URBAN TRANSPORTATION PLANNING

UNIT-I
CONCEPT OF TRAVEL DEMAND
2 MARKS QUESTION & ANSWERS
1. What are the travel characteristics (or) travel indicators?
The following are the travel characteristics:
 Origin
 Destination
 Trip (Or) Person Trip
 Modes
 Purpose
 Route
2. Write Few Assumptions In Travel Demand Modeling.
Before forecasts are made of travel, it is necessary to have few assumptions on the
following aspects.
 Future population (Population forecasts)
 Future Economic Forecasts
 Future Land Use Pattern
3. Define Travel Demand.
Transportation Demand or Travel demand refers to the amount and type of travel people
would choose under specific conditions, taking account factors such as (a) the quality of
transport options available and (ii) their prices.
4. Define land use.
Land transport is the means of transport or movement of people, animals or goods on
land from one place to another.
5. What is the relation between land use and travel?
Land use and transportation are interdependent, similar to a chicken and egg relation.
Effective utilization of land stimulates urban activities, and roads and other transportation
facilities are maintained so as to allow for new transportation related activity. Creating
new roads or expanding existing ones increases the attractiveness of the land they pass
through, promoting new urban facilities.

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ESSAY QUESTION & ANSWERS

1. What are the parameters that influence the travel demand from the point of view of
an urban traveler? Explain.
Transportation Demand or Travel demand refers to the amount and type of travel people
would choose under specific conditions, taking account factors such as (a) the quality of
transport options available and (ii) their prices. Understanding demand is important for
Transport Planning.
Factors Affecting Travel Demand:
These are also called as the independent variables. (The dependant variable is travel
demand i.e, no. of trips by different modes and their spatial distribution through different
routes).
(i) Demographics
(ii) Economics
(iii) Prices
(iv) Transport Options
(v) Service Quality
(vi) Land use patterns
Transportation demand is a multi-faceted. The following table various factors that can
affect travel demand. Changes to these factors, due to trends or by design, can affect
travel activity and therefore costs and problems such as congestion, accidents and
pollution emissions.
Demographic Economi Transport Service
Prices Land Use
s cs Options Quality
Number of Number Fuel prices and Public transit Speed & Residential
people of jobs taxes Intermediate delay Industrial
(residents, Vehicle taxes & public Reliability
Incomes Educational
employees fees transport Comfort
and visitors). Business Road tolls Safety and Open
activity Ridesharing
Parking fees security
Incomes Freight Automobile
Vehicle insurance Waiting
Age/lifecycle transport Taxi services
Public transport conditions
Lifestyles Tourist Cycling
fares Parking
Preferences activity Walking conditions

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2. How land use and transportation is related to one another? Discuss with suitable
examples talking some hypothetical case studies.
Understanding the relationship between land use and transportation is extremely important
for designing a prosperous and safe transportation society.
Land use and transportation are interdependent, similar to a chicken-and egg relation.
Effective utilization of land stimulates urban activities, and roads and other transportation
facilities are maintained so as to allow for new transportation-related activity. Creating new
roads or expanding existing ones increases the attractiveness of the land they pass through,
promoting new urban facilities. When cities are growing slowly, it is easy for land utilization
and traffic planning to match pace. In times of rapid economic growth, however, demand for
land use accelerates and development of transportation facilities may be unable to keep up.
Many cities experiencing a high degree of economic growth will therefore experience heavy
congestion and other transportation problems.

How can the best balance be maintained between land use and transportation? Japan
experienced a period of rapid motorization, a time during which it was impossible to keep up
with demands for road expansion and other transportation facility development, and therefore
implemented policies to regulate transportation demand itself. Such policies are called
transportation demand management (TDM). Examples of TDM include changing peak
demand times and shifting demand to other modes of transportation, thereby enabling
existing roads to be utilized to the fullest extent possible.

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3. Summarize about the how travel demand is measured and expressed in different
ways for different types of analysis.
(Or)
Explain about the different types of travel prediction techniques.
The trip making behaviour consists of four descriptors:
1. Trip frequency
2. Destination
3. Mode
4. Route or other choice

Determines how many trips each activity (center) (residential area,

Trip generation
commercial area, etc) will produce or attract

Determines the origin or destination of trips that are generated at a

Trip distribution
given activity

Determines which mode of transportation will be used to make the

Modal split
trip

Determines which route on the transportation network will be used

Traffic assignment
when making the trip

The above four descriptors of travel demand forecasting can be modelled in different ways as
given below.
(a) Sequential Process

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(b) Simultaneous Process

(c) Sequential Recursive Process
Sequential Process: In the sequential models, the trip making behaviour is built-up in a
sequential order and each travel decision made independently of others i.e, first, a decision to
make a trip is modelled, then a destination, then a mode, and finally a path.
The forecasting process has come under criticism because of its sequential nature.
Is this the way people make travel decisions? Some analysts have thought not, and have
attempted with varying degrees of success to place the entire process within a single model
(Simultaneous Model).
Simultaneous Model: Demand forecasting model based on the assumption that travelers choose
a level of trip frequency, time of day, destination, mode, and path as a single "Joint" choice i.e,
all attributes of travel choice are considered together.
Sequential Recursive Process: In the sequential recursive models, each stage of modelling is
repeated till it agrees with the known data. The objective of this refinement is to produce the
highest quality of forecasts based on the known data and the latest planning assumptions.

4. Elaborate on travel demand as a function of independent variables.

Demand for travel is an economic activity. As such it can be understood by reference to well
known economic principles dealing with consumer behaviour in relation to common goods.

Purchase of Q1, Q2, …., Qn quantities of n items of goods priced at P1, P2, …., Pn involves a
certain level of utility, which can be represented by:
U (Q1, Q2, …., Qn)

Every consumer would like to maximize the utility derived by purchasing a combination of items
of goods, each of a certain quantity, subject to his budgetary constraint. He would thus likely to
maximize the utility U (Q1, Q2, …., Qn) subject to
𝑛

∑ 𝑃𝑖 𝑄𝑖 ≤ 𝐵
𝑖=1
Where
Pi is the price of the ith item,

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 URBAN TRANSPORTATION PLANNING

Qi is the quantity of the ith item, and

B is the total budget.

The quantity of the ith item consumed, Qi, can be considered as a DEMAND FUNCTION,
relating the quantity to the prices of goods and the income level.
Qi = Di (P1, P2, …., Pn)
The above demand function can be simplified to deal with travel demand as follows:
Qn = Dn (P, S, A)
Where
Qn = Demand for travel for purpose n
Dn = Demand function
P = A vector including pricing attributes of travel demand (price, travel time, comfort,
safety etc.)
S = Socio-economic vector
A = Activity system variable.
The trip making function, as is commonly used by the Traffic Engineer is of the form similar to
the above function and is:
𝑇𝑖𝑛𝑗 𝑘 𝑟 = 𝐷𝑖𝑛𝑗 𝑘 𝑟 (𝐿, 𝑆, 𝐴)
Where
𝑇𝑖𝑛𝑗 𝑘 𝑟 = The total number of trips for the purpose of n between origin i to destination j by mode
k and route r
𝐷𝑖𝑛𝑗 𝑘 𝑟 ( . ) = demand function
L = Level of Service
S = Socio economic sector
A = Activity system variable

5. Summarize about the various problems associated with urban transportation.

While urban transport has had a tremendous liberating impact, it has also posed a very serious
problem to the urban impact in which it operates. Buchanan gave a warning in 1963 when he
wrote Traffic in Towns, that “the motor vehicle has been responsible for much that adversely
effects our physical surrounding.

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There is its direct competition for space with environmental requirements, and it is greatest
where space is limited…the record is one of steady encroachment, often in small installments,
but cumulative in effect. There are the visual consequences of this intrusion; the crowding out of
every available square yard of space with vehicles, either moving or stationary, so that buildings
seem to rise from a plinth of cars; the destruction of architectural scenes; visual effects from the
cutter of signs, signals, bollards, railings, etc., associated with the use of motor vehicles”.
Michael Thomson’s classic book Great Cities and Their Traffic (1977) provides a useful
breakdown of the ways in which most people are dissatisfied with the transport systems of their
cities. He has given seven problems of urban transport, interrelated with each other as shown in
Figure

 Traffic Movement and Congestion

 Public Transport Crowding
 Off-Peak Inadequacy of Public Transport
 Difficulties for Pedestrians
 Parking Difficulties
 Environmental Impact
 Traffic Noise
 Atmospheric Pollution

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6. Explain demand estimation in detail. (Or) write the assumptions in demand estimation.
Before forecasts are made of travel, it is necessary to have few assumptions on the following
aspects…
 Future population (Population forecasts): Future population forecasts are based on
assumptions about birth rates, death rates and the rate of migration into or out of the
study area. Current information about the ages of the population is used to forecast ahead
by the calculation of the number of births, deaths and migrants added or leaving the
region in each year of the future. These rates are assumed to remain constant or to
change in a specified way.
 Future Economic Forecasts: Forecasts need to be made of future employment levels as
these are the basis for forecasts of travel to work, school, shopping, etc. Economic
forecasts are done in conjunction with the population forecasts since the two are highly
interrelated. Employment grows because the population is growing, but migration rates
into and out of the community depend upon the growth of the economy. Assumptions
have to be made of the ability of a region to generate new basic employment and to
hold onto its existing basic employment. Basic employment is that which exports good
and service outside of the region. It is different from the non-basic or local sector of the
economy which circulates the money brought into a region by the basic sector. Total
employment is found by applying an economic multiplier to basic employment.
 Future Land Use Pattern: Population and economic growth has to be distributed to
different locations in order to do travel forecasts. It is necessary to know where people
will live, work, shop and go to school in the future to estimate of future trip making.
Future allocation of land use may be based on past trends, assumptions about changes
in trends or through a negotiation process among local officials.

Jollireddy Omprakash , M-Tech, Assistant Professor, Department of CIVIL ENGINEERING,9494509018. Page 8