SEARCH AND CHOICE IN TRANSPORT SYSTEMS ANALYSIS

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION IS PRESENTED OF THE PROBLEM OF TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND THE NUMBER AND VARIETY OF OPTIONS AND IMPACTS ARE EMPHASIZED. THE COMPLEXITY OF THE SYSTEM OF PREDICTIVE MODELS, AND THE NEED TO TRACE OUT DIFFERENTIAL IMPACTS SYSTEMATICALLY ARE PRESENTED. A VERY POPULAR MODEL OF THE DESIGN PROCESS, THE RATIONAL MODEL, IS REVIEWED AND ITS LIMITATIONS DISCUSSED. AS A PARTIAL ANSWER TO THESE LIMITATIONS, A MORE COMPLETE MODEL OF DECISION-MAKING WAS FORMULATED, THE PROBLEM-SOLVING PROCESS (PSP) MODEL. THE APPLICABILITY OF THE PSP MODEL TO TRANSPORTATION PLANNING IS DEMONSTRATED AND THE SYSTEMATIC ANALYSES OF TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES ILLUSTRATED. A PROTOTYPE ANALYSIS IS DISCUSSED OF THE NORTHEAST CORRIDOR PASSENGER TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM. THE PSP STRUCTURE IS SHOWN IN THE COMPUTER LANGUAGE DEVELOPED TO DO TRANSPORTATION ANALYSES AND THE SYSTEMATIC ANALYSES ARE ILLUSTRATED THAT COULD BE PERFORMED. EXTENSIONS OF THE PSP MODEL ARE DESCRIBED IN THE FORM OF SPECIFIC OPERATIONAL TECHNIQUES TO ADDRESS THESE ISSUES: DODO (DECISION-ORIENTED DATA ORGANIZER), AN INFORMATION SYSTEM INTENDED TO PROVIDE THE DECISION-MAKER AND ANALYST WITH THE CAPABILITY TO ANALYZE AND STRUCTURE THE LARGE AMOUNT OF DATA THAT MAY BE GENERATED IN THE ANALYSIS OF A COMPLEX PROBLEM, GOAL-FABRIC ANALYSIS, SEARCH, AND NETWORK AGGREGATION. BASIC CONCLUSIONS ARE SUMMARIZED: (1) THE CORE OF THE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS PROBLEM IS THE PREDICTION OF EQUILIBRIUM FLOWS IN NETWORKS, (2) THE SYSTEMATIC ANALYSIS OF TRANSPORTATION PROBLEMS REQUIRES CAREFUL, SENSITIVE EXPLORATION OF TRADE-OFFS AMONG OPTIONS AND IMPACTS, (3) THE PROTOTYPE ANALYSIS DEMONSTRATES THE FEASIBILITY OF THE APPROACH, BUT ALSO RAISES ISSUES, (4) IT IS USEFUL TO VIEW TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AS A PROBLEM-SOLVING PROCESS, AND (5) A VARIETY OF SPECIFIC OPERATIONAL TECHNIQUES CAN BE DEVELOPED TO MAKE TRANSPORTATION ANALYSIS A MORE EFFICIENT PROCESS. /AUTHOR/