EXTENSION OF THE ACTIVITY-BASED MODELING APPROACH TO INCORPORATE SUPPLY SIDE OF ACTIVITIES: EXAMPLES FOR MAJOR UNIVERSITIES AND SPECIAL EVENTS

摘要

Most of the recent advances in the Activity-Based Models (ABMs) have been on the demandside, i.e. description of the individual needs for certain type of activities and travel as a functionof person, household, and accessibility variables. The supply side of activities that describescharacteristics of the locations where a certain activity can be undertaken remains largelyunexplored. Two examples of specific activity generators where the supply side of activity isessential for modeling are major universities and special events. Travel behavior and activitypatterns of university students are different from that of the general population, and therefore,modeling them with the necessary level of detail enhances the ABM forecasting ability. Thesame is true about special events such as sporting events. Special events participants can form asubstantial part of the overall travel demand in the sub-area on the event day, and therefore, it isimportant to model them properly. While previous studies have acknowledged the importance ofmodeling university students and special events participants, the challenge remains to integratethem within an ABM framework.This paper describes new practical methods for addressing supply side of activities (underexample university students and special events) in the framework of an operational ABMdeveloped for Phoenix and Tucson, AZ. The paper provides details on the data and methodsused to develop university and special events sub-models. The methodology and technicalapproach used to incorporate these models in the ABM framework are presented.