Comparison of headway-based public transport models : Numerical experiments for Stockholm

In this paper we evaluate the output from four headway-based public transport model variants for modeling the public transports in Stockholm, Sweden. The results from the four models are analyzed and compared to trip observations. The comparisons are based on model instances where the parameters in the generalized travel time function are calibrated. The best possible parameter values have been found using the calibration procedures SPSA and Compass search. Two different objective functions have been evaluated for the calibration. Numerical experiments have been performed using a public transport model implemented in Visum by Storstockholms lokaltrafik. For the calibration and analysis, trip observations from the Swedish national travel survey and data generated from a public transport trip planner are used. From the numerical results, it is concluded that it is of less importance to find the best possible parameter values in the generalized cost function than selecting the best model variant. For the Stockholm public transport model, the numerical results indicate that the models in the class of Random departure time models result in a better fit to the observed trips than the models in the class of Optimal strategies.