Freight Trip Generation Models for Chennai, India

Urban freight trip generation is an important component of urban transportation planning. However, it does not receive the same degree of importance as passenger trip generation in studies done in India. In this context a focused study on freight trip generation will throw light on its importance. While there are studies in India available on trip generation rates for passenger travel there are no numbers to quote for freight trips. The main purpose of this paper is to study freight demand through the estimation of freight trip generation models developed with disaggregated survey data at the establishment level. The survey gave significant insight into the freight trip generation characteristics in Chennai city. From the data collected it is seen that on an average about 3 freight trips are made to an establishment and 6 trips leave an establishment every day. Predominantly bikes and small pick-up vans are used for carrying goods in the city. The authors compare their study to a similar study conducted recently in New York City. Overall, establishments in Chennai attract more trips than in New York City. This is in contrast to what is observed in the passenger trip rates where Indian cities have lesser value compared to western countries.