Using Travel Time Data to Generate Aggregated Measures of Traffic

Abstract

Reliable travel time data are easier to obtain today than a few years ago due to technological advances. These data are mainly used by drivers to plan their trips and by agencies to monitor traffic. However, travel time data are usually collected from a certain proportion of all the vehicles travelling on the road. This article proposes a simple and effective methodology to obtain more information from this type of data. In particular, it tries to use travel time data to construct cumulative curves at two points on a road section. By doing so, aggregated measures such as arrival flow and total delay can be computed. Therefore, the social cost of congestion caused by different bottlenecks can be easily assessed, adding more value to travel time data.