A conceptual framework for modeling the supply side of mobility services within large-scale agent-based travel demand models

ABSTRACT

The state-of-the-art of mobility services among large-scale agent-based travel demand models has focused predominantly on the demand side, whereas complexities of the supply side have been given much less attention. Conventional definitions must be revisited to establish solid foundations for model implementations. First, several mobility services are characterized from abstract attributes, by all agents involved, and by operational tasks involved in service provision. Then, a high-level generic service provision process is developed to allow instantiation of various services. Extensions for conventional travel demand model systems are also developed, including: a mobility services component containing service provider agentsand their operational tasks integrated logically into service provision processes; a fleet component containing vehicle agents of each service and a driver activity model when human-driven; a MaaS component containing mobility provider agents that coordinate and integrate mobility services. Generic modeling issues are also discussed, including treatment of time, data structures, and computational efficiency.

KEYWORDS:

• conceptual framework
• supply
• mobility services
• agent-based models
• mobility as a service

Acknowledgments

This research was funded in part by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada) Discovery Grant [RGPIN-2014-04479].

To the National Government of Ecuador, for scholarship support from the “Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación”, allowing Francisco Calderón to pursue his graduate studies in Canada.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada [RGPIN-2014-04479].