Urban Public Transit Systems Modeling Capabilities
Kevin D. Tyer, Kethireddipalli S. Rao, Amadou Oumarou and Raymond A. Krammes, Texas A&M University, February, 1995, 47 pp.
Current national transportation policy places increasing emphasis on multi-modal solutions involving public transit and high-occupancy vehicles (HOV) facilities and services. Current traffic simulation/assignment models, however, have only limited capabilities for evaluating the fuel consumption, traffic, and environmental impacts of alternative transit and HOV facilities and services in a multi-modal transportation system. Therefore, a formal assessment of current transit and HOV modeling capabilities was conducted, with emphasis on CORFLO, which is uniquely suited among U.S. public-domain models for detailed evaluations of traffic conditions in urban corridors. Other models assessed include CONTRAM, INTEGRATION, JAM, LATM, MICRO-ASSIGNMENT, NETSIM, SATURN, TRAFFICQ, and TRANSYT. SATURN and CORFLO were the most highly rated with respect to their modeling approach, transit and HOV supply/demand modeling, and output measures of effectiveness. A detailed analysis of CORFLO’s logic and code and a case study evaluation of transit and HOV alternatives using a CORFLO model of the North Central Expressway Corridor in Dallas, Texas, revealed several areas in which CORFLO should be enhanced to improve its urban public transit systems modeling capabilities. Recommended enhancements include increasing the number of bus stops that can be accommodated, refining the modeling of bus movements along links, and adding or improving fuel consumption and emissions algorithms. These enhancements are necessary in order to estimate with reasonable accuracy the fuel consumption, traffic, and environmental impacts of common transit and HOV alternatives.
Keywords: Traffic Simulation, Traffic Assignment, High Occupancy Vehicles, Fuel Consumption
Report not available electronically.
To order free hardcopy – email [email protected]
or call (979)845-5815
Reference Report #60040-1