Integration of the National Long Distance Passenger Model with the Tennessee Statewide Model and Calibration to Big Data
Corresponding Author: Vince Bernardin, RSG
Presented By: Vince Bernardin, RSG
Abstract
The Tennessee Department of Transportation chose to replace their quick-response-based long distance component in their statewide model by integrating FHWA’s new national long distance passenger travel demand model into their new statewide model and calibrating it to long distance trips observed in cell-phone based origin-destination data from AirSage. The new national long distance model is a national scale, tour-based simulation model developed from FHWA research on long distance travel behavior and patterns. The tool allows the evaluation of many different policy scenarios including fare or service changes for various modes including commercial air travel, intercity bus, and Amtrak as well as highway travel. The availability of this new tool represents a new opportunity for state DOTs developing statewide models. Commercial cell-phone based big data on long distance trips also represent a new opportunity and a new data source on long distance travel patterns which have previously been the subject of very limited data collection in the form of surveys. This project is the first to seize on both of these new opportunities by integrating the new national long distance model with the new Tennessee statewide model and by processing big data for use as a calibration target for long distance travel in a statewide model. This presentation illustrates the feasibility of integrating the new national model with statewide models, the ability of the national model to be calibrated to new data sources, the value of big data on long distance travel as well as important lessons on its expansion.