Application of A Multi-Level Freight Transport Demand Model to Estimate the Effects of Political Measures

The paper describes the multi-level freight transport demand model WiVSim (Wirtschaftsverkehrs-Simulation) and its application in a project to estimate the effects of various political measures on freight transport in Germany until the year 2030. The concept of a multi-level model positioned between macroscopic models dealing with zones and aggregate values and microscopic models dealing with individual businesses and shipments is explained. While maintaining the concepts and resolution of a micro model because of a lack of crucial behavioral data WiVSim uses several methods from macro modeling and calibration to advance the treatment of political measures inside the simulation.