Sydney Metro
During 2009, VLC was engaged by the Sydney Metro Authority to model the implementation of a new underground metro rail system for Sydney. The modelling was undertaken using VLC's Zenith Model of Sydney, which is implemented within OmniTRANS.
During the course of the project, VLC tested over 100 network, land use and policy scenarios, which were input to key aspects of the planning process, including detailed station design, environmental effects, economics and business case assessment.
These scenarios included the testing of:
- rail operating plans and integration of the metro,
- station and interchange designs and access options,
- PnR strategies to optimise patronage catchment of the system
- alternative land use scenarios, including transit oriented developments
- alternative policy futures, including fuel prices and parking costs
- fare integration options
- staging options for system development
The key model outputs used by the project were:
- overall measures of system performance
- overall measures of travel behaviour
- detailed stop and route information
- individual station catchment and interchange information (see Figure 1)
- economic costs and benefits calculated using consumer surplus
- crowding relief provided by the project
The Zenith model was used because of its detailed treatment of the transport network, its detailed spatial representation of land uses and household characteristics, and its rich behavioural models, particularly with respect to mode choice and public transport route choice.
Key aspects of the model included:
- a highly disaggregate zoning system in the study area (a total of 3,251 travel zones)
- a very detailed representation of the current Pt network, including precise stopping locations, and the modelling of all route variations. In total there were 17,000 stops and 5000 transit lines
- the use of a four step variable demand modelling process (generally 4 model cycles was enough to achieve model convergence)
- modelling of three distinct time periods (AM peak, PM peak and off-peak)
- modelling of 52 travel market segments (trip purposes, broken down by 4 car ownership levels)
- explicit modelling of multiple access modes to and from the Pt system (walk and car)
The model was validated against a wide range of observed travel data, including household travel surveys, traffic counts, road travel time surveys, rail station boardings and alightings (by access mode), rail OD surveys, light rail, ferry and bus boardings, and Pt travel time surveys.
The model is now available to undertake further modelling work in the Sydney region.
