On the use of common random numbers in activity-based travel demand modeling for scenario comparison

Activity-based travel demand models provide a high level of detail when modeling complex travel behavior. Since stochastic simulation is used, however, this high level may induce large random fluctuations in the output, necessitating many model reruns to produce reliable output. This may become proh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Transportation planning and technology 2023-04, Vol.46 (3), p.359-379
Main Authors: Zhou, H., Dorsman, J. L., Mandjes, M., Snelder, M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
activity-based modeling
common random numbers
Computing time
Random numbers
Scenario comparison
Travel demand
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Summary:Activity-based travel demand models provide a high level of detail when modeling complex travel behavior. Since stochastic simulation is used, however, this high level may induce large random fluctuations in the output, necessitating many model reruns to produce reliable output. This may become prohibitive in terms of computation time when comparing travel behavior between multiple scenarios, in which case each scenario requires its own simulation. To alleviate this issue, we study the use of common random numbers, which is a technique that reuses the same random numbers for choices made by travelers between scenarios. This ensures that any observed difference in output across scenarios cannot be attributed to mutual differences in drawn random numbers, eliminating an important source of random fluctuation. We demonstrate by a numerical study that common random numbers can greatly reduce the number of runs needed, and thus also the required computation time, to obtain reliable output.
ISSN:0308-1060
1029-0354
DOI:10.1080/03081060.2023.2182784