Transportation Engineering Division

Civil Engineering Department, DLSU-Manila

LBYCV3E: Transportation Engineering Laboratory

Laboratory Exercise No. 5

Distributing and partitioning travel demands

Name: Angel Marty C. Pabroquez Section: EH1 Date Submitted: 28/05/2022

Outputs

Figure 1. OD Histogram in the study area during AM peak period

Figure 2. OD Histogram in the study area during PM peak period

Figure 3. Desire lines in the study area during AM peak period

 Figure 4. Desire lines in the study area during PM peak period

Comments and Findings

The task for this laboratory exercise is to distribute the travel demand by using the
calculated trips generated and attracted of each zone from the previous exercise. The trip
generation estimates made from the previous exercise were saved in csv files to be used in
importing the matrices data for this exercise. The trips generated are estimated based on two
different time of the day, during the AM peak period, which is 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM, and during
the PM peak period, which is 5:00 PM to 6:00.
First step is to create the different matrix types like the origin matrix, destination matrix,
full matrix, and scalar matrix. The origin matrix and destination matrix will be the matrices
where the csv files are going to be imported. The scalar matrix is the matrix that will be used for
balancing the origin and destination matrix, which the results will be put into the full matrices
that were made initially. After balancing the matrices, the trips generated for each zone is also
divided into two parts, 30% of the trips estimated were allotted for the private vehicles and 70%
were allotted for the public vehicles.
In this laboratory exercise, the task is zoning the traffic network and estimating the trips
generated of all zones that are within the study area, which in this case is around the area of the
intersection of the Alabang-Zapote Road and Marcos Alvarez Road. Beside the EMME software,
Google Maps is an additional tool that was utilized in this report for the identification of the
zones in the study area. Before creating the zones in the EMME software, the properties of each
zone were mapped out first. With the use of Google Maps, the land area of each zone is
estimated using the measure distance feature of Google Maps. Then, by looking at each zone
with the use of Google Maps, the number of floors for each zone is estimated. If there are two
buildings in a zone and the first one has 2 floors and the second one has 3 floors, then the
number of floors for that zone is 2.5 which is calculated by averaging the number of floors in
that zone. Afterwards, the floor area can then be calculated by multiplying the number of floors
to the land area of each zone. The land use of each zone is also noted as it’s also important in
calculating for the trip generation later on.
Figure 5 shows that there are 57 zones identified for the transport network of the study
area. It shows the different properties of all the 57 zones including the floor area and their land
use. It’s evident that majority of the zones in the study area are either commercial or residential,
which can mean that the study area can have many trips generated that can be supported by the
next exercise which will show the travel demand for the whole study area. The setting up of
zones in the EMME software is done by placing a centroid for each zone. If there are 57 zones,
there will be 57 centroids inputted, which can be seen in Figure 2. The centroids are placed in the
center of each zone or where most of the buildings are in that zone. After that, nodes are added to
the surrounding area of each zone which are usually placed by splitting the two-way links around
the zones as these nodes can be the starting point or ending point of a trip from centroid of each
zone. Figure 1 shows the overview of all the centroids, nodes, and links that are designated in the
study area.
After setting up all the centroids, nodes, and links of each area, the trips generated for
each zone is then calculated. The zone properties that are seen in Figure 5 are utilized in
calculating for the trips generated in each zone. There are four trips generated that are given
importance in this report, the trip produced during AM peak period, trip produced during PM
peak period, trips attracted during AM peak period, and trips attracted during PM peak period.
The trips generated are also balanced by using a square matrix. For this study area, the trips
produced and attracted in the AM peak period is 15,696 while the trips produced and attracted in
the PM peak period is 68,101. It’s evident that PM peak period generates a lot more than during
the AM peak period. Figure 3 shows the excel that contains mo1 values which represents the
trips produced during AM peak period in the study area for each zone. Figure 4, on the other
hand, shows the excel that contains md1 which exhibits the trips attracted during AM peak
period. These excel files will be important for the next exercise wherein it’ll be utilized to
identify the travel demand within the study area.
Conclusion
Creating the zones in the EMME software is a significant step in designing the traffic
network within the chosen study area as the information for each zone is going to be utilized in
calculating the trips generated in the study area. It’s also important to note that estimation of the
floor area and the land use for each zone must be carefully identified using Google Maps as the
inputs must be accurate to be able to provide a proper trip generation estimate for the study area.
Inaccurate trip generation can result to an inaccurate travel demand for the next step in designing
a traffic network.