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The purpose of this project is to develop the next generation of the BKR travel demand model (BKRCast) in cooperation with the cities of Bellevue, Kirkland, and Redmond. The BKRCast model is a localized implementation of the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) SoundCast activity-based (AB) model, which uses DaySim for demand modeling and EMME for supply modeling. Here is a quick introduction to the SoundCast design.

User's Guide

The BKRCast model is a localized implementation of the regional activity based model SoundCast. It simulates each individual person’s activity of travel in 24-hours, based on travel survey, demographical information, available travel mode and land use type. Comparing to the old BKR trip model, the new BKRCast model has many more TAZs, job categories, and travel mode. It has features for conducting more comprehensive multimodal analyses, including walk and bike mode.

Unlike the BKR trip model which forecasts travel by relatively isolated trip segments, BKRCast model has the capability to forecast travel by tours which consist of multiple trip with consistent travel mode.

The BKRCast is more sensitive to land use density and mixed use than the old trip model. It not only looks at the parking charges at the destination, it also looks at parking availability and pricing at nearby facilities within walking distance. So BKRCast is able to better support many of the land use and transportation policies that the City is dealing with, from the modeling’s perspective. Because BKRCast is simulating each individual’s travel activities, it is more robust in forecasting people’s willingness to pay a toll and can more realistically evaluate transportation toll policy, either individual facility tolling or regional wide, VMT based congestion pricing.

Both BKRCast and SoundCast use EMME for network procedures, DaySim for resident demand, and supplemental demand models for externals and trucks, among others. The BKRCast model differs from the SoundCast model in three ways:

• BKRCast uses a BKR-specific zone system and networks; this zone system has more zones in the BKR region and fewer zones in the PSRC region.
• BKRCast has four time periods (AM (6AM ~ 9 AM), MD (9AM ~ 330PM), PM(330PM ~ 630PM) , NT(630PM ~ 6AM)) for networks to reduce run times and data needs.
• BKRCast has more detailed auto and transit networks in BKR area.
• BRKCast uses ESD employment data as parcel file input for the outside of BKR area. It uses converted jobs from King County Assessor's data with job conversion factors by job category and density. However, home based employment can not be captured by King County Assessor's data so ESD employment data is used to cover this category in BKR area.
• BKRCast is locally calibrated/validated.

Soundcast model documentation is valuable resource to help you understand the overall BKRCast model design and estimate.

Sections

• Model System

  • Overview
  • Model Design
  • Activity-Based Model
  • Other Demand Models

• Model Setup

  • System Requirements
  • Setup
  • Model Run Settings
  • Run Model

• Model Network

  • TAZ System
  • Subarea
  • Networks
  • Extra Attributes
  • Network Management

• Land Use

  • Parcel File
  • Synthetic Population

• Model Components

  • Daysim Customization
  • Initialization and Cleanup
  • Accessibility
  • Tolling
  • Network Assignment
  • Non-motorized Model
  • Auxiliary Models
  • View Outputs
  • Upgrade to a New Base Year

• Model Directory

  • Master Directory
  • Scripts
  • Inputs
  • Outputs
  • File Formats

• Calibration

  • Calibration
  • Validation
  • DaySim Calibration Summaries

• Create a Scenario

Utilities

• SoundCast to BKRCast
• Convert Markdown to MSWord
• Troubleshooting

Model Platforms

• Base Year Model
• 2035 Baseline Model

Project Management

• Scope of Work
• Meeting Notes