Activity Cancellation and Rescheduling by Stressed Households: Improving Convergence in Integrated Activity-Based and Dynamic Traffic Assignment Models

Maintaining consistency between individuals’ activity choices and realistic network conditions is made possible through a unified framework of activity-based and dynamic traffic assignment models. In this study, a model formulation and solution approach is presented for an integrated system of household activity schedule adjustment and multimodal dynamic traffic assignment model. In the proposed framework, individuals are initially assigned an activity pattern that includes their activity start time, end time, sequence, and number of intermediate and final destinations. The planned schedules are loaded to the network and executed to obtain the dynamic traffic conditions. Next, the individuals who experience schedules inconsistent with the planned ones try to adjust their activity durations or trip departure times to accommodate the fluctuations. In some cases, however, the schedule inconsistencies may not be resolved through departure time or duration adjustments; therefore, the traveler may cancel an activity or trip as a response to the fluctuations. Strategies for selecting activities to be canceled are discussed, and the influence of incorporating activity cancellation on numerical convergence is presented.