Integration of Locational Decisions with the Household Activity Pattern Problem and Its Applications in Transportation Sustainability

This dissertation focuses on the integration of the Household Activity Pattern Problem (HAPP) with various locational decisions considering both supply and demand sides. We present several methods to merge these two distinct areas—transportation infrastructure and travel demand procedures—into an integrated framework that has been previously exogenously linked by feedback or equilibrium processes. From the demand side, travel demand for non-primary activities is derived from the destination choices that a traveler makes that minimizes travel disutility within the context of considerations of daily scheduling and routing. From the supply side, the network decisions are determined as an integral function of travel demand rather than a given fixed OD matrix. First, the Location Selection Problem for the Household Activity Pattern Problem (LSP-HAPP) is developed. LSP-HAPP extends the HAPP by adding the capability to make destination choices simultaneously with other travel decisions of household activity allocation, activity sequence, and departure time. Instead of giving a set of pre-fixed activity locations to visit, LSPxviii HAPP chooses the location for certain activity types given a set of candidate locations. A dynamic programming algorithm is adopted and further developed for LSP-HAPP in order to deal with the choices among a sizable number of candidate locations within the HAPP modeling structure. Potential applications of synthetic pattern generation based on LSP-HAPP formulation are also presented. Second, the Location – Household Activity Pattern Problem (Location-HAPP), a facility location problem with full-day scheduling and routing considerations is developed. This is in the category of Location-Routing Problems (LRPs), where the decisions of facility location models are influenced by possible vehicle routings. Location-HAPP takes the set covering model as a location strategy, and HAPP as the scheduling and routing tool. The proposed formulation isolates each vehicle’s routing problem from those of other vehicles and from the master set covering problem. A modified column generation that uses a search method to find a column with a negative reduced price is proposed. Third, the Network Design Problem is integrated with the Household Activity Pattern Problem (NDP-HAPP) as a bilevel optimization problem. The bilevel structure includes an upper level network design while the lower level includes a set of disaggregate household itinerary optimization problems, posed as HAPP or LSP-HAPP. The output of upper level NDP (level-ofservice of the transportation network) becomes input data for the lower level HAPP that generates travel demand which becomes the input for the NDP. This is advantageous over the conventional NDP that outputs the best set of links to invest in, given an assumed OD matrix. Because the proposed NDP-HAPP can output the same best set of links, a new OD matrix and a detailed temporal distribution of activity participation and travel are created. A decomposed xix heuristic solution algorithm that represents each decision makers’ rationale shows optimality gaps of as much as 5% compared to exact solutions when tested with small examples. Utilizing the aforementioned models, two transportation sustainability studies are then conducted for the adoption of Alternative Fuel Vehicles (AFVs). The challenges in adopting AFVs are directly related to the transportation infrastructure problems since the initial AFV refueling locations will need to provide comparable convenient travel experience for the early adopters when compared to the already matured gasoline fuel based transportation infrastructure. This work demonstrates the significance of the integration between travel demand model and infrastructure problems, but also draws insightful policy measurements regarding AFV adoption. The first application study attempts to measure the household inconvenience level of operating AFVs. Two different scenarios are examined from two behavioral assumptions – keeping currently reported pattern and minimizing the inconvenience cost through HAPPR or HAPPC. From these patterns, the personal or household inconvenience level is derived as compared to the original pattern, providing quantified data on how the public sector would compensate for the increases in travel disutility to ultimately encourage the attractiveness of AFVs. From the supply side of the AFV infrastructure, Location-HAPP is applied to the incubation of the minimum refueling infrastructure required to support early adoption of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles (HFCVs). One of the early adoption communities targeted by auto manufacturers is chosen as the study area, and then three different values of accessibility are tested and measured in terms of tolerances to added travel time. Under optimal conditions, refueling trips are found to be toured with other activities. More importantly, there is evidence xx that excluding such vehicle-infrastructure interactions as well as routing and scheduling interactions can result in over-estimation of minimum facility requirement.