A MATSim model methodology to generate cycling-focused transport scenarios in England

Abstract

Climate change is considered the most pressing environmental challenge of our time, being transport one of the major contributors. Consequently, transport models are required to test different urban mobility policies that can shift travel to more sustainable transport modes (e.g., active modes). This paper focuses on the development of a validated agent-based model (MATSim) applying a novel open-source methodology to generate the main input datasets, easily transferrable to any region in England. Required input datasets (synthetic population and network) are described with a high level of detail, identifying the datasets and tools used to develop them, with special interest in the simulation of cycling routes. A new attribute (quietness) ranking roads for cycling depending on their built-environment characteristics was incorporated into the MATSim bicycle extension. The results obtained in this paper show the baseline transport model of the Tyne and Wear region (England), where discrepancies up to 3.5% in transport mode shares and minimal differences in vehicle counts in urban areas were obtained, and a realistic representation of the routes chosen by the agents using bicycles is obtained. This provides the basis for the development of similar MATSim implementation in other UK regions.