2020/01/01 by Wolfgang Scherr, Patrick Manser, Patrick Bützberger · 1 voice
Engineering · Social Sciences · #Transportation Planning and Optimization #Transportation and Mobility Innovations #Urban Transport and Accessibility
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.trpro.2020.09.004
openalex publication_date 2020/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
This paper presents a microscopic travel demand model, which simulates the entire population of Switzerland as individual agents. For each agent, all mobility decisions are computed microscopically: from activity generation, tour construction, choice of destinations and travel modes, through route choice and network simulation. The model is called SIMBA MOBi. It has been developed over a period of two years by SBB (Swiss Federal Railways). It simulates all modes of transport over 24 hours of the average weekday. It covers the entire country of Switzerland, including urban, rural and intercity travel, and is applied to support business decisions within the SBB corporation. SIMBA MOBi is one of the first microscopic models that was developed inside a transport operating company in Europe and is applied to support real world decisions regarding service and infrastructure. The paper gives an overview of the model’s architecture, methodology, input data and software. Then, calibration approach and validation results are presented, and an insight into first applications of the model is given. The paper concludes with a discussion of cost and benefits of microscopic modeling in real-world transportation planning.