Trip Distribution Models in TransCAD

Murtaza Haider
murtaza.haider@ryerson.ca
Tel: 416.979.5000, ext. 2480

Trip Distribution Procedures

Goal: understand how to use TransCAD to:
Generate inputs for trip distribution
Run the trip distribution
Understand, interpret and analyze procedure results

Trip Distribution
Trip distribution makes the link between the trips produced
by each zone and the trips attracted to each zone
Models predict trips for each zone and estimate the flow of
trips going from zone i to zone j for all i to j zone pairs
The estimated flow of trips going from i to j may depend on
the affinity i and j have for each other (e.g. distance,
average travel time)

Inputs for Trip Distribution

Required
Zone or point layer joined to balanced productions and
attractions for each trip purpose

Optional
Square matrix of costs of travel between the zones. The
IDs of the matrix must match the IDs of the zones

Example: Trip Distribution Results

Growth Factor Method

Scaling an existing matrix by applying
multiplicative factors based on input balanced
productions (rows) and attractions (columns). In the
end, the matrix cells of one row will sum to the row
productions and the matrix cells of one column will
sum to the column attractions
Method sometimes called Iterative Proportional
Fitting or Fratar

Example: Growth Factor Balancing

Getting Ready to Apply a Growth Factor Model

Choose File-Close All, then choose File-Open or
click on the toolbar.
Open the workspace UTOWN_GF.WRK in
TCW\TUTORIAL.
Choose Planning-Trip Distribution-Growth Factor
Method.
Choose UTOWN Base OD from the Matrix File
drop-down list.

Applying the Growth Factor Model

Select Production under Constraint Type.
Check the Use HBW checkbox.
Choose [HBW_P 2000] from the Production Field
drop-down list and click OK.
Enter MYGFACT as the output filename and click
OK. TransCAD applies the growth factor method
and generates an output matrix.

Growth Factor Application

Original data

Balanced Matrix

Growth Factor Advantages and Limitations

Advantages
Easy to use
No information about transportation network is
necessary, thus it is good for short term planning in cases
where network is unchanged

Limitations
Cannot model changes in network well
No behavioral explanation behind model

Gravity/Entropy Model
Operates on the premise that flow between zones
decreases as the cost (or impedance) between zones
increases
Gravity models estimate flows between all zones,
given an input matrix of impedances from zone to
zone, and balanced vectors of productions and
attractions

Friction Factors
Gravity models generally use measures of relative
attractiveness rather than impedances to estimate
flow
Relative attractiveness is often a function of
impedance
Popular transformations are gamma, exponential and
inverse power functions of impedance
Transformations can also be in table format

Example: Friction Factors

ImpedanceExponentiaInverse
Gamma
1 0.980199
1 0.980199
2 0.960789 0.933033 0.896448
3 0.941765 0.895958 0.843782
4 0.923116 0.870551 0.803619
5 0.904837
0.85134 0.770324
6
0.88692 0.835959 0.741429
7 0.869358 0.823171 0.715631
8 0.852144 0.812252 0.692156
9
0.83527 0.802742 0.670506
10 0.818731 0.794328 0.650341
11 0.802519 0.786793 0.631417
12 0.786628 0.779977 0.613552
13 0.771052 0.773759 0.596608
14 0.755784 0.768046 0.580477
15 0.740818 0.762765
0.56507
16 0.726149 0.757858 0.550318
17
0.71177 0.753278 0.536161
18 0.697676 0.748984 0.522549
19 0.683861 0.744946
0.50944
20
0.67032 0.741134 0.496797
21 0.657047 0.737527
0.48459
22 0.644036 0.734104
0.47279
23 0.631284 0.730848 0.461373
24 0.618783 0.727744 0.450316
25 0.606531
0.72478 0.439601
26 0.594521 0.721943
0.42921
27 0.582748 0.719223 0.419126
28 0.571209 0.716612 0.409335
29 0.559898 0.714102 0.399824
30 0.548812 0.711685 0.390581
31 0.537944 0.709355 0.381594
32 0.527292 0.707107 0.372852
33 0.516851 0.704934 0.364346
34 0.506617 0.702833 0.356067
35 0.496585 0.700799 0.348006
36 0.486752 0.698827 0.340156
37 0.477114 0.696915 0.332508
38 0.467666 0.695059 0.325056
39 0.458406 0.693256 0.317793
40 0.449329 0.691503 0.310712

Example: Friction Factor Lookup Table

Getting Ready to Create Friction Factors

Choose File-Close All, then choose File-Open or
click on the toolbar.
Open the workspace FRIC_FAC.WRK in
TCW\TUTORIAL.
Choose Planning-Trip Distribution-Synthetic
Friction Factors.
Choose Friction Factor Shell from the Matrix File to
Fill drop-down list.

Entering In Friction Factor Data

Check the Use this matrix checkbox.
Select Inverse Power under Impedance Function.
Enter 1.4 as the value for b.
Choose Impedance from the Matrix File drop-down
list.
Select HBNW FF in the Matrix list.

Creating Friction Factors

Enter 4.1 as the value for b.
Select HBO FF in the Matrix list
Enter 3.3 as the value for b and click OK.
TransCAD fills the NEWFF matrix file with friction
factors and displays a status report. This matrix is
now ready to be an input into the Gravity Model.

Applying the Gravity Model

Required Inputs:
Friction factor matrix, or definitions for friction factors
Geographic view with balanced productions and attractions for
each zone
Selection set of zones to be included in output matrix
IDs in the friction factor matrix must be the same as the IDs of
the zone geographic view

Output:
Zone-to-zone trip matrix

Getting Ready to Apply a Gravity Model

Choose File-Close All, then choose File-Open or
click on the toolbar.
Open the workspace UTOWN_FF.WRK in
TCW\TUTORIAL.
Choose Planning-Trip Distribution-Gravity
Application.
In the name field enter HBW Trips
Choose HBW_P from the Production drop-down
list.
Enter 20 for the Iterations.

Entering Input to the Gravity Model

Click on the Friction Factors tab
Choose FRICTFACT Matrix File from the FFactors drop-down list.
Check Use HBW Friction Factor.
Click on the General tab
Click the Add button
In the name field type HBNW Trips
Choose HBNW_P from the Production drop-down
list.

Applying the Gravity Model

Click on the Friction Factors tab
Selection HBNW Friction in the Matrices list.
Click on the General tab
Click the Add button
Call the third model NHB Trips

Applying the Gravity Model

Choose NHB_P from the Production drop-down list
and click OK.
Click on the Friction Factors tab
Select NHB Friction in the Matrices list.
Check Use NHB Friction Factor.
Click OK and enter MYGRAVEV as the output
filename. TransCAD evaluates the three models and
creates a matrix file with the one matrix for each
type of resulting trips (3 matrices).

Gravity Model Options

Friction Factors
Constraint Type
K-Factors
Extra matrix that is multiplied with the friction factors to
adjust and fine-tune the friction factors
K-Factor matrices are the same size and contain the same
IDs as the friction factor matrices

Gravity Calibration #1
The values in a friction factor table or the
parameters for an impedance function are often
determined from an iterative process
This process, called Gravity Calibration, matches
the parameters to the Trip Length Distribution
(TLD) of observed riders
TransCAD provides a Gravity Calibration
procedure

Gravity Calibration #2
Inputs
Base year P-A matrix, impedance matrix, zone layer and
selection set

Process
Initial parameters or friction factor table
Apply the gravity model and estimate TLDs
Compare TLDs with observed TLDs and change
parameters or table as necessary
Apply gravity model and compare again

Quick Start: Getting Ready to Calibrate

Choose File-Close All, then choose File-Open or
click on the toolbar.
Open the workspace GRAV_CAL.WRK in
TCW\TUTORIAL.
Choose Planning-Trip Distribution-Gravity
Calibration.
Choose the matrix file UTOWN Base OD from the
Base drop-down list.

Entering Inputs Into Gravity Calibration

Check the Use HBW checkbox, select Inverse
Power under Function, and choose Impedance from
the Matrix File drop-down list.
Click on HBNW in the scroll list.
Check the Use HBNW checkbox, select Inverse
Power under Function, and choose Impedance from
the File drop-down list.
Click on NHB in the scroll list.

Calibrating an Impedance Function

Check the Use NHB checkbox, select Inverse
Power under Function, choose Impedance from the
File drop-down list and click OK.
Enter MYGRAVCL as the output filename and
click OK. TransCAD performs the calibration on
the three trip types and estimates the parameters.

Gravity Calibration Options

Constraint Types
TLD Maximum
K-Factor Calibration
Results in an exact calibration solution, creates a K-factor
matrix

UTPS-like Calibration
Friction factors are weighted by productions, in
production constrained calibration, and attractions, in
attraction constrained calibration

Tri-Proportional Models
Doubly-constrained models require that the output
flow matrix match input productions and attractions
Tri-proportional models add the extra constraint that
groups of cells in the output flow matrix must sum
to specified values
Useful if you know that a sub-area has a known
amount of total trips

Requirements of Tri-Proportional Gravity Models

Friction factor matrix

Zone layer with balanced productions and
attractions
Selection set of zones
Zone-to-Zone matrix that contains integer value of
the class to which the zone belongs
Lookup table of the totals of each class

Example: Tri-Proportional Inputs

1. Friction Factor Matrix

2. Zone Layer with Productions and Attractions

3. Matrix of Classes

4. Lookup Table of Total Constrained Trips

Example: Tri-Proportional Gravity