Bicycle module in OmniTRANS
Developed by: MINT NV
Client: City of
Country: Belgium
Agent: MINT
Project year: 2010
Cycling plays an important role in transport policy for cities and communities. In order to accommodate the desire to evaluate transport policies related to cycling, MINT has developed a ‘bicycle module’ in OmniTRANS. This module is currently being applied in the transport models of the city of
The route choice of cyclists is not only affected by trip length and travel time, comfort and safety are also important. The bicycle assignment consists of two steps: in a first step, a ‘Bicycle Quality Index’ (BQI) is calculated for each link. This index is based on link attributes such as the presence, width and type of bicycle track, whether or not the track is adjacent to the road.
Other factors include the environment (urban vs. rural), the speed limit, the speed and intensity of cars and trucks on the adjacent road and the presence of parked cars next to the bicycle track. In a second step, the population of cyclists is distributed among a number of groups and assigned. Each group has its own weight for travel time/distance on the one hand and comfort/safety (the BQI) on the other.
One group of cyclists is not at all sensitive to the BQI: they will always take the shortest route, no matter how much more comfort is offered on a (slightly) longer route. Other groups are willing to make a short detour in order to increase the comfort and/or safety of their trip, the maximum length of which depends on how high they esteem the BQI.
