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The Travel Model Improvement Program Newsletter
Issue 12, March 2001
The Travel Model Improvement Program is sponsored by:
U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
Federal Transit Administration
Table of Contents
TRB Sessions
Status of TRANSIMS
Status of Portland Case Study
TLUMIP Models
New TRANSIMS Version Available to Universities
Forthcoming Seminars
Changes at TMIP
New TMIP Review Panel Members
TRB Sessions
The TRANSIMS sessions at the TRB Annual Meeting were very successful. Both the tutorial workshop and status report were very well attended and met with enthusiasm from the attendees. Dr. Dick Beckman led the workshop, walking the audience step-by-step through the function of each TRANSIMS module. The workshop was the first opportunity for potential end users to be shown in detail how the individual models will produce travel and traffic forecasts. In the Monday session several LANL staff members described the status of each module, emphasizing progress since last year's TRB meeting. Of particular interest was the first public description and demonstration of the Selector/Iteration Database, the mechanism by which feedback is accomplished. The complete set of models will be fully operational for use in the Portland case study. A third session on Tuesday evening provided potential TRANSIMS users preparing for using the models an opportunity to discuss the Portland METRO experience. In addition, the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) consultants described their efforts to make the models more user friendly.
Status of TRANSIMS
All of the modules have been completed. The full model system will be run with the Portland data. Los Alamos staff is working with the Portland staff to oversee data input and output. As the models are debugged with Portland data, a few anomalies in the data and model code are being corrected. Using freight and external trip tables provided by Portland, the Los Alamos team is adding these activities to the TRANSIMS household and individual activity demand generation.
This effort is refining data needs, including information on land use, demographics for the population synthesizer, transit services and activity generation.
Los Alamos team is preparing to release the first version of the models to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The software consultant contracted to develop and deploy a user friendly capability of the models, TRANSIMS-DOT, that is amenable to general application by transportation planners.
PwC has been meeting with eventual users of the models to understand their needs and how best to meet them. They have also been gathering information on applications for which the models will be used.
PwC has been establishing user and design requirements for the TRANSIMS-DOT network editor and optional interfaces for the feed-back controller, including the Selector/Iteration Database.
Status of Portland Case Study
The project is moving into the model calibration phase, with the activity generator being exercised, and the calibration data sets being finalized. The model is being calibrated to both the household survey data set and to external data (highway counts, speed studies, transit counts and screenline counts by mode).
The "Allstreets" networks are complete, with highway, pedestrian, bus and light rail elements (layers).
Metro has completed a detailed review and de-bugging of the Allstreets highway network (125,000 bi-directional links). The transit elements are under review.
Computer runs are taking place at Los Alamos National Laboratory facilities, with output being routed to Metro and its TRANSIMS visualizer program for review and comment. Los Alamos staff and Metro staff are meeting bi-weekly on the function of the models.
The various data also will be used for validating each of the modules, and they will be checked in various comparisons for reasonableness. These validations and verifications will be documented. The calculations are expected to be complete in late March. Further analyses and documentation will follow.
TLUMIP Models
The Oregon Travel and Land Use Model Integration Project (TLUMIP) is nearing the end of its second phase. The work program has included development of integrated economic, land use, and transportation models at the statewide level. A zone system of roughly 3200 zones covers the state, and those are integrated with existing urban area models. The second generation models are a hybrid of aggregate equilibrium models of economic production and dynamic disequilibrium of land use, households and travel. Activity-based models of personal and commercial travel are being developed as part of this work. Peer reviews of the second generation models will be held in March and July, with further model development and application work planned over the next two years. The next symposium covering progress to date is tentatively scheduled for June, 2002, in Portland.
New TRANSIMS Version Available to Universities
TRANSIMS Version 1.1 is now available to qualified educational organizations under a noncommercial license agreement for university education and research purposes. There is a license fee of $500.
All foreign licenses are subject to the U.S. Export Control Policy and LANL's export control procedures and must be approved prior to exporting the software. Foreign universities will be required to pay slight additional costs to cover export control fees.
Further information about university licenses for TRANSIMS Version 1.1 may be obtained from Nancy Cameron (ncameron@lanl.gov).
Forthcoming Seminars
Several TMIP technical seminars are forthcoming, some of which are listed below with the locations. Watch your TMIP Newsletter and the TMIP e-mail list for details:
- Forecasting Land Use and Activities — Berkeley, CA
- Travel Model Calibration and Validation — Boston, MA
- Vehicle Availability Forecasting — Austin, TX
Several more sessions of these seminars are planned for later this year, and additional seminars with new topics will be added. These seminars have been well attended and are at no cost to participants.
Changes at TMIP
You may have noticed some recent changes in the TMIP communications media. Unfortunately, some of those changes were unpleasant. We lost our lease for housing the TMIP web site on the BTS data system, and were briefly homeless. That has been temporarily resolved, and we are continuing to work with BTS on this issue. At nearly the same time, the provider we used for our e-mail list was purchased by Yahoo!, which affected access to the e-mail list. We encourage your continued use and patience and use of the Yahoo! Groups list. We continue to research other service options. Please e-mail us lday@tamu.edu or joseph.kammerman@igate.fhwa.dot.gov if you have any problems or suggestions.
New TMIP Review Panel Members
William R. Eager
Bill Eager is co-founder and President of TDA Inc. He has more than 30 years experience in the transportation field. He is an educator in transportation engineering; a member of an industrial team seeking new approaches to economics and hardware for urban transportation; and a consultant on projects throughout the world.
Dr. Eager has worked on transportation plans for major resort/recreational developments and parking improvement plans. He is a Trustee of the Urban Land Institute and Vice Chairman for Research, and he has chaired and served on numerous panels for the Urban Land Institute.
Education: B.S. in Civil Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder; M.S. in Civil Engineering (Transportation), University of California, Berkeley; Ph.D. in Engineering (Transportation), University of California, Berkeley.
Ronald F. Kirby
Ronald F. Kirby is director of transportation planning for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG), the MPO for the Washington Metropolitan Area.
Mr. Kirby joined COG in 1987 and is responsible for the administrative and technical supervision of ongoing projects in his department. Some of these projects include long-range planning for highway and public transportation systems; assessment of the air quality implications of transportation plans and programs; a regional commuter assistance program; and airport systems planning.
Previously, Mr. Kirby directed the transportation program at the Urban Institute.
Mr. Kirby has authored numerous papers on urban transportation planning and financing. He received his undergraduate and doctoral degrees from the University of Adelaide, South Australia.
To subscribe to this free newsletter send an e-mail to TMIP@tamu.edu or contact Gary Thomas at (ph.) (979) 458-3263, (fax) (979) 845-6001, (mail) Gilchrist, Room 112, Texas Transportation Institute, Texas A&M University System, 3135 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-3135
