Network Evaluation of Complex Transportation Systems.

K. V. Smith, C. T. Phillips, Rosalind Lewis

Expert InsightsPublished 1970

The proposed methodology studies transportation system effectiveness by evaluating a complex system of inter- and intracity travel modes--including access, egress, and transfer services--within a geographic region. Such a system can be viewed as a network of nodes (cities) and links (travel modes). The methodology is illustrated in terms of a single user group--middle-income people on business trips--without considering access and egress. Each link is described by type, schedule, and capacity, as well as by its positive and negative attributes perceived by users, such as travel time and cost, safety, convenience, and comfort. User attitudes toward different links are summarized by a matrix. The entries in this matrix are network impedances--i.e., summaries of the inconveniences ("disbenefits") to travelers using given links. If the matrix rows represent origin terminals and the columns represent destination terminals, then application of a shortest-path algorithm to the network results in the optimal routing for each origin-destination pair. 15 pp. Ref.

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Smith, K. V., C. T. Phillips, and Rosalind Lewis, Network Evaluation of Complex Transportation Systems. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1970. https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P4470.html.
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