The purpose of this project is to develop the next generation of the BKR travel demand model (BKRCast) in cooperation with the cities of Bellevue, Kirkland, and Redmond. The BKRCast model is a localized implementation of the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) SoundCast activity-based (AB) model, which uses DaySim for demand modeling and EMME for supply modeling. Here is a quick introduction to the SoundCast design.

The BKRCast model is a localized implementation of the regional activity based model SoundCast. It simulates each individual person’s activity of travel in 24-hours, based on travel survey, demographical information, available travel mode and land use type. Comparing to the old BKR trip model, the new BKRCast model has many more TAZs, job categories, and travel mode. It has features for conducting more comprehensive multimodal analyses, including walk and bike mode.

Unlike the BKR trip model which forecasts travel by relatively isolated trip segments, BKRCast model has the capability to forecast travel by tours which consist of multiple trip with consistent travel mode.

The BKRCast demonstrates heightened sensitivity to land use density and mixed-use scenarios compared to the old trip model. In contrast to merely considering parking charges at the destination, BKRCast goes further by assessing parking availability and pricing at nearby facilities within walking distance. Consequently, BKRCast significantly enhances its ability to align with various land use and transportation policies currently addressed by the City from a modeling perspective. Given its simulation of each individual's travel activities, BKRCast exhibits greater robustness in predicting people's willingness to pay tolls, allowing for a more realistic evaluation of transportation toll policies—whether focused on individual facility tolling or region-wide, VMT-based congestion pricing.

Both BKRCast and SoundCast use EMME for network procedures, DaySim for resident demand, and supplemental demand models for externals and trucks, among others. The BKRCast model differs from the SoundCast model in three ways:

• BKRCast uses a BKR-specific zone system and networks; this zone system has more zones in the BKR region and fewer zones in the PSRC region.
• BKRCast has four time periods (AM (6AM ~ 9 AM), MD (9AM ~ 330PM), PM(330PM ~ 630PM) , NT(630PM ~ 6AM)) for networks to reduce run times and data needs.
• BKRCast has more detailed auto, transit, and bike networks in BKR area.
• BRKCast uses ESD employment data as parcel file input for the outside of BKR area. It uses converted jobs from King County Assessor's data with job conversion factors by job category and density. However, home based employment can not be captured by King County Assessor's data so ESD employment data is used to cover this category in BKR area.
• BKRCast is locally calibrated/validated.

Soundcast model documentation is valuable resource to help you understand the overall BKRCast model design and estimate.

• Model System

  • Overview
  • Model Design
  • Activity-Based Model
  • Other Demand Models

• Model Setup

  • System Requirements
  • Setup
  • Model Run Settings
  • Run Model

• Model Network

  • TAZ System
  • Subarea
  • Networks
  • Extra Attributes
  • Network Management

• Land Use

  • Parcel File
  • Synthetic Population

• Model Components

  • Daysim Customization
  • Initialization and Cleanup
  • Accessibility
  • Tolling
  • Network Assignment
  • Non-motorized Model
  • Auxiliary Models
  • View Outputs
  • Upgrade to a New Base Year

• Model Directory

  • Master Directory
  • Scripts
  • Inputs
  • Outputs
  • File Formats

• Calibration

  • Calibration
  • Validation
  • DaySim Calibration Summaries

• Create a Scenario

• SoundCast to BKRCast
• Convert Markdown to MSWord
• Troubleshooting

• Base Year Model
• 2035 Baseline Model

• Scope of Work
• Meeting Notes