ESTIMATION OF A TRIP-TABLE AND THE THETA-PARAMETER IN A STOCHASTIC NETWORK

An origin-destination (O-D) table that accurately portrays a study are a's travel patterns is a valuable element in the modeling and analysis used to support public transportation investment decisions. The proba bilistic approach to O-D table estimation involves a heuristic enumera tion of link choice probabilities. The parameter theta, which reflects the variation in path choices among tripmakers, has not been discusse d in the context of O-D table estimation, nor has an efficient way bee n demonstrated to determine the associated link use probabilities. Thi s paper presents a method for O-D table estimation in a stochastic net work. The ''OD . Theta'' method can not only estimate the O-D table, i t also estimates the theta parameter in the same process. The proposed method is illustrated using a sample test network. Finally, the metho d is applied to a real network, with the results compared to those fro m some well-known O-D estimation software. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd