A Comparison Between Equilibrium Model and a Day-to-Day Model for Transit Rider’s Route Choice with Calibrated Information Parameter

Route choice behaviour of transit riders is the key factor that affects the performance of a transit network. One of the major uses of technology in transit assignment is giving prior information to the riders about the trip which will influence the choice of the rider. A day-to-day model is proposed here which will give the variation of route choice with the provision of static information and is compared with the deterministic user equilibrium (DUE) model results. A factor for the importance of information is introduced to get the effect of information on transit rider’s route choice. Sensitivity of the model is analysed by varying demand and information. A laboratory experiment along with a field survey is conducted to get the factor for the importance of information. Two key factors that affect route choice are considered: (i) experience acquired in the route on the previous day and (ii) information provided for the users about the route section. Multiple linear regression analysis is carried out to get the importance of information. The coefficients for information varies between 0.13 and 0.49.