WORK PROGRAM
IMPROVING PedestrIAn VARIABLEs in
the Travel Demand Model
March 4, 2021
The Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) votes to approve this work program.
Boston Region MPO Planning Studies and Technical Analyses
Boston Region MPO
Principal: Marty Milkovits
Manager: Jieping Li
MPO 3C Contract #112310
Schedule and budget details are shown in Exhibits 1 and 2, respectively.
The Boston Region MPO elected to fund this study with its federally allocated metropolitan planning funds during federal fiscal year (FFY) 2021. The work completed through this study will address the following goal areas established in the MPO’s Long-Range Transportation Plan: safety, clean air and clean communities, transportation equity, and economic vitality.
The pedestrian environment is important to understand for travel demand modeling, particularly how walking and biking trips function and how those trips connect to transit. The Central Transportation Planning Staff’s (CTPS) regional travel demand model uses a variable known as the pedestrian environmental variable (PEV) as a metric to represent the quality of the pedestrian environment. The purpose of this research is to update and evaluate enhancements to the current PEV to include more built environment factors, bicycle environment factors, and other land use attributes that influence nonmotorized travel behavior.
The current PEV is composed of three elements: pedestrian level of service (PED LOS), sidewalk infrastructure (PEVsw), and truck routes (TrRt2STA). The three elements are combined into one pedestrian environmental value metric with the shares of 70 percent PED LOS, 20 percent PEVsw, and 10 percent TrRt2STA by reference to the Florida model:
There are several other built environment attributes not represented by the current PEV measures. People are highly likely to bike when there are biking trails or facilities available.Transit stations within walking and biking range and with good facilities would promote walking and biking trips and a better pedestrian environment. Higher local roadway density, intersection density, and a mix of land uses may stimulate more pedestrian travel. Also, the existence of parks and recreational space encourages people to make more trips by walking and biking. Neighborhoods with low vehicle crash and crime rates are more comfortable places for nonmotorized trips.
The goal of this work is to develop new PEV metrics that allow CTPS’s regional travel demand model to accurately reflect walking and biking travel behavior in the modeling process. The upgraded PEV metrics would stimulate in the modeling process how people react to the built environment in terms of their vehicle ownership and mode choice selection. There are three specific objectives to incorporate the upgraded PEV metrics into the regional travel model:
These details are not well represented in the regional model roadway network because many local streets and the walking and biking conditions (e.g. sidewalk presence and bike lane extent) are not represented.
Important details (some of which are in the current PEV) might include the following:
CTPS will coordinate a group of internal stakeholders to understand complementary work, resource constraints, and potential approaches to evaluating and enhancing measures for the pedestrian and bicycling environment.
The current PEV is calculated based on model networks in which the local roads are not well represented. The latest road inventory files (RIF) will be used in the program for computing the PEV.
CTPS will make use of the data items from the latest RIF and prepare the data for computing the current PEV.
CTPS will calculate the three components that are identified in the current PEV metric using the latest RIF data.
The products of this task will be the results of the current PEV that are represented by the three components of pedestrian LOS, sidewalk infrastructure, and truck routes.
The updated current PEV will be evaluated by checking its correlation to the pedestrian report card score and the recent household survey and/or other available observations of walking and biking activity.
CTPS will compare the resulting PEV, based on the RIF, to the pedestrian report card score and summarize the findings.
CTPS will compare the resulting PEV, based on the RIF, to the pedestrian behavior observed from the recent household survey and/or other available observations of walking and biking activity.
CTPS will identify the areas where the PEV contradicts data in report cards and observed activity. These cases may indicate that the PEV should be enhanced with other variables.
CTPS will produce tables and figures to show the correlation between the current PEV and data from the pedestrian report card score and the observed walking and biking trips from the household survey. The areas with mismatched correlation will be highlighted in a map. These results will be for internal review.
CTPS will identify feasible enhancements to the PEV based on the limitations of the current PEV formulation identified in Task 3, data availability, and forecastibility.
CTPS will examine potential variables, including those listed in the objectives above, and test the correlation to the limitations of the current PEV to explain pedestrian and bicycling activities.
CTPS will explain the feasibility of forecasting each new variable for inclusion in the enhanced PEV metric. All variables must be produced reasonably for future scenarios in order to be useful for travel demand modeling applications.
As part of a separate effort, CTPS will incorporate the enhanced PEV in the mode choice model formulation. This work will support that effort through data preparation and the explanation of expected model response.
The final products will be internal documentation of the feasible enhancements to the PEV, explaining how the new variables could be modified to represent different scenarios, and an initial formulation for use in mode choice estimation.
The Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) operates its programs, services, and activities in compliance with federal nondiscrimination laws including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI), the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987, and related statutes and regulations. Title VI prohibits discrimination in federally assisted programs and requires that no person in the United States of America shall, on the grounds of race, color, or national origin (including limited English proficiency), be excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or be otherwise subjected to discrimination under any program or activity that receives federal assistance. Related federal nondiscrimination laws administered by the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration, or both, prohibit discrimination on the basis of age, sex, and disability. The Boston Region MPO considers these protected populations in its Title VI Programs, consistent with federal interpretation and administration. In addition, the Boston Region MPO provides meaningful access to its programs, services, and activities to individuals with limited English proficiency, in compliance with U.S. Department of Transportation policy and guidance on federal Executive Order 13166. The Boston Region MPO also complies with the Massachusetts Public Accommodation Law, M.G.L. c 272 sections 92a, 98, 98a, which prohibits making any distinction, discrimination, or restriction in admission to, or treatment in a place of public accommodation based on race, color, religious creed, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, disability, or ancestry. Likewise, the Boston Region MPO complies with the Governor's Executive Order 526, section 4, which requires that all programs, activities, and services provided, performed, licensed, chartered, funded, regulated, or contracted for by the state shall be conducted without unlawful discrimination based on race, color, age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, creed, ancestry, national origin, disability, veteran's status (including Vietnam-era veterans), or background. A complaint form and additional information can be obtained by contacting the MPO or at http://www.bostonmpo.org/mpo_non_discrimination. To request this information in a different language or in an accessible format, please contact Title VI Specialist |
| Task |
Month | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
1.
Internal coordination |
From Month 1, Week 1 to Month 4, Week 4.
|
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2.
Update and analyze existing metric |
From Month 1, Week 1 to Month 1, Week 4.
|
|||
3.
Evaluate biases and limitations |
From Month 2, Week 1 to Month 3, Week 2.
|
|||
4.
Enhancement and incorporation |
From Month 3, Week 3 to Month 4, Week 4.
|
|||
| Task |
Person-Weeks | Direct Salary |
Overhead (106%) |
Total Cost |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P-5 | P-4 | P-3 | P-2 | Total | ||||
1.
Internal coordination
|
0.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 1.1 | $1,820 | $1,930 | $3,750 |
2.
Update and analyze existing metric
|
0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.4 | 1.8 | $2,216 | $2,349 | $4,566 |
3.
Evaluate biases and limitations
|
0.9 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | $3,934 | $4,170 | $8,104 |
4.
Enhancement and incorporation
|
1.2 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 1.8 | 3.0 | $4,169 | $4,419 | $8,580 |
Total
|
3.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 5.4 | 8.9 | $12,140 | $12,868 | $25,000 |