, you should focus on the internal area.

Analysis

Put structure in your analysis, present them uniformly and give clear overviews. Create a
sort of benchmark to assess all the variants (i.e., base, future and solution).
Use Excel for quantitative analysis. It is easy to copy and paste skim matrices and O-D
matrices from OmniTRANS into Excel.
There are several predefined bandwidth designs and bar chart designs available. They are
useful for visualization and for the comparison of different results.
Use the provided analysis techniques from the exercise book. Especially the ones in
Chapter 3 are useful.

Candidate Solutions

If you would like to change a job script for your candidate solution, then you should first
make a copy and apply the adjustments in the copy. This allows you to run the original
jobs for the base and future variants.
Be creative with your candidate solutions; think out of the box and dont hesitate to
create and manipulate jobs. The built-in OmniTRANS manual is a good source for
inspiration.
Pricing: There are several ways to include pricing as a solution, for example (1) skim
matrix adjustments can be performed to include parking and (2) the assignment can be
adjusted to take additional link costs into account (e.g., for a cordon charge).
For an assignment with pricing you should use the .linkCost property of OtTraffic, see
OmniTRANS Manual
The Job Engine
OmniTRANS Classes
Modelling Classes
OtTraffic OtTraffic.linkCost for more information. Some more tips:
o You should also include the pricing in skim generation if you want to influence
the trip distribution and mode choice as well.
o The manual refers to OtNetwork.selection, with this method can use the
predefined selections in your network. (These selections can be made with these
buttons:
.)
o You have to set the .routeFactors property to include the monetary cost in the
geneneralized cost. For example, .routeFactors=[0,60,6,0] will result in a
value of time of 10 euro per hour.

Report
You will produce a final report in couples; it should contain the analysis of the future scenario,
the identified issues, your candidate solutions for the issues and the analysis of the candidate
solutions with motivated recommendations. The report should be technical and concise. Show
that you understand the applied methods and defend your approach. An explanation of the used
methodology should be included. Provide this for the existent models, but especially for the
methods of your solution approaches. For the trip distribution for example you should report
which type of gravity model you used and which distribution functions are chosen; you can plot
the three distribution functions in one figure to illustrate them. The final part (i.e., conclusions
and recommendations) should consist of a recommendation to the city council of Delft.
The length of your report should be around 20 pages of A4 paper.

Deadline: Wednesday, 23rd of October, 16H00

Hand in two hard copies to mr. Smits in room 4.14