Data Transferability is seen as an alternative solution to costly travel surveys for urban areas where regular travel data is difficult to collect,especially in small- and mid-sized communities. A comprehensive travel data transferability model and a software tool are developed that can facilitate travel data transferability and simulation of synthetic household level disaggregate travel data. The model is built upon earlier transferability studies by significantly enhancing the approach and addressing many limitations of the previous studies. The software tool is tested on two case studies of Des Moines, IA and New York State. Nine household level travel attributes are simulated for the synthetic population of these regions. A comparison of the simulated travel data with the actual observed data, obtained from the NHTS add-on samples, proves the accuracy of the model.It is also shown that updating the distribution parameters of travel attributes can further improve the results. The model is then used for some basic policy evaluations and sensitivity analysis that includes scenarios such as changes to the demographics, aging population, and investments in the education system. The result of the sensitivity analysis also confirmed the wide capabilities of the model. The model can also be used to estimate household level emission and to evaluate related policy scenarios thatappear to become a subject of interest in recent years.
Abstract