How-to: Improve Non-Home-Based Trips

This How-to guide presents new incremental improvements to trip-based models to enhance the representation of nonhome-based trips. These techniques are designed to be inexpensive enhancements to existing trip-based models that can be implemented quickly in a straightforward manner as part of a model update without requiring the development of a whole new model. There are many problems related to non-home-based trips in traditional trip-based models arising from the fact that they are disconnected from the home-based trips with which they comprise complete tours. The fundamental approach presented in this guide addresses these problems with a simple change to the structure of trip-based models, running non-home-based model components after and conditional on the home-based model components instead of in parallel and independently of them. This relatively simple structural change appears to significantly improve the trip-based model’s ability to represent non-home-based trips and their response to land use changes and transportation infrastructure investments.\n