EVALUATION OF THE TRANSFERABILITY OF TRIP GENERATION MODELS FROM ONE URBAN AREA TO ANOTHER

A study was conducted to test the transferability of vehicle trip generation models from one urban area to another as opposed to using an origin-destination model for small urban areas with populations less than 250,000. The validity of each set of calibrated trip generation models was measured by the ability if the trip generation-trip distribution-traffic assignment process to duplicate traffic volumes on the street system of the urban area of Fayetteville, North Carolina. The developmental procedures for the synthesized vehicle trip productions used cross-classification analysis, a technique that specifies trip production as a function of two or more independent variables. These independent variables were related to the socioeconomic characteristics of the dwelling unit. The dependent variable was the vehicle trips produced by the dwelling unit. Regression analysis was used to develop the trip attractions. Based on the tests conducted in the study, the synthesized trip generation model was found to give essentially the same results as the origin-destination trip generation model. Therefore, it was concluded that the synthesized models adequately duplicated travel volumes in urban areas of similar size and thus that trip generation models are transferable from one urban area to another when the urban areas are of similar size.