An Actor-based Approach to Commodity Transport Modelling

The increase in financial pressure on public authorities and the dynamic growth of freight transport demand represents a major challenge for transport policy. Furthermore, traditional aggregate models of freight transportation show weaknesses in forecasting quality, especially when it comes to the modelling of individual decision reactions. To close a major methodological gap in transport related policy assessment, the book reveals a behavior-oriented approach to commodity transport modelling.
Traffic loads are simulated through a large number of individual entrepreneurial decisions, similar to the activity-based approaches for modelling passenger travel behavior. In contrast to flow-based modeling, the microscopic simulation approach guarantees a maximum of consistency between individual behavior and system behavior.
The study develops data organization patterns, typologies, behavior rules and a simulation model that can be applied in behavior-oriented freight transport forecasting. Policy makers in transportation, transport economists and traffic planners get new insights in how to explain and influence freight transport.