Route Choice or Trip Assignment

Trip assignment is the forth step of the FOUR STEP process

It is used to determining how much traffic will use each link of the
transportation system

Norman W. Garrick
Route Choice or Trip Assignment in 4 Step Process

Example

Consider two zones

• Hartford CBD
• West Hartford Center

Four Steps
1. Trip Generation - Determines production from WH
Center
2. Trip Distribution - Gives QIJ - Trips from WH Center
attracted to Hartford CBD
3. Modal Split - Fraction of QIJ using different modes of
travel
4. Trip Assignment - What roads? What bus routes?

Norman W. Garrick
Characterizing Road Network for Trip Assignment

In trip assignment the road network is represented by links and

nodes
Links - major roads including arterials, expressways and freeways
(local roads are not usually included - this can be a problem in
places like in WH Center were the local road network is very
dense and carry a significant portion of the traffic)
Nodes - typically intersections or interchanges but could be other
points that are important to the network

Each node is numbered

Links are specified by the nodes at the end
Each link is associated with an impedance (the impedance might
not be the same in each direction

Norman W. Garrick
 Example Road Network for Trip Assignment

1 2
5 5

6 3
7 8

11
9 4
10

1, 2, 3, 4, 5
12 are zone
13 14 centroids

5 Norman W. Garrick
 Network B

(3) (2)

(2)
(4)
(7)
1 5
(8)
(4) (6) 4

(5) (4)

Norman W. Garrick
 Link Array Network B

(3) (2)

(2) (7)
(4)
1 (6)
5
(4) 4
(8)
(4)
(5)
J
I 1 2 3 4 5 3
1
2
3
4
5
Norman W. Garrick
 Link Array Network B
I=1

(3) (2)

(2) (7)
(4)
1 (6)
5
(4) 4
(8)
(4)
(5)
J
I 1 2 3 4 5 3
1 3 5
2
3
4
5
Norman W. Garrick
 Link Array Network B
I=2

(3) (2)

(2) (7)
(4)
1 (6)
5
(4) 4
(8)
(4)
(5)
J
I 1 2 3 4 5 3
1 3 5
2 4 2
3
4
5
Norman W. Garrick
 Link Table Network B

i j wij (3) (2)

1 2 3 (2) (7)
(4)
1 (6)
5
(4) 4
(8)
(4)
(5)

Norman W. Garrick
 Link Table Network B

i j wij (3) (2)

1 2 3 (2) (7)
(4)
1 3 5 1 (6)
5
(4) 4
2 1 4 (8)
(4)
(5)
2 4 2
3

Norman W. Garrick
 Link Table Network B

i j wij (3) (2)

1 2 3 (2) (7)
(4)
1 3 5 1 (6)
5
(4) 4
2 1 4 (8)
(4)
(5)
2 4 2
3 1 4 3
3 4 6
4 2 2
4 3 4
4 5 7
5 4 8
Norman W. Garrick
 Route Choice Behavior

Trip assignment is based on one of two assumptions about traveler's

behavior
1. User Equilibrium
2. System Equilibrium

User Equilibrium
Based on the assumption that users try to minimize their individual time of
travel by going along the shortest path from origin to destination

System Equilibrium
Based on the assumption that users try to minimize the TOTAL system
cost - that is the cost for all users of the system, not just his or her
own cost

Route assignment based on user equilibrium require that we determine the

‘minimum path’ between any two zones or the ‘minimum tree’ which is
a diagram showing the minimum path from one zone to all other
zones

Norman W. Garrick
 Network B
Minimum Tree from Node 1

(3) (2)

(2)
(4)
(7)
1 5
(8)
(4) (6) 4

(5) (4)

Norman W. Garrick
 Network B
Minimum Tree from Node 4

(3) (2)

(2)
(4)
(7)
1 5
(8)
(4) (6) 4

(5) (4)

There is an algorithm for finding the minimum tree

We will not cover the algorithm in this class
Norman W. Garrick
 Network B
Tree Table from Node 4

2
(3)
(2)

(4) (2) (7)

1 5
(6)
4 (8)
Node ( j ) Total Node
(4)
Impedance Preceding j
to Node j
3
1
2
3
4
5 Norman W. Garrick
 Network B
Tree Table from Node 4

2
(3)
(2)

(4) (2) (7)

1 5
(6)
4 (8)
Node ( j ) Total Node
(4)
Impedance Preceding j
to Node j
3
1 6 2
2
3
4
5 Norman W. Garrick
 Network B
Tree Table from Node 4

2
(3)
(2)

(4) (2) (7)

1 5
(6)
4 (8)
Node ( j ) Total Node
(4)
Impedance Preceding j
to Node j
3
1 6 2
2 2 4
3 4 4
4 0 -
5 7 4 Norman W. Garrick
 Allocating Traffic to Individual Routes

Once the MINIMUM PATH is determined between different zones

then traffic can be allocated to the various links between the
zones

One common approach is the FREE FLOW/ALL-OR-NOTHING TRAFFIC

ASSIGNMENT Technique

As the name implies, the technique assumes that all traffic between any
two zones will use the minimum path between those two zones. The
other big assumption is that the minimum path is calculated based on
FREE FLOW conditions. In other ways, it is assumed that the
minimum path calculations will not be affected by the amount of traffic
using that path.

This is obviously this an unreasonable assumption. Other traffic

assignment techniques have been developed which tries to correct for
the two big problems with Free Flow/All-or-Nothing Traffic Assignment

Norman W. Garrick
Allocating Traffic to Individual Routes (continued)

FREE Flow/Multipath Traffic Technique

Does not assume that all traffic will use the minimum path - instead traffic
is assigned to the various paths between the two zones based on
their relative impedance. So for example, the path with the minimum
impedance will get the most traffic followed by paths with increasing
impedance
This method is still limited by the fact that the impedance is based on free
flow assumptions and the impedance value is not changed to reflex
the level of traffic loading.

Capacity-Restrained Traffic Assignment Techniques

Accounts for the fact that as the traffic on a link increases, the impedance
also increases. Therefore, it is based on an interactive traffic
assignment process that re-calculate the impedance to account for
the level of traffic assigned to each link. As you can imagine this is a
complex and computer intensive process.

Norman W. Garrick
 Using Free Flow/All-or-Nothing Assignment - Example

Trip Exchange
1 2 J 1 2 3
2 2 2 3 Q1j 200 400 800
10
4 5 Q2j 150 200 100
6
Q3j 300 600 350
2
4
4

3
3

3
6 2

Norman W. Garrick
 Minimum Tree – Zone 1

1 2
2 2 2 3
10
4 5
6

3
3

3
6 2

Norman W. Garrick
 Free Flow/All-or-Nothing Assignment – Zone 1

Trip Exchange
1 1200 2 J 1 2 3
400 800 400 Q1j 200 400 800
4 5 Q2j 150 200 100
400 Q3j 300 600 350

800

3
6 800
Norman W. Garrick
 Minimum Tree – Zone 2

1 2
2 2 2 3

4 5

2
4
4

3
3

3
6 2

Norman W. Garrick
 Minimum Tree – Zone 3

1 2
2 2 2 3

4 5

2
4
4

3
3

3
6 2

Norman W. Garrick