TRIP ASSIGNMENT
Trip Assignment is the procedure by which the
planner/engineer predicts the paths the trips will take.
For example, if a trip goes from a suburb to downtown,
the model predicts the specific streets or transit routes to
be used.
Trip Assignment Procedures
1. Minimum-Path Techniques.
• Minimum-path techniques are based on the assumption that travelers want to use the
minimum impedance route between two points.
• The trip between zones are loaded onto the links making up the minimum path. This
technique is sometimes referred to as “all-or-nothing” because all trips between a
given origin and destination are loaded on the links comprising the minimum path and
nothing is loaded on the other links.
• After all possible interchanges are considered, the result is an estimate of the volume
on each link in the network.
• This method can cause some links to be assigned more travel volume than the link has
capacity at the original assumed speed.
Example: Assign the vehicle trips shown in the O-D trip table to
the network shown in Figure 12.20 using the all-or-nothing
assignment technique. Male a list of the links in the network
and indicate the volume assigned to each. Calculate the total
vehicle minutes of travel. Show the minimum path and assign
traffic for each of the five nodes.
1 8min 3min 3
5min 2 7min
5min
12min
5 6min 4
Solution:
Simple Equilibrium Assignment
Example: A highway connecting two small cities has the following
characteristics: The time (t, min) to travel on a certain stretch of a
highway is t1 = 12 + 0.01q1, where q1 is the flow of vehicles (veh/hr). The
demand function is q = 4800 – 100t.
(a) Estimate the equilibrium flow and travel time.
(b) The traffic department wants to close the existing highway and
replace it with a better highway with a supply function of t2 = 12 +
0.006q2, with the same demand function. How much additional traffic
will be induced by this new highway?
(c) Citizens currently using the existing highway want to continue using it,
and, in addition, demand the new highway as well. What will be the
equilibrium flow and travel time for this scenario, assuming the demand
for travel remains unchanged (Wardrop’s principle applies)?
(d) If the new road is built with a supply function of t3 = 10 + 0.005t3, and
the existing highway is used as well, what would be the new equilibrium
flow and time?
Solution:
(c)
(c)
(d)
SEATWORK
Example: The figure represents travel times on the link connecting
six zonal centroids. Determine the minimum path from each zone to
each other zone. Use the all-or-nothing assignment method to
determine the total trips for each link after all of the trips from the
following two-way trip table have been loaded onto the network.
3.3 5 12.6 1
7.2 5.0
4 4.8 6 8.4
2.2 5.0
4.3
3 7.8 2
Example:
A busy travel corridor connecting a suburb with the city center is
served by two routes having a typical travel time function, t = a +
b(q/c), where t is the time in minutes, q is the vehicular flow in
veh/hr, and c is the capacity of the route in veh/hr. The existing
characteristics of the two routes is as follows:
(a)If the existing peak-hour demand is 5000 veh/hr, what is the traffic
distribution on the two routes?
(b)If repair work on Route 1 reduces its capacity to 2000 veh/hr, what
is likely to be the traffic distribution on the two routes for the
duration of the repairs?
(c)It is anticipated that after the repairs are completed on Route 1, its
capacity will be 4200 veh/hr. How will this affect the distribution.
