Comparison of MATSim and EMME/2 on Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area Network, Canada

Abstract

The agent-based microsimulation modeling technique for transportation planning is rapidly developing, is being applied in practice, and is attracting considerable attention. Along with the conventional four-step modeling technique, MATSim and EMME/2 represent two genres of traffic assignment. They are built on different theoretical bases: dynamic stochastic stationary state assignment and static deterministic user equilibrium assignment, respectively. A study was done of the models' application with data from the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area network in Canada. Given the actual demand data, the models' assignment results are compared and validated on the basis of four indicators of the road network—travel time, travel distance, link volume, and link speed—to reflect both spatial and temporal variation of the traffic flow pattern. The comparison results show that numerical outputs produced by MATSim are not only compatible with those by EMME/2 but are also more realistic from a temporal point of view. The agent-based microsimulation model can be an appropriate alternative to the conventional model for transportation planning. Therefore, agent-based microsimulation models reflect a promising direction of next-generation transportation planning models.