Erath, Alexander
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Calibration of a regional agent-based travel demand model to simulate the spread of COVID-19
2021, Mesaric, Raphael, Erath, Alexander
The recent COVID-19 pandemic has shown the need of readily available tools to simulate the spreading of infectious diseases and assess the potential impact of policy measures aimed at the containment of the disease. The most common approach in epidemiology is to use compartmental models which model disease spreading as a series of stocks (compartments) and flows. The most basic version considers three compartments: susceptible, infectious and recovered. One of the core assumptions of these models, however, is a homogeneous population which is a serious limitation when it comes to clustered outbreaks. The research at hand uses an agent-based travel demand model (MATSim) coupled with a recently developed extension (EpiSim) to simulate the spread of the pandemic by tracking the interactions of agents und subsequently identifying infections by following their contact network. This overcomes the compartmental assumption of the previous models. In this presentation, we summarize the calibration results of the EpiSim model which is based on the regional activity- and agent-based travel demand model of the trinational region around Basel. The calibration procedure is based on data on case numbers and hospitalisations from three countries (Switzerland, Germany and France) at different spatial resolution. The underlying models account for the effect of border closures and spatially varying restrictions to limit the spread of COVID-19. In contrast to existing studies, this model pays particular attention to disease import through external traffic from outside the model area as well as cross-border travel demand.
Quantifying the effect of street design on driving speed on urban roads
2023-05-11, van Eggermond, Michael, Schaffner, Dorothea, Studer, Nora, Erath, Alexander
Reducing driving speed is a key factor in improving road safety and combatting noise emissions. Over the last decades, many European cities and countries have reduced the speed limits of residential and neighborhood roads from 50 km/h (30 mph) to 30 km/h (20 mph) or even 20 km/h (12 mph). At the same time, there is a discussion the reduction of the speed limit on main roads in urban areas in several countries. Main roads in urban areas are different from residential roads in several ways, including, but not limited to type of trips, type of vehicles and the presence of public transport, and are therefore limited in design options to reduce speeds. The study at hand reports on a virtual reality study conducted in Switzerland using a driving simulator. To assess whether road design influences driving speed, participants were asked to drive through a series of streets in VR with varying speed limits and street designs. Speed and lateral position were recorded; in a follow-up survey, participants stated their preferred speed along the same segments and were asked about risk aversion. Results indicate that only certain designs result in slightly lower driving speeds, while controlling for self-reported risk aversion and driving style. Given the characteristics of main roads, measures reducing the (perceived) lane width are promising, but require further investigation.
Using backcasting to support corporate mobility management
2021, van Eggermond, Michael, Erath, Alexander
The paper at hand describes a research project conducted in collaboration with a major employer based in Basel, Switzerland. The company employs innovative mobility policies, such as a strict parking regime, with lots only available to employees who have to travel more than 45 minutes by public transport, offers bike sharing and public transport bonuses, but would like to further reduce parking lots and desires to reduce greenhouse emissions resulting from commuting while remaining an attractive employer. The aim of the project was the to better understand the impact of exogenous developments (e.g. new train lines, road pricing, infrastructure improvements, safer cycling routes) and endogenous mobility policies (e.g. bike sharing, parking fees, charging stations). These developments and policies were identified in a series of workshops with stakeholders. At the same, key performance indicators were formulated. Instead of forecasting the impact of these policy measures, the project set out to describe a desirable future (e.g., less emissions, attractive employer), reason backwards from the desired situation and formulate a package of policy measures that could in this future, whilst taking into account exogenous developments. This process is also known as backcasting and has been applied in several studies (e.g. Banister et al., 2000; Barandier 2015) To quantify the impact of the policy measures several data sets were available and newly collected. Travel times and distances for motorized private transport, walking and cycling were calculated using the Google travel time API for all employees. As Google’s API only offers limited coverage for public transport in Germany and France, use was made of publicly available public transport schedules and the open-source routing engine R5. A survey was conducted among employees, resulting in over 6000 responses. Based on the survey data, choice models were estimated and applied. Exogenous and endogenous developments for over 10 policy measures were quantified using simplified assumptions, whilst taking into account the spatial differences, and used to forecast the impact of each individual measure and combinations of measures. Measures include the impact of e-bike provision, the impact of improved cycling infrastructure, new train stations and the differentiated parking fees. The project resulted in a set of mobility policies and recommendations to monitor these mobility policies, and the methodology has been applied at other stakeholders to support sustainable mobility policies.