CHAPTER – 7

TRIP DISTRIBUTION

7.1 Basis of Trip Distribution

After having obtained an estimate of the trips generated from and attracted to the various
zones, it is necessary to determine the direction of travel. The number and types of trips
originating and terminating in different zones of the study area have been estimated in the first
phase of the modeling process (Trip generation). It is known now for what purpose these trips
are to be made. The purpose of the trip distribution analysis phase is to develop a procedure that
synthesizes the trip linkages between traffic zones for both transit captive and choice trip makers.
Figure 7.1 shows that knowledge of the properties of the alternative horizon - year transport
networks is required for the trip distribution analysis phase.
If Oi is the number of trips having their origin in zone i and Dj is the number of trips
having terminated in zone j, trip distribution stage determines the number of trips Tij which
would originate from zone i and terminate in zone j. A trip matrix is drawn for the study area
with the sum of rows indicating the total number of trips (Oi) originated in zone i and the sum of
columns the total number of destinations (Dj) or attractions to zone j.
If an area is divided into ‘n’ number of zones, possible zone to zone movements will be n
x n and the trip matrix will be as shown in figure 7.1. The purpose of the procedure is to
complete each cell entry Tij so that the sum of rows and columns are as nearly equal as possible
to the total future trips in the study area.
 Figure 7.1
1: Propertiees required of
o synthesizzed trip disttribution maatrices
 

7.2 P-A Matrix

M to O-D
O Matrix
7.2.1 Bacckground
Once
O estimate of the trip generated, i.e.
i producedd from and aattracted to thhe various zzones,
are madee the next steep is to deteermine the direction
d of ttravel of theese trips. Thee number off trips
produced
d in any zon
nes of the stu
udy area hass to be appo rtioned to thhe zones to which thesee trips
are attraccted. Say, theere are pi trip
ps produced
d from zone i by trip makkers categoryy ‘q’ and aj is the
number of
o trip ends attracted to zone j, then
n the numberr of trips beetween zone i and zone j (i.e.
tqi-j) wou
uld be estimated using trip
t distributtion techniqu
que. This cann be represeented in a m
matrix
form as given
g below::

1 2 3 n ∑pi
1 t11 t12 t13 ….. t1n p1
2 t21 t22 t23 …..
… t2n p2

n tn1
n tn2 tn3 …..
… tnn pn
∑aj a1 a2 a3 …… an
 The horizontal axis of the trip matrix shown represents the zones of attractions (i.e.
destinations) and the vertical axis represents the zones of production (i.e. origins) numbered from
1 to n. The total of any individual row, i, represents the total number of trips produced in zone i
(pi) and the total of any individual column j represents the number of trips attracted to zone j (aj).
An Origin-Destination (O-D) trip table is a two dimensional matrix of elements whose
cells values represents the travel demand between each given origin (row) and destination
(column) zone. An O-D trip table can be obtained by conventional surveys such as license plate
surveys, home interviews, roadside surveys etc. Such surveys are time consuming, expensive and
labor intensive. In addition, many of these approaches involve sampling errors. These
conventional approaches also suffer from other drawbacks, such as an inability to reflect changes
in influencing factors. For instance, if the land use characteristics change, so will the trip table.
Hence the previously measured trip table may quickly become outdated, and one needs to repeat
these surveys in order to obtain new trip tables, which is cost prohibitive.

Nevertheless, transportation organizations may require the trip tables for planning
purposes. Due to constraints in budget, time and labor, researchers began exploring alternative
means of producing these trip tables. Since the early 1970’s several techniques have been
explored to obtain the trip table without the need for expensive surveys, as will be described
further in the literature review.

7.2.2 Needs for O-D Matrix

Traffic congestion is one of the major problems faced by both developed and developing
countries. Several potential solutions have been investigated to solve it, and a great deal of effort
is put into activities such as, transportation planning to transportation management in order to
attempt to alleviate the problem. Some solutions include: demand restriction policies (such as
increasing taxes or increasing other transportation expenses, ramp metering), increasing
transportation supply, improved transportation management strategies (such as better signal
coordination, real time traffic diversion) and recently development of ITS (Intelligent
Transportation Systems). Most transportation problems are complicated. However, solutions to
them are costly when put into practice, prohibiting trial and error approaches to finding the best
solution, as a careful investigation is needed to understand the effect of relevant demand and
supply before any strategy is implemented.
Demand information in transportation planning is described by trip tables. There are two
types of matrices; Production-Attraction (P-A) matrix and Origin-Destination (O-D) matrix. The
main difference between the two is that the cell values in a P-A trip table are non directional,
whereas the cell values of an O-D trip table have directional meaning, indicating the number of
trips going from an origin to a destination. Furthermore, a P-A trip table satisfies flow
conservation, i.e. the summation of productions must be equal to summation of attractions,
whereas an O-D trip tables does not exhibit such a property.
O-D trip tables are generally used for traffic assignment purposes. During the past few
years many transportation engineers have begun to focus on Intelligent Transportation Systems
(ITS), which include Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS), Advanced Traveler
Information Systems (ATIS) and Automated Vehicle Control Systems (AVCS). It is believed
that accurate and fast O-D trip table generation techniques are needed, in the planning, operation
and maintenance of such ITS.