Disaggregated approach to urban trip distribution: a comparative analysis between artificial neural networks and discrete choice models

Discrete choice models have been used over the years in disaggregated approaches to forecast destination choices.  However, there are important constraints in some of these models that pose obstacles to using them, such as the Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives (IIA) property in the Multinomial Logit model, the need to assume specific structures and high calibration times, depending on the complexity of the case being evaluated. However, some of these mentioned constraints could be mitigated using Mixed Models or Nested Logit.  Therefore, this paper proposes a comparative analysis between the Artificial Neural Network (ANNs), the Multinomial and Nested Logit models for disaggregated forecasting of urban trip distribution. A case study was conducted in a medium-sized Brazilian city, Santa Maria (RS), Brazil. The data used come from a household survey, prepared for the Urban Mobility Master Plan. For the sake of comparison, hit rates and frequency of trip distribution distances were analyzed, showing that ANNs can be as efficient as the Discrete Choice models for disaggregated forecasting of urban trip destination without, however, assuming some constraints. Finally, based on the results obtained, the efficiency of ANNs is observed for predicting alternatives with a low number of observations.  They are important tools for obtaining Origin-Destination matrices from incomplete sample matrices or with a low number of observations.  However, it is important to mention that discrete choice models can provide important information for the analyst, such as statistical significance of parameters, elasticities, subjective value of attributes, etc.