A reproducible pipeline for activity-based travel demand generation in England

Agent-based transport models are gaining popularity due to their ability to model features such as heterogenous individual behaviour, household dependencies, and new dynamic modes of travel. Such models require as input disaggregate population datasets with detailed daily activity diaries (activity-based travel demand). While there is extensive literature on activity-based travel demand generation, few open-source tools are available for producing such datasets, and those that do exist are often difficult to adapt to different study areas. In this work, we present an open-source modular pipeline for generating activity-based travel demand for any region in England, producing individuals with household structures and geographically and temporally explicit daily activity plans. The framework includes activity scheduling and location assignment for a synthetic population, as well as self-consistency and validation frameworks to help fine-tune parameters.

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Publication Details

Journal
Environment and Planning B Urban Analytics and City Science
Published
2025-09-19
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/23998083251379620
Primary Topic
Urban Transport and Accessibility
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

A reproducible pipeline for activity-based travel demand generation in England

Hussein Mahfouz, Tao Cheng, Sam F. Greenbury, Bowen Zhang et al.
Environment and Planning B Urban Analytics and City Science
Urban Transport and Accessibility
article

A reproducible pipeline for activity-based travel demand generation in England

Hussein Mahfouz, Tao Cheng, Sam F. Greenbury, Bowen Zhang, Stuart Lynn
article en

Abstract

Agent-based transport models are gaining popularity due to their ability to model features such as heterogenous individual behaviour, household dependencies, and new dynamic modes of travel. Such models require as input disaggregate population datasets with detailed daily activity diaries (activity-based travel demand). While there is extensive literature on activity-based travel demand generation, few open-source tools are available for producing such datasets, and those that do exist are often difficult to adapt to different study areas. In this work, we present an open-source modular pipeline for generating activity-based travel demand for any region in England, producing individuals with household structures and geographically and temporally explicit daily activity plans. The framework includes activity scheduling and location assignment for a synthetic population, as well as self-consistency and validation frameworks to help fine-tune parameters.

Environment and Planning B Urban Analytics and City ScienceVol. 52(9)
University of Leeds (GB), The Alan Turing Institute (GB), University College London (GB)
Openalex Percentile: Top 74%
Urban Transport and Accessibility
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