TRANSPORTATION

PLANNING- PART 5
Prof Adnan Qadir
The 4 step transport planning process

Demographic Step 1: Trip

Data Generation OUTPUT
• Estimated trips
Transportation Step 2: Trip
• Estimated modal
Network Distribution shares
• Estimated travel
Step 3: Mode
Choice
speeds
• Estimated travel
Step 4: Trip/ Traffic
delays
Assignment

2
 Trip Generation

• Decision to travel for a specific purpose (e.g. eat lunch)

-How much do people use the transport system?
-Why do people use the transport
system?
-Where can different types of activities
be satisfied?

3
 Trip Distribution
• Choice of destination (a particular
Trip distribution
restaurant? The nearest restaurant?)
-Given a location, where do people go to
satisfy demand for an activity type?
-Determine origin and destination of trips

Travel demand

4
Mode Choice
• How do people use the transport system? Mode choice

• What modes do they choose

(transit, walk, carpool, drive alone,…)?
• How do they react to varying
transport service quality?

Transport demand

5
 Trip / Traffic Assignment

• How do people use the transport system? Route choice

• Given a mode, which route do they choose (e.g. M-9..)?
• Which parts of the transport system do they use?

Assigned flows

6
Demographic Data
• Household size

• Income level

• Autos per household

7
 Network Data
• Highway network
• Transit network

8
Planning Studies
• Participating groups
• Elected officials
• Public agencies
• Citizen advisory committee
• Private and public transportation system operators
• Interested individual
• Conflicting interests
• Planning for future needs
• Anticipate future demands for travel
• Travel demand forecasting
• Relationship between transportation and land use
 Urban Transportation Planning Process

Regional population, land use,

and economic projections

Zonal allocation of regional

projections

Specification of highway Application of calibrated travel

alternatives demand forecasting models

Estimation of capital and Resulting target-year usage levels

operating costs and user benefits

Comparative evaluation of alternatives

Project selection and implementation

Travel Demand Forecasting
• Divide study area into study zones
• 4 steps
1. Trip Generation (Tp & Ta)
-- decision to travel for a specific purpose (eat Dinner)
2. Trip Distribution (Tpa)
-- choice of destination (Do Darya)
3. Mode Choice (Tpam)
-- choice of travel mode (by Car)
4. Network Assignment (Tpaml)
-- choice of route or path (Shahrah e Faisal, Korangi road, DHA)
Study Area
• Clearly define the area under consideration
• Where does one entity end?
• May be defined by county boundaries, jurisdiction, town centers
Travel Analysis Zones (TAZs)
• Homogenous urban activities (generate same types of trips)
• Residential
• Commercial
• Industrial
• May be as small as one city block or as large as 10 sq. miles
• Natural boundaries --- major roads, rivers, airport boundaries
• Sized so only 10-15% of trips are intrazonal
Study Area
• Links and nodes
• Simple representation of the geometry of the transportation systems
(usually major roads or transportation routes)
• Links: sections of roadway (or railway)
• Nodes: intersection of 2+ links
• Centroids: center of TAZs
• Centroid connectors: centroid to roadway network where trips load
onto the network
 Network
Network

1 2

4
3
Main Survey Types
• Household travel/activity Surveys
• Vehicle Intercept and External Station Surveys
• Transit On-board Surveys
• Commercial Vehicle Surveys
• Workplace and Establishment Surveys
• Special Generator, Visitor Surveys
• Parking Surveys
• Survey through SMS
• Survey through emails
Household Travel/Activity Surveys

• In the 1950s and 1960s, large sample surveys (3 to 5% of all

households) conducted in-home were typical. For example, an area
with 1 million population, or 400,000 households, would sample
16,000 hhlds (4%).
• Goal was to create origin/destination matrix for region. Zones (TAZ)
for modeling were much larger, because computer capacity was
limited.
Household travel/activity surveys TODAY
• Typically done using RDD, and typically in the range of 2,000 to
15,000 households, depending on the complexity of the stratification,
e.g. SCAG survey about .3% of households.
• Goal is no longer to get O/D matrix, but more often to update trip
rates, by purpose and mode, and trip length frequency distribution.
 Household travel/activity surveys

• Survey strata to fit regional model

• Household size * # of vehicles
• # of workers * # of vehicles
• Household size * Household Income
• Your model may include other variables.
Vehicle Intercept and External Station Surveys
• Often to capture origin/destination in large zones.
• Methods:
• Roadside interview
• License plate recording
• Handout/mailback
 Roadside Origin/Destination Surveys

Source: StreetSmarts/DataSmarts, GA 2003

 Roadside Origin/Destination Surveys

Source: StreetSmarts/DataSmarts, GA 2003

Transit On-Board Surveys
• Often combined with marketing analysis, especially “rider/non-rider”
surveys.
• Transit agency may know count of boardings, but lack information
about customer characteristics, especially frequency of transit trip-
making, vehicle availability (choice vs. captive markets).
• Household travel/activity survey may not capture enough transit trips
or users for use in mode choice models. (may also need “augment
samples”)
 On-board Transit Surveys
• Training with role-playing is CRITICAL, REDLINE BRT example
• drivers may dictate survey implementation.
Commercial Vehicle Surveys
• Sample Frame issues
• Heavy Duty Trucks
• All commercial vehicles. Many are light duty trucks.
• Transport as their main industry, e.g. FedEx, or as part of their service, e.g.
florists
 Heavy Duty Vehicle Surveys
• Weigh stations/ AT TOLL PLAZA
• “relieved” that pull-over is not for a violation, but for a survey
Commercial Vehicle Surveys
• Recruitment
• Fleets
• Independents
• State/Regional Trucking Association
• Incentives to EACH Driver
 Workplace and Establishment Surveys
• Applications: Downtown or other employment centers, large
buildings, travel demand management programs (carpooling),
ITS programs (information systems, e.g. internet-based, kiosk-
based, wireless PDA)
• Workplace-based: Email or internet surveys have very high
response rates, because it is clear that the employer has agreed to
participate, and that it is allowable for the employee to use
worktime to complete the survey
• Intercept surveys (PDA, handout/mail-back) often used.
Special Generator and Visitor Surveys
• Bahria town, Clifton beach, Education University
• Big shopping malls
• Airport surveys
• Often intercept surveys (similar to establishment surveys) or hotel
surveys (sample bias issues)
Parking Surveys
• Quantity
• Occupancy
• Posted prices vs. Costs to individuals
• Distance to “final” destination
• Duration of stay
EMAIL OR ELECTRONIC SURVEY
• Collecting response via email with google forms
• Hiring ISP services to get survey of area
• HIRING GSM services