An Alternative Approach to Network Demand Estimation: Implementation and Application in Multi-Agent Transport Simulation (MATSim)

This paper introduces a novel network demand estimation framework consistent with the input data structure requirements of Multi-Agent Transport Simulation (MATSim). The sources of data are the American Community Survey, US Census Bureau, National Household Travel Surveys, travel surveys from South East Florida Regional Planning Authority, OpenStreetMap and Florida Statewide Transportation Engineering Warehouse for Archived Regional Database. The developed framework employs mathematical and statistical methods to derive probability density functions and multinomial logit models for activity and location choices. The implementation of demand estimation process resulted into the creation of 1,200,889 agents (only those using cars). The scenario for the estimated agents was configured and simulated in MATSim. The results from the simulated scenario resulted in the expected morning, afternoon and evening traffic patterns as well as the desirable level of agreement between simulated and observed traffic volumes.