VE Definitions UNDER CONSTRUCTION

*** NOTE: This page will be a cliff-notes version of Mar2019 VE Training notes which better integrates with other existing wiki resources, and can be used in training.***

Definitions used by VisionEval, organized by the following VERPSM Concepts

• Household Synthesis
• Vehicles & Fuels
• Congestion, freight, and emissions
• Budgets & non-auto modes
• Local policy actions
• Setup & Validation

1. Household Synthesis

VERSPM Packages: (VESimHouseholds, VELandUse) + VEHouseholdVehicles-AssignDrivers?

DEFINITIONS

• Geography: Something like slide 11 of VE Training Slides.

• Age groups (for persons and workers): 0-14, 15-19, 20-29, 30-54, 55-64, 65+

• Lifecycle (aggregated NHTS definition) – used in multi-modal travel module

  • 01: one adult, no children
  • 02: 2+ adults, no children
  • 03: one adult, children (corresponds to NHTS 03, 05, and 07)
  • 04: 2+ adults, children (corresponds to NHTS 04, 06, and 08)
  • 09: one adult, retired, no children
  • 10: 2+ adults, retired, no children

• Annual income???

• Types of househoSomething like slide 39 of VE Training Slides. lds:

  • Regular households - related and unrelated persons living in the same dwelling unit
  • Group quarters households - persons living in non-institutional group quarters such as college dorm (household size =1)

• Types of dwelling Units:

  • Single-family (SF)
  • Multifamily (MF)
  • Group Quarters (GQ)

• Home and Work Location Types:

  • Urban - located within an urbanized area <MORE HERE...vs. "urbanized">
  • Town - located in a smaller urban area that does not have enough population to qualify as an urbanized area
  • Rural - located in an area characterized by low density dispersed development

• Bzone-level Built Form “D” variables, based on EPA Smart Location Database definitions

  • DENSITY
    • Population density (EPA SLD D1B)
    • Employment density (D1C)
    • Activity density (employment + households) (D1D)
  • DIVERSITY
    • ratio of jobs to households (D2A_JPHH)
    • ratio of workers living in the zone to jobs located in the zone (D2A_WRKEMP).
    • entropy measure calculated from the number of jobs by sector and number of households (D2A_EPHHM)
  • Destination ACCESSIBILITY measure (D5), harmonic mean of jobs within 2 miles and population within 5 miles of the Bzone centroid
  • Pedestrian-oriented network **DESIGN **measure. Count of pedestrian-oriented intersections per land area is a common indicator of walkability. Pedestrian-oriented intersections are defined here as intersections having four or more legs of low-speed roads (<= 30 MPH) which permit pedestrian travel and other pedestrian paths [similar to EPA SLD D3bpo4 measure]
  • Bzone-level Urban MIXED USE measure. Based on the 2001 National Household Travel Survey measure of the block group level urban/rural indicator. This measure developed by Claritas uses the density of the tract and surrounding tracts to identify the urban/rural context of the tract and identified 4 categories: urban, suburban, second city, town and rural. The urban category roughly corresponds to the inner portions of urbanized areas that are generally characterized by more urban and mixed-use development.

• Policy Levers (Bzone-level Programs)

  • Worker parking cash-out program.xxx
  • Car services include taxis, car sharing services (e.g. Car-To-Go, Zipcar), and future automated taxi services. A high car service level is one that has vehicle access times (time to walk between car and origin or final destination) that are competitive with private car use. High level of car service is considered to increase household car availability similar to owning a car. Low level car service, approximates current taxi service does not have competitive access time and is not considered as increasing household car availability.
  • Travel Demand Management Programs. These programs provide information and incentives to facilitate reductions in VMT. VisionEval includes the following program that household participants can be enrolled in:
  • Workplace employee commute options (ECO) programs
  • Household-based individualized marketing program (IMP) CAUTION: The model assumes high-caliber TDM programs are in place that produce significant VMT savings. Inputs should reflect this.

2. Vehicles & Fuels

(VEHouseholdVehicles, VEPowerTrainsAndFuels, VETravelPerformance-Opcosts&Fee2coverRdcosts)+workers get auto own vs. car svc & own adjustment. AssignDrivers?, veh type, age, costs (own, op)

3. Congestion, freight, and emissions

(VETravelPerformance, VETravelPerformance-emissions/socCosts, Com+PtranEnergy&Emissions; VETransportSupply) ComSvc,HvyTrk, congestion adj to FC split, ITS/Rd performance, fuel economy adj, emissions

4. Household Travel & Budgets

(VEHouseholdTravel, VETravelPerformance-budget), HH VMT estim+trips, alt mode trips/diversion, TDM/IMP methods?

• Transit D: Weekday PM Peak Period visits by transit service within 0.25 miles."EPA analyzed GTFS data to calculate the frequency of service for each transit route between 4:00 and 7:00 PM on a weekday. Then, for each block group, EPA identified transit routes with service that stops within 0.4 km (0.25 miles). Finally EPA summed total aggregate service frequency by block group. Values for this metric are expressed as service frequency per hour of service."

• Transit Service Modes: Transit Service is characterized by 8 modes (as defined in the National Transit Database)

  • VP = Vanpool and similar
  • MB = Standard motor bus
  • RB = Bus rapid transit and commuter bus
  • MG = Monorail/automated guideway
  • SR = Streetcar/trolley bus/inclined plane
  • HR = Heavy Rail/Light Rail
  • CR = Commuter Rail/Hybrid Rail/Cable Car/Aerial Tramway

• more Transit D: within metropolitan areas the aggregate peak period transit service by Bzone and model run year. This measure is the aggregate frequency of transit service within 0.25 miles of the Bzone boundary per hour during evening peak period consistent with the EPA Smart Location Database.

• more Transit Vehicle Types: For estimating emissions and congestion, transit service is simplified into 3 vehicle types (Van, Bus, Rail). Transit modes DR and VP are assumed to be served by vans, the MB and RB modes by buses, and the MG, SR, HR, and CR modes by rail.van (modes DR, VP), bus (modes MB, RB), and rail (modes MG, SR, HR).

• more Transit Bus equivalent-miles: Bus equivalent factors for each of the 8 modes is calculated on the basis of the average productivity of each mode as measured by the ratio of passenger miles to revenue miles. The bus-equivalency factor of each mode is the ratio of the average productivity of the mode to the average productivity of the bus (MB) mode.

VMT NOTE: This module estimates household vehicle travel regardless of where is occurs (i.e. outside the model region as well as inside the model region). The calculations of DVMT on roadways within urbanized areas, for the purpose of calculating congestion and its effects, are carried out by the CalculateRoadDvmt module in the VETravelPerformance package. Household vehicle travel includes travel using car services.

5. Local policy actions

(various), MArea attributes (VETransportSupply), rds, transit,res pkg restrictions, TDM/IMP, CarSvc?, ITS & Fuel economy/ecodrive adj?

6. Setup & Validation

(VETravelPerformance/LoadDefaultRoadDmtValues)