Problem Statement
ActivitySim currently assumes that each worker has a single primary workplace location and supports mandatory work tours only between home and that primary workplace. In Sydney, approximately 80% of home-based work tours are to the primary workplace, while the remaining 20% are to another work-related location.
Many workers undertake work-related tours to locations other than their primary workplace, including:
- Client visits
- Site inspections
- Meetings at external offices
- Field work
- Temporary work assignments
These tours are still work-related and are generally considered mandatory from a participation perspective, but they do not occur at the person's primary workplace. ActivitySim does not currently support this activity type as a standard model component. As a result, implementations must either:
- Model these tours as non-mandatory maintenance tours (the current TfNSW approach). However, this misclassifies work-related travel as maintenance travel and can inflate the estimated value of time (VOT) for maintenance tours.
- Modify the ActivitySim source code to introduce a dedicated Home-Based Business (HB Business) tour type (current Victorian approach).
Current Approaches
TfNSW (Sydney) currently represents these tours as:
- Home-Based Maintenance tours
- Non-mandatory activities
While this avoids source code modifications, the tours are no longer treated as mandatory activities within the ActivitySim framework.
Victoria (Melbourne) has implemented support for a dedicated mandatory Home-Based Business tour type through modifications to the ActivitySim source code.
Under this approach:
- Home-Based Business tours are treated as mandatory activities.
- Participation impacts are captured within CDAP.
- A dedicated destination choice model is added for business destinations.
A public implementation is available here:
VictoriaTransport#1
The changes appear to be relatively focused in scope and have already been tested in a production modelling environment.
Additional Context
Sydney's existing tour-based travel model includes a dedicated Home-Based Business tour purpose and has demonstrated the value of explicitly representing work-related travel to non-primary workplace destinations.
Introducing similar functionality into the core ActivitySim framework would improve behavioural consistency while reducing the maintenance burden currently faced by agencies that require this capability.
Problem Statement
ActivitySim currently assumes that each worker has a single primary workplace location and supports mandatory work tours only between home and that primary workplace. In Sydney, approximately 80% of home-based work tours are to the primary workplace, while the remaining 20% are to another work-related location.
Many workers undertake work-related tours to locations other than their primary workplace, including:
These tours are still work-related and are generally considered mandatory from a participation perspective, but they do not occur at the person's primary workplace. ActivitySim does not currently support this activity type as a standard model component. As a result, implementations must either:
Current Approaches
TfNSW (Sydney) currently represents these tours as:
While this avoids source code modifications, the tours are no longer treated as mandatory activities within the ActivitySim framework.
Victoria (Melbourne) has implemented support for a dedicated mandatory Home-Based Business tour type through modifications to the ActivitySim source code.
Under this approach:
A public implementation is available here:
VictoriaTransport#1
The changes appear to be relatively focused in scope and have already been tested in a production modelling environment.
Additional Context
Sydney's existing tour-based travel model includes a dedicated Home-Based Business tour purpose and has demonstrated the value of explicitly representing work-related travel to non-primary workplace destinations.
Introducing similar functionality into the core ActivitySim framework would improve behavioural consistency while reducing the maintenance burden currently faced by agencies that require this capability.