NTC@Maryland Sponsored Seminar Series “Agent-Based Microsimulation of Urban Activity & Travel”

On April 30th, 2:00 to 3:30 PM, Prof. Eric J. Miller from University of Toronto visited the National Transportation Center @ Maryland and gave a research presentation in the CEE Main Conference Room, 1179 Glenn Martin Hall, University of Maryland, College Park.

This presentation begins with a brief critique of the traditional four-step travel demand modeling paradigm as a basis for motivating the need for a disaggregate, behavioural approach to modeling urban travel demand. It then defines agent-based microsimulation as a natural and desirable approach to the implementation of disaggregate travel demand models. An overview of the TASHA (Travel/Activity Scheduler for Household Agents) is then presented as an example of an operational agent-based microsimulation travel demand model system.

Dr. Eric Miller is a Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and Director of the University of Toronto Transportation Research Institute. He is Chair of the U.S. Transportation Research Board (TRB) Committee on Travel Behavior and Values, Member Emeritus of the TRB Transportation Demand Forecasting Committee and past-Chair of the International Association for Travel Behaviour Research. He served on the US National Academy of Sciences Committee for Determination of the State of the Practice in Metropolitan Area Travel Forecasting. He has chaired or been a member of numerous travel demand modelling peer review panels throughout North America. He is the recipient of the 2009 Wilbur S. Smith Distinguished Educator Award from the Institute of Transportation Engineers and the inaugural winner of the University of British Columbia Margolese National Design for Living Award (2012). He is the developer of GTAModel, a “best practice” regional travel demand modeling system used by municipalities in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to forecast travel demand; TASHA, a state-of-the-art activity-based microsimulation travel demand model; and ILUTE, an integrated land use – transportation model system for the GTA.

Published May 12, 2014