On the Application of Probabilistic Route Choice Models to Urban Rail Transit Networks Containing Small-Scale OD Trip Data

Modeling passenger route choices is crucial for analyzing and predicting public transportation demand. One of the most popular methods is to use probabilistic route choice (PRC) models (also known as discrete choice models in general), which have broad applications in transportation, economics, poli...

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Main Authors: Wei Zhu, Changyue Xu, Amr M. Wahaballa, Wenbo Fan, Seham Hemdan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2025-01-01
Series:Journal of Advanced Transportation
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/atr/3607727
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author Wei Zhu
Changyue Xu
Amr M. Wahaballa
Wenbo Fan
Seham Hemdan
author_facet Wei Zhu
Changyue Xu
Amr M. Wahaballa
Wenbo Fan
Seham Hemdan
author_sort Wei Zhu
collection DOAJ
description Modeling passenger route choices is crucial for analyzing and predicting public transportation demand. One of the most popular methods is to use probabilistic route choice (PRC) models (also known as discrete choice models in general), which have broad applications in transportation, economics, politics, and other fields. However, its performance varies depending on the characteristics of the origin–destination (OD) trip data and should be examined carefully. This paper proposes a framework for validating the PRC model on its application to urban rail transit (URT) networks containing small-scale OD trip data. The concept of small-scale data is defined at first for each OD pair considering the desired confidence level and the variance of route choices. Then, a travel time range (TTR)-based method is put forward to deduce passengers’ actual route choices as a benchmark for verifying PRC models. The difference and regularity analysis between the actual route choices and the model predictions are also performed with a twofold comparison. A case study on the Nanchang metro in China shows that the actual daily passenger volumes on routes of small-scale OD pairs diverge remarkably from the estimations of the PRC model. The PRC model’s performance is further discussed when the small-scale OD trip data accumulate to a larger scale over multiple days (e.g., several months). This study reveals the inherent limitation of PRC models in estimating the travel behaviors of passengers in a small-scale population. Several practical implications are discussed to improve the route choice model and passenger flow analysis.
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spelling doaj-art-38dbb998de444de784a9d74bef90f19b2025-08-26T00:00:05ZengWileyJournal of Advanced Transportation2042-31952025-01-01202510.1155/atr/3607727On the Application of Probabilistic Route Choice Models to Urban Rail Transit Networks Containing Small-Scale OD Trip DataWei Zhu0Changyue Xu1Amr M. Wahaballa2Wenbo Fan3Seham Hemdan4College of TransportationCollege of TransportationCivil Engineering DepartmentDepartment of Electrical and Electronic EngineeringCivil Engineering DepartmentModeling passenger route choices is crucial for analyzing and predicting public transportation demand. One of the most popular methods is to use probabilistic route choice (PRC) models (also known as discrete choice models in general), which have broad applications in transportation, economics, politics, and other fields. However, its performance varies depending on the characteristics of the origin–destination (OD) trip data and should be examined carefully. This paper proposes a framework for validating the PRC model on its application to urban rail transit (URT) networks containing small-scale OD trip data. The concept of small-scale data is defined at first for each OD pair considering the desired confidence level and the variance of route choices. Then, a travel time range (TTR)-based method is put forward to deduce passengers’ actual route choices as a benchmark for verifying PRC models. The difference and regularity analysis between the actual route choices and the model predictions are also performed with a twofold comparison. A case study on the Nanchang metro in China shows that the actual daily passenger volumes on routes of small-scale OD pairs diverge remarkably from the estimations of the PRC model. The PRC model’s performance is further discussed when the small-scale OD trip data accumulate to a larger scale over multiple days (e.g., several months). This study reveals the inherent limitation of PRC models in estimating the travel behaviors of passengers in a small-scale population. Several practical implications are discussed to improve the route choice model and passenger flow analysis.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/atr/3607727
spellingShingle Wei Zhu
Changyue Xu
Amr M. Wahaballa
Wenbo Fan
Seham Hemdan
On the Application of Probabilistic Route Choice Models to Urban Rail Transit Networks Containing Small-Scale OD Trip Data
Journal of Advanced Transportation
title On the Application of Probabilistic Route Choice Models to Urban Rail Transit Networks Containing Small-Scale OD Trip Data
title_full On the Application of Probabilistic Route Choice Models to Urban Rail Transit Networks Containing Small-Scale OD Trip Data
title_fullStr On the Application of Probabilistic Route Choice Models to Urban Rail Transit Networks Containing Small-Scale OD Trip Data
title_full_unstemmed On the Application of Probabilistic Route Choice Models to Urban Rail Transit Networks Containing Small-Scale OD Trip Data
title_short On the Application of Probabilistic Route Choice Models to Urban Rail Transit Networks Containing Small-Scale OD Trip Data
title_sort on the application of probabilistic route choice models to urban rail transit networks containing small scale od trip data
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/atr/3607727
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