CE 326:

Transportation
Planning
TRIP DISTRIBUTION

Goal of Trip Distribution

To distribute productions among attractions

To obtain inter-zonal flows

Trip Conservation

Production Conservation
=

where Tij is the trip interchange from zone i to zone j

Pi is the total number of productions from zone i

Attraction Conservation
=

Aj is the total number of attractions to zone j

Trip Distribution Models

Growth Factor Model (e.g. Fratar model)

Gravity Model

Growth Factor Model

Theory: Preserves historical relationships

Often used to estimate external trips (those either

produced and/or attracted outside of study region)

Fratar Model Steps

1) Given: Observed average interzonal trips from zone i to zone j (0 )

2) Compute zonal growth factors based on expected changes in land

use ( = )

3)Estimate expected future trips per zone

= 0

4) Apply growth factors directly to observed trips to estimate expected

trips for each zone pair
0

0
=
0

5) Estimate expected trips for individual zone pairs

+

=
2

6) Calculate new Growth Factor; stop when sufficiently close to 1

+1

Limitations of Growth Factor

Models

Advantages

Simple

No LOS information needed

Disadvantages

May break down mathematically when a new zone is

added

Convergence to the target-year generation totals is not

always possible

The model is not sensitive to impedance (No project/policy

effect)

No congestion impact

Newtons Law of Gravitation

The force of attraction between two bodies is

directly proportional to the product of the masses of
the two bodies and inversely proportional to the
square of the distance between them

Trip Distribution Formula

The interchange volume between a trip-producing zone i and

a trip-attracting zone j is directly proportional to the magnitude
of the trip productions of zone i and the trip attractions of zone j
and is inversely proportional to a function of the impedance Wij
between the zones

Dependent variable: i to j volume

Independent variables: Productions, attractions, impedance

Model Parameters: k, c; estimated through calibration

Friction Factor

Friction factor (or travel time factor)

Fij is a measure of the impedance from i to j

We need to know the relative impedance to zone j compared

to all zones

Socioeconomic Adjustment Factors

Fij is often estimated as a function of only one variable (usually

travel time)

Kij incorporates the effects not captured by the limited number

of independent variables in the model

Relative attractiveness
of zone j compared to
all other zones

Limitations of the Gravity

Model

Does not consider individual user or household characteristics in trip

decision-making process (although separate models can be
developed for stratified groups)

K-factors difficult to interpret, may not remain constant between

observed and predicted years